The Governmentwide Travel Advisory Committee at its first
meeting last week agreed to make a handful of preliminary recommendations to
the U.S. General Services Administration about per diem lodging rates, but
there seems to be little appetite for significant change regarding how those
rates are derived.
A 14-1 majority of the GTAC membership agreed that GSA's
current methods of determining per diem lodging rates are sound, but are in
need of some "tweaks," a word used frequently throughout the meeting.
GTAC is a group of corporate travel buyers, suppliers
and other industry figures charged with reviewing government travel practices
and policies, addressing government travel trends and assessing GSA's per diem
methodology. Many government contractors are required to follow GSA's per diem
rates, and some private companies also base their per diems on the government
figures.
GTAC also voted unanimously to recommend all U.S. per diem
rates be examined annually. Currently, per diems for "non-standard"
U.S. areas—those "frequently traveled by the federal community,"
according to GSA—already are reviewed every year, but per diems for "standard"
U.S. areas are reviewed every three years.
The committee voted to request data to assess the percentage
of trips in which travelers paid more than per diem rates in fiscal 2012, while
recognizing that doing so does not necessarily indicate traveler noncompliance,
as agencies can receive clearance to exceed per diem by as much as 300 percent.
Possible topics of discussion for future meetings, the dates
of which are yet to be determined, include car rental, streamlining
efficiencies, alternate lodging and the Airline City Pairs program.
The GSA administrator will take recommendations from GTAC
under consideration when issuing decisions on future travel policy, according
to an email from a GSA spokesperson.