FEDERAL TRAVEL

Opportunities Exist to 

Improve Data and 

Information Sharing

Report to Congressional Committees

July 2016

GAO-16-657

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-16-657, a report to 

congressional committees

July 2016

FEDERAL TRAVEL

Opportunities Exist to Improve Data and 

Information Sharing

What GAO Found

The Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, State,

and Veterans Affairs, the six federal agencies with the largest travel spending in 

fiscal year 2015, pursued a variety of cost-saving efforts that generally aligned 

with regulations and guidance issued in either Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 

amendments or General Services Administration (GSA) travel bulletins from 

fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2015. GSA administers and revises the FTR—

which interprets statutory and other policy requirements to ensure that official 

travel is conducted responsibly—and minimizes administrative costs. Although 

GSA does not have the authority to enforce the FTR, it issues FTR amendments 

and travel bulletins to help federal agencies manage their respective travel 

programs and achieve travel cost savings through the provisions contained in the 

amendments and travel bulletins. GSA FTR amendments and travel bulletins 

issued between fiscal years 2011 and 2015 contained a total of 27 cost-saving 

provisions. Agency officials at each of the six selected agencies stated that their 

respective agencies either had policies in place that already addressed the costsaving provisions; developed new travel policies or issued guidance that 

reinforced the provisions or updated existing policies related to the provisions; or 

advised employees to follow the FTR without implementing an agency-specific 

policy.

The six agencies reported that GSA’s review of the FTR to revise obsolete and 

outdated policies influenced their actions and resulted in cost savings. However, 

most of these savings could not be quantified. Only four cost-saving efforts at 

two agencies—the Departments of Defense and Justice—could be quantified. 

These agencies reported that a wide range of factors influenced their cost-saving 

efforts. In addition to FTR-compliance efforts, these agencies reported that 

administration actions on reducing travel costs, cutting waste, and promoting 

efficient spending influenced their approaches to managing travel costs. Agency 

officials also reported that broader efforts to improve operational efficiency, and 

efforts to responsibly use resources, also influenced their agency-specific 

policies and practices to promote efficient travel spending.

According to GSA and officials from the six selected agencies, data limitations 

existed both within the selected agencies in terms of their ability to quantify 

travel-related cost savings, and government-wide in terms of comparing and 

aggregating travel data across agencies. Without standardized reporting 

practices, the federal government lacks common metrics for identifying, 

comparing and evaluating travel spending across federal agencies. The Senior 

Travel Official Council (STOC) was formed in 2015 to identify efficiencies and 

discuss best practices related to travel cost savings. According to its charter, the

STOC allows agencies to work toward more consistent reporting of travel data 

and share information on cost-saving efforts. Although the STOC has taken 

some initial action to bring agencies together, additional efforts to facilitate 

agencies’ information sharing and identification of promising practices could 

further enhance these efforts to encourage and achieve travel cost-saving across 

View GAO-16-657. For more information, the federal government.

contact Michelle Sager, (202) 512-6806, 

sagerm@gao.gov.

Why GAO Did This Study

Federal agencies rely on travel to 

achieve a broad range of missions. 

GSA helps agencies develop travel 

policy by providing guidance to 

agencies, including issuing and 

revising the FTR. The administration 

and GSA have encouraged agencies 

to take steps to adopt cost-savings 

efforts and promote efficient travel 

spending.

House Report 112-136 included a 

provision for GAO to report on 

whether FTR revisions resulted in 

measurable reductions in travel 

costs. This report: 1) describes

selected agencies’ actions taken to 

address FTR revisions; 2) 

determines the extent to which FTR 

revisions led to cost savings; and 3) 

determines any cost savings 

achieved during fiscal years 2012 to 

2015. GAO reviewed information 

from six selected federal agencies 

with the largest amount of travel 

spending in fiscal year 2015. GAO 

also reviewed how these agencies

responded to GSA’s FTR 

amendments and travel bulletins to 

achieve cost savings.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that the 

