The federal travel systems are broken and have opened the door to waste, fraud, and abuse.
1) Pair city contracts are very costly compared to discount internet sites.
Examples as of 5/27/2009
Cities (round trip) Pair City Contract Cost Discount Internet
Salt Lake City, Utah to
Bismark, North Dakota $1,431.25 v. $488.00
San Antonio, TX to
New Orleans, LA $379.50 v. $154.00
San Antonio, TX to
Denver, CO $537.50 v. $138.00
Agencies have a policy to allow use of the discount fares if it “Benefits the Government” however the process of obtaining approvals is so cumbersome that the approval cannot be obtained in a timely manner to recognize the savings and make the reservation. And while the pair city contracts have cancellation / change benefits (no cost), the cost of including a change/cancellation fee is still less expensive than the pair city costs.
Depts/Agencies/Bureaus should allow common sense to prevail when making travel arrangements. If the employee can save money by booking a flight through a discount site they should not be required to get approval first. Just require evidence of savings should be sufficient to support reason for using discount airfare, hotel, or car rentals.
2) Employee’ are not required to provide receipts for anything over $75.00 so claims can be made for taxi’s when free or less costly shuttle was actually used, claims for checked bags when bags were carried on, claims for entire per diem when dollar menu was used, claims for mileage to and from airport when mileage is exaggerated, travelers do not fill up rental car and pay the rental agency gas fee (which is much higher) for a full tank of gas when they return the vehicle, claims made for porters and only had one bag. These are just a few of the ‘doors’ that have been left open because the federal government doesn't want to have all of the paper work. The travel reimbursement for these ‘additional costs’ directly to the federal employee is tax free. Recommend the federal government require receipts for all travel reimbursements claimed and use the internet to confirm trip mileage claimed when using the federal employee uses their POV. Federal government employees who are using tax dollars should be held to a higher standard when reporting travel reimbursement.
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