The U.K. government selected systems integrator Capgemini UK to piece together a group of travel industry firms to build, install and manage an online booking system as part of a governmentwide cost-saving and shared services agenda.
The Capgemini consortium--including technology provider KDS and travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel--was selected for a five-year, governmentwide deal by OGCbuying.solutions, an executive agency of the Office of Government Commerce within H.M. Treasury. OGCbuying.solutions is the U.K.'s public sector procurement service that achieves "substantial savings ... enjoyed through our significant buying power, economies of scale and strategic partnerships." It provides access "to more than 500,000 products and services, each sourced through a rigorous, European Union-compliant procurement process."
The U.K. Ministry of Defence--with 300,000 worldwide travelers and annual business travel expenditures of £300 million (US$624.5 million)--and U.K.'s Foreign & Commonwealth Office are the first departments scheduled to start using the new online travel booking system. Andy Towler, team leader for the Defence Travel Modernisation initiative, said MoD expects live air booking functionality by Dec. 17 and a full rollout to the various business units by March 25.
MoD also is mandating use of its travel program (partly to leverage its volume), focusing on traveler behavior and encouraging travelers to book simple journeys online. Overall, the department has targeted savings of 10 percent to 20 percent of travel expenditures, according to Towler. "In a couple years time, we'll be at about 16.5 percent savings," he said.
Regarding the electronic booking tool, Towler said: "We don't have that sort of experience within the MoD. We pretty much outsource it these days. In the past, we looked to put together systems, but it is not policy to do that anymore. So we look to systems integrators to do that on our behalf. They have the knowledge, and they know how our IT systems are put together."
Towler added that the U.K. government "did not specifically ask" for the consortium members to work together. "Capgemini basically assembled a team and bid for the business."
Capgemini already had ties to MoD by furnishing the Defence Electronic Commerce Service (DECS) designed "to manage interfaces between MoD and the outside world," said Cliff Evans, Capgemini's MoD account director. He noted Capgemini's experience in building and hosting U.K. train reservations systems.
[PULL_1]For MoD's online booking system, Capgemini's main tasks as systems integrator are to provide a secure interface and data management. For example, it will "collect and collate all the data feeds" to move traveler profiles to the KDS platform.
"We are aggregating all the information on Defence travel through the DECS service, so we can provide information to users, budget holders and business units about their travel," Evans explained. KDS said it provides the rail booking functionality important to the U.K. market and "in-depth" travel management reporting, including lost savings calculations from bookings made outside policy.
KDS is not supplying expense management technology, as MoD already has a solution. "That would have been too big an elephant to eat," Towler said.
Working this way for the first time with Capgemini, Carlson Wagonlit Travel will provide the technology for a front-end Web portal that brings users to the KDS booking tool, as well as help desk support. The portal will provide exchange rates and information about other aspects of travel, such as inoculations for international trips. It also will serve as a gateway into management information reports. The help desk is specifically for online system users.
In an unusual configuration, CWT is not serving as MoD's fulfillment partner or full-service, offline travel agency. Those tasks in July were awarded to CWT competitor HRG. Each U.K. government department separately selects which travel agency it will use as its primary service provider.
Meanwhile, "We're talking to other big organizations already" about sharing the online booking service, Towler said. "The Home Office, for example, is very interested in what we are doing." Such interest would cultivate the government's shared-services strategy. "The intent is for all departments to share the same booking tool," said Capgemini's Evans. "This is a great example of something that has been centrally procured."