Administrator of GSA should work with 

the STOC to: 1) develop a travel data 

management approach that would 

provide GSA with more consistent 

travel cost data; and 2) as chair of the 

STOC, identify and implement

promising practices to help agencies 

leverage travel resources and achieve 

cost savings.
Page i GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

Letter 1

Background 5

Cost-Saving Efforts at Selected Agencies Generally Aligned with 

Regulations and Guidance 8

Most Efforts to Reduce Agency Travel-Related Spending Could 

Not Be Quantified 13

Travel Data System Limitations Hinder Agencies’ Ability to Identify 

Cost Savings 15

Conclusions 17

Recommendations for Executive Action 18

Agency Comments 18

Appendix I Travel Cost-Saving Provisions Contained in Federal Travel 

Regulation (FTR) Amendments and General Services

Administration (GSA) Travel Bulletins Issued between Fiscal 

Years 2011 and 2015 20

Appendix II Comments from the U.S. General Services Administration 22

Appendix III GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 23

Table 

Table 1: Federal Travel Budgets for Six Selected Agencies

between Fiscal Years 2012 and 2015

(obligated $ in millions) 3

Contents
Page ii GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

Abbreviations

CPP City Pair Program

DTMO Defense Travel Management Office

DHS Department of Homeland Security

DOD Department of Defense

DOJ Department of Justice

EO Executive Order

ETS2 E-Gov Travel Service 2

FAM Foreign Affairs Manual

FTR Federal Travel Regulation

FMPM Financial Management Policy Manual

GSA General Services Administration

GTAC Government-wide Travel Advisory Committee

JTR Joint Travel Regulations

OMB Office of Management and Budget

State Department of State

STOC Senior Travel Official Council

TDY temporary duty 

TRIP Travel Reporting Information Profile

USDA Department of Agriculture

VA Department of Veterans Affairs

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Page 1 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

July 21, 2016

The Honorable John Boozman

Chairman

The Honorable Christopher Coons

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

The Honorable Ander Crenshaw

Chairman

The Honorable José Serrano

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government

Committee on Appropriations

House of Representatives

Federal agencies rely on travel to achieve a broad range of missions such 

as the Federal Emergency Management Agency responding to natural 

disasters, and the Department of Agriculture inspecting food quality. The 

administration and the General Services Administration (GSA) have 

encouraged agencies to take steps to adopt cost-savings efforts and 

promote efficient federal travel spending. The administration encouraged 

agencies to develop “strategic alternatives to government travel, including 

local or technological alternatives,” and identify ways to reduce costs and 

ensure there are appropriate controls in place.1 GSA also helps agencies 

manage their respective travel programs and achieve travel-related cost 

 1

Executive Order No. 13589, “Promoting Efficient Spending” (Nov. 9, 2011), 76 Fed. Reg. 

70,863 (Nov. 15, 2011) requires agencies to reduce their combined costs in a variety of 

administrative categories (including travel) by at least 20 percent in fiscal year 2013 from 

fiscal year 2010 levels, and to designate a senior travel official to be responsible for 

developing and implementing policies and controls to ensure efficient spending on travel 

and conference-related activities. OMB, Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency 

Operations, Memorandum, M-12-12 (May 11, 2012) requires agencies to spend “at least 

30 percent less on covered travel expenses” in fiscal year 2013 than in fiscal year 2010 

and maintain the reduced level of spending each year through fiscal year 2016. This 

memorandum described “practical steps agencies can take to improve operations, 

increase efficiency, and cut unnecessary spending,” OMB Memorandum, Promoting 

Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations, at 1.

Letter
Page 2 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

savings by issuing and revising the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR).

2 In 

response to potential cost-saving areas identified by the administration 

and GSA regulations and guidance, some agencies have created or 

modified agency-specific internal travel policies and processes to reduce 

travel-related costs while accomplishing their missions.

In July 2011, in House Report 112-136 accompanying the 2012 Financial 

Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, the Committee on 

Appropriations directed GSA to create the appropriate interdisciplinary 

and interagency teams to review and revise federal travel regulations, 

and report on these efforts. In the same report, Congress included a 

provision for us to report on whether the FTR revisions resulted “in 

measurable reductions in cost.”3 This report: 1) describes agencies’

actions taken to address FTR revisions; 2) determines the extent to which 

FTR revisions led to cost savings; and 3) determines any cost savings 

achieved during fiscal years 2012 to 2015.

To address these objectives, we obtained travel budget data from the 

Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) MAX database that identified 

the six federal agencies with the largest travel spending in fiscal year 

2015.4 These are the Departments of: 1) Agriculture; 2) Defense; 3) 

Homeland Security; 4) Justice; 5) State; and 6) Veterans Affairs (see 

table 1). Together, these six agencies accounted for about 84 percent of 

the total government-wide travel budget in fiscal year 2015. To determine 

the reliability of the data, the team cross-checked the MAX data against 

the numbers reported in the corresponding President’s Budget 

Appendixes. Data reported in MAX are subject to rigorous review and 

 2

FTR is codified at 41 C.F.R., Subtitle F, Chapters 300-304. FTR includes the travel and 

relocation regulations for all Title 5 (of the U.S. Code) executive agency employees, and is 

updated whenever final changes are published in the Federal Register. FTR implements 

statutory requirements and executive branch policies that federal entities must follow 

concerning government-related travel. This includes the general principle that employees 

traveling on official government business should exercise the same prudence as if 

traveling on personal business.

