**From:** Papier, Joel (NIH/OD) \[E\]

**Sent:** Wednesday, December 31, 2008 10:42 AM

**To:** List ICTRAVELPOC-L

**Cc:** Stith, Kenneth (NIH/OD) \[E\]; Miers, Kristy (NIH/OD) \[E\];
Howard, Florence (NIH/OD) \[E\]; Gaines, Joy (NIH/OD/ORS) \[E\];
Rogerson, Anne (NIH/NIAID) \[C\]; Chiacchierini, Kathy (NIH/NBS) \[C\];
Martin, Jennifer (NIH/OD) \[E\]; Sieber, Anna (NIH/OD) \[E\]; NIH
Executive Officers; \'Ebonie Davenport\'; \'cforkkio@owt.net\';
\'lpringle@owt.net\'; \'Mike Pagnanelli\'

**Subject:** OFM Transmittal No. 354A - Annual Report on First-Class and
Business Class Common Carrier Accommodations

**Importance:** High

**Attachments:** Coach Class Ticket Cost Comp Collection Form (Vers.
3).doc

All,

This message serves as a follow up to OFM Transmittal No. 354 on the
above subject.

To clarify two issues: 1) If a nonfederal source will be reimbursing the
NIH (i.e., HHS-348 \"In Cash\" or \"In Kind\") for the Business Class
ticket, you DO NOT need to report or collect the coach class ticket cost
data; and 2) As your IC transitions to GovTrip, there is no need to
contact Omega for coach class ticket data as this will generate a higher
TMC service fee. Instead, you should make every effort to obtain the
coach class ticket data through the on-line GovTrip booking tool.

In addition, currently, there is a field in NBS/GELCO that allows you to
populate the type of fare being selected, i.e., coach, first-class,
business class, however, there is no requirement for you to do this. In
order to better account for First-Class/Business Class accommodations
and payments, we request that you make every effort to enter the
applicable information. Once your IC is under GovTrip, the system
mandates that you populate such a field.

Attached is a Coach Class Ticket Cost Comparison Collection Form. Again,
this data is to be collected in \"any and all\" instances of the use of
either First-Class or Business Class accommodations paid for by the
Government. In a scenario where only a portion of a multi-segmented trip
was accomplished via First-Class or Business Class accommodations, you
would need to obtain the coach class ticket cost data for only that
portion of the trip. EXAMPLE: The traveler has official business in
South Africa. The flight itinerary calls for them to be routed through
Frankfurt, Germany and they take coach class from Dulles Airport to
Germany. But then, for some reason, they are required to take Business
Class from Germany to South Africa. It is only for this segment of the
trip that coach class ticket cost data must be obtained.

NOTE: In the above example, if the flight from Germany to South Africa
only offered, e.g., business class seating, then the coach class ticket
comparison cost would be reported as the same amount as the business
class ticket cost. If however, there was coach class seating on the
flight, then that coach class ticket cost should be reported. As such,
the Collection Form should display the applicable amount. To assist you
in this effort, an OMEGA agent, in advance of the trip, will insert a
statement in the Itinerary document indicating that only first class or
business class accommodations were available on a particular segment of
the trip. If, per chance, this activity occurs after the traveler has
departed from the local area, the OMEGA agent will make every effort to
include the note in the revised Itinerary.

Each IC POC is required to maintain a copy of the Collection Form or you
may choose to transfer the data from each form to some type of
spreadsheet. OFM will request this data from each of you at the end of
the fiscal year when the report is due to GSA.

Please be certain that all Administrative Officials/Travel Planners
receive this guidance and Form.

Should you have any questions about this subject matter, please contact
Florence Howard on 301-435-2927.

Thanks,

Joel ![](media/image1.wmf)