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41 C.F.R. Subpart B—eTravel Service and Travel Management Service

Title 41 - Public Contracts and Property Management

Title 41: Public Contracts and Property Management
PART 301–73—TRAVEL PROGRAMS

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Subpart B—eTravel Service and Travel Management Service

Source:  FTR Amdt. 2003–07, 68 FR 71030, Dec. 22, 2003, unless otherwise noted.

§ 301-73.100   Must we require employees to use the eTravel Service?

Yes, unless you have an exception to the use of the eTS (see §§301–73.102 and 301–73.104), you must have fully deployed the eTS across your agency and require employees to use the eTS for all temporary duty travel no later than September 30, 2006. Agencies must submit their eTS migration plans and schedules by March 31, 2004 to the eTravel PMO, (see §301–73.101). You must implement the eTS no later than December 31, 2004, and require employees to use the eTS as soon as it becomes available in your agency. The Department of Defense and the Government of the District of Columbia are not subject to this requirement.

Notes to §301–73.100: (1) You have the option to use the contracted travel agent service(s) of your choice (through the eTS or other contract vehicles). You have the responsibility for ensuring agency-contracted travel agent services complement and support the eTS in an efficient and cost effective manner.

(2) Award of a task order to a vendor on the eTS Master Contract constitutes eTS implementation. Agency-wide use of the eTS for all travel management processes and travel claim submission constitutes complete migration.

§ 301-73.101   How must we prepare to implement the eTravel Service?

Link to an amendment published at 71 FR 49375, August 23, 2006.

You must prepare to implement the eTS as expeditiously as possible by—

(a) Developing a migration plan and schedule to deploy eTS across your agency as early as possible with full deployment required no later than September 30, 2006; and

(b) Submitting your eTS migration plan and schedule by March 31, 2004 to the U.S. General Services Administration, Attention: eTravel PMO.

Note to §301–73.101: Your agency should work with the Office of Management and Budget to allocate budget and personnel resources to support eTS migration and data exchange. Your agency is responsible for providing the funds required to establish interfaces between the eTS standard data output and applicable business systems (e.g., financial, human resources, etc.).

§ 301-73.102   May we grant a traveler an exception from the use of the eTravel Service?

Link to an amendment published at 71 FR 49376, August 23, 2006.

Your agency head or his/her designee may grant individual case-by-case exceptions to the use of eTS when such use—

(a) Causes an unreasonable burden on mission accomplishment(s) (e.g., emergency travel (and eTS is not accessible), invitational travel, necessity of disability accommodations or special needs in accordance with part 301-13 of this chapter);

(b) Compromises a national security interest;

(c) May endanger the life of the traveler (e.g., an individual traveling under the Federal witness protection program or threatened law enforcement/investigative personnel traveling in accordance with part 301–31 of this chapter); or

(d) Is consistent with any contractual terms applicable to your agency (i.e., you must insure that any exceptions do not cause a breach of contract).

§ 301-73.103   What must we do when we approve an exception to the use of the eTravel Service?

The head of your agency or his/her designee must approve an exception to the use of the eTS under §301–73.102 in writing or through electronic means.

§ 301-73.104   May further exceptions to the required use of the eTravel Service be approved?

(a) The Administrator of General Services or his/her designee may grant an agency-wide exception (or exempt a component thereof) from the required use of eTS when requested by the head of a Department (cabinet-level agency) or head of an Independent agency when—

(1) The agency has presented a business case analysis to the General Services Administration that proves that it has an alternative TMS to the eTS that is in the best interest of the Government and the taxpayer (i.e., the agency has evaluated the economic and service values offered by the eTS contractor(s) compared to those offered by the agency's current Travel Management System (TMS) and has determined that the agency's current TMS is a better value);

(2) The agency has security, secrecy, or protection of information issues that cannot be mitigated through security provided by the eTS contractors;

(3) The agency lacks the technology necessary to access eTS; or

(4) The agency has critical and unique technology or business requirements that cannot be accommodated by the eTS contractors at all or at an acceptable and reasonable price (e.g., majority of travel is group-travel).

(b) As a condition of receiving an exception, the agency must agree to conduct annual business case reviews of its TMS and must provide to the eTravel PMO data elements required by the eTravel PMO in a format prescribed by the eTravel PMO.

(c) Requests for exceptions should be sent to the Administrator, General Services Administration, 1800 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20405 with full justification and/or analysis addressing paragraphs (a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3), or (a)(4) of this section.

§ 301-73.105   What are the consequences of an employee not using the eTravel Service or the TMS?

If an employee does not use the eTS (when available) or your agency's designated TMS, he/she is responsible for any additional costs (see §301–50.5 of this chapter) resulting from the failure to use the eTS or your TMS. In addition, you may take appropriate disciplinary actions.

§ 301-73.106   What are the basic services that should be covered by a TMS?

The TMS must, at a minimum—

(a) Include a Travel Management Center (TMC), commercial ticket office (CTO), an in-house system, an electronically available system, or other method(s) of arranging travel, which has the ability to provide the following as appropriate to the agency's travel needs:

(1) Booking and fulfillment of common carrier arrangements (e.g., flight confirmation and seat assignment, compliance with the Fly America Act, Governmentwide travel policies, contract city-pair fares, electronic ticketing, ticket delivery, etc.).

(2) Lodging information (e.g., room availability, reservations and confirmation, compliance with Hotel/Motel Fire Safety Act, availability of Federal Premier Lodging Program properties, per diem rate availability, etc.).

(3) Car rental and rail information (e.g., availability of Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC) Government agreement rates where applicable, confirmation of reservations, etc.).

(b) Provide basic management information, such as—

(1) Number of reservations by type of service (common carrier, lodging, and car rental);

(2) Extent to which reservations are in compliance with policy and reasons for exceptions;

(3) Origin and destination points of common carrier usage;

(4) Destination points for lodging accommodations;

(5) Number of lodging nights in approved accommodations;

(6) City or location where car rentals are obtained; and

(7) Other tasks, e.g., reconciliation of charges on centrally billed accounts and processing ticket refunds.

Note to §301–73.106: The eTS fulfills the basic services of a TMS. You have the option to use the contracted travel agent service(s) of your choice through eTS or other contract vehicles. You have the responsibility to ensure that agency-contracted-for travel agent services complement and support the eTS in an efficient and cost effective manner. (See §301–73.2).

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