3

H.R. Rep. No. 112-136, Tit. V, at 51 (2011).

4

OMB uses the MAX Information System to collect, validate, analyze, model, collaborate 

with agencies on, and publish information related to its government-wide management 

and budgeting activities. The MAX Information System is used to support OMB’s 

federal management and budget processes.
Page 3 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

checks through OMB to help ensure their consistency of the data. These 

data were considered reliable for the purpose of this report.

Table 1: Federal Travel Budgets for Six Selected Agencies between Fiscal Years 

2012 and 2015

(obligated $ in millions)

Department/Agency 2012 2013 2014 2015

Agriculture 279 316 350 403

Defense 10,650 8,318 8,818 8,247

Homeland Security 1,446 1,119 1,199 1,184

Justice 468 352 367 438

State 444 409 495 421

Veterans Affairs 1,137 1,067 1,080 1,084

Source: OMB MAX data. | GAO-16-657

Note: According to Veterans Affairs officials, the agency’s annual federal travel budgets include 

beneficiary travel as authorized under 38 U.S.C. 111 to help veterans and other persons obtain care 

and services from the Veterans Health Administration.

In addition to the OMB Max travel data, we also requested the Travel 

Reporting Information Profile (TRIP) reports for fiscal years 2012 through 

2015 from the six selected agencies. Federal agencies that spend more 

than $5 million annually for all travel (domestic and international) must 

prepare and submit a TRIP report to GSA that consists of travel costs 

incurred by the agencies. The report must contain summary-level data on 

travel costs related to transportation, lodging, and other miscellaneous 

travel-related costs. We used these data to understand the consistency of 

agency reporting and considered them reliable for the purposes of this 

report.

We reviewed the FTR travel amendments and GSA travel bulletins issued 

from fiscal years 2011 to 2015 to identify cost-saving provisions. We 

identified three relevant FTR amendments and four GSA travel bulletins 
Page 4 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

that contained a total of 27 cost-saving provisions (see appendix I).5 We 

asked officials at the six selected agencies to complete and respond to a 

data collection instrument that listed the GSA cost-saving provisions, 

asked how their respective agencies responded to these, and asked 

agencies the extent to which the 27 cost-saving provisions resulted in 

cost savings. Because agencies were generally unable to quantify cost 

savings, we also interviewed officials at the selected agencies to identify 

whether any of the GSA cost-saving provisions resulted in efforts to 

reduce travel costs, and whether or not cost savings related to these 

efforts were quantifiable.

For the purpose of this report, we defined travel cost savings as 

reductions in costs associated with individual travel-related transactions. 

Reduction in travel-related transactions might not result in reduced total 

travel spending at an agency. Agency officials may allocate these savings 

to support other travel needs. The use of these terms is consistent with 

the principles of Executive Order (EO) 13589, “Promoting Efficient 

Spending” (Nov. 9, 2011), and OMB Memorandum M-12-12, Promoting 

Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations (Washington, D.C.: May 

11, 2012).

We conducted this performance audit from June 2015 to July 2016 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.

 5

The relevant provisions which amended the FTR are: (1) Lodging Reimbursement, 76 

Fed. Reg. 63,844 (Oct. 14, 2011) (codified at 41 C.F.R. § 301-11); (2) Removal of 

Conference Lodging Allowance Provisions, 78 Fed. Reg. 65,210 (Oct. 31, 2013) (codified 

at 41 C.F.R. §§ 301-11 and 301-74); and, (3) Enhancement of Privately Owned Vehicle 

and Rental Vehicle Policy, 80 Fed. Reg. 27,259 (May 13, 2015) (codified at 41 C.F.R. §§ 

300-3, 301-10, and 301-70). The relevant GSA travel bulletins are: (1) GSA Bulletin FTR 

13-03, Promoting Efficient Travel Spending, (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 21, 2012); (2) GSA 

Bulletin FTR 13-07, Emphasizing Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) Opportunities for 

Achieving Reduced Travel Costs through Use of City Pair Program (CPP) Contract and 

Non-Contract Airfares, (Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2013); (3) GSA Bulletin FTR 14-05, 

Rental Car (Passenger Vehicle) Requirements, (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 16, 2014); and, 

(4) GSA Bulletin FTR 14-08, Designation of Agency Senior Travel Officials, (Washington, 

D.C.: May 13, 2014).
Page 5 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

To help federal agencies manage their respective travel programs and 

achieve travel cost savings, GSA issues and revises the FTR. According 

to the FTR website, GSA promulgates the FTR to: (1) interpret statutory 

and other policy requirements in a manner that balances the need to 

ensure that official travel is conducted responsibly with the need to 

minimize administrative costs, and (2) clearly communicate the resulting 

requirements to federal agencies and employees.6 Formal changes to the 

FTR are identified as amendments and published in the Federal Register

in accordance with the rulemaking provision of the Administrative 

Procedure Act.7 GSA officials stated that, while the agency develops and 

promulgates the rules and amendments that comprise the FTR, it does 

not have enforcement authority for agencies’ compliance with FTR 

requirements. In addition to FTR amendments, GSA also issues travel 

bulletins (nonbinding guidance) that GSA officials said can typically be 

issued within a shorter timeframe than final rules published in the Federal 

Register. According to GSA officials, the travel bulletins are generally 

issued to remind agencies of existing FTR requirements.

Administration actions have encouraged agencies to develop 

mechanisms by which federal agencies could reduce travel. For example, 

EO 13589, “Promoting Efficient Spending” called for agencies and their 

components to: 1) to devise strategic alternatives to government travel, 

including local or technological alternatives, such as teleconferencing and 

video conferencing; 2) conduct business and host or sponsor conferences 

in a space controlled by the federal government, wherever practicable 

and cost effective; and 3) designate a senior official responsible for 

developing and implementing policies and controls to ensure efficient 

spending on travel- and conference-related activities.8

 6

http://www.gsa.gov/federaltravelregulation, last accessed on July 11, 2016.

7

5 U.S.C. § 553.

8

Exec. Ord. No. 13589, “Promoting Efficient Spending” (Nov. 9, 2011), 76 Fed. Reg. 

70,863 (November 15, 2011).

Background

FTR Amendments and 

GSA Travel Bulletins

Executive Order 13589
Page 6 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

Following the issuance of EO 13589, OMB issued a supporting

memorandum on Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency 

Operations.

9 In order to support the cost saving goals of the Executive 

Order, the memorandum explained the role that travel plays in supporting 

agency missions and supporting local economies. At the same time, the 

memorandum required that each agency reduce its spending on travel 

costs, and provided that specific travel policies be established or clarified 

to manage travel budgets more efficiently and to reduce reliance on 

travel. The reductions were time limited through fiscal year 2016, but the 

memorandum explained that the intent was, among other things, to make 

the reductions in travel budgets sustainable.

In 2012, GSA formed the Government-wide Travel Advisory Committee 

(GTAC) to review existing travel policies, processes, and procedures. 

GSA formed GTAC to: 1) review existing travel policies, processes, and 

procedures; 2) ensure that the policies and procedures are accountable 

and transparent; and 3) help federal agencies achieve their missions 

effectively and efficiently at the lowest logical travel cost.10 In 2015, GTAC 

issued a report that provided advice and recommendations to GSA to, 

among other things, incorporate industry best practices.11 In 2015, GSA 

also established the Senior Travel Official Council to assist in the 

administration’s efforts to promote efficient spending.12

Data used by the agencies to prepare Travel Reporting Information 

Profile (TRIP) reports for GSA are maintained within each agency’s travel 

system, which is part of the E-Gov Travel Service 2 (ETS2). The TRIP 

report requires agencies to provide aggregate travel cost data 

(transportation, lodging, and meals and incidentals) for five travel 

categories:

 9

OMB, Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations, Memorandum, M-12-

12 (May 11, 2012).

10General Services Administration (GSA), Government-wide Travel Advisory Committee

(GTAC) Charter, at 1(Dec. 3, 2012, filed on Jan. 10, 2013).

11GSA, Government-wide Travel Advisory Committee (GTAC) Final Report, (Washington, 

D.C.: Mar. 4, 2015).

12GSA, GTAC, Charter, at 1.

OMB Memorandum 12-12

The Government-wide 

Travel Advisory Committee

Travel Reporting 

Information Profile
Page 7 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

• employee emergency—travel related to an unexpected 

occurrence/event or injury/illness that affects the employee personally 

and/or directly that requires immediate action/attention;

• mission (operational)—travel to a particular site to perform 

operational or managerial activities;

• special agency mission—travel to carry out a special agency 

mission and/or perform a task outside the agency’s normal course of 

day-to-day business activities that is unique or distinctive. These 

special missions are defined by the head of agency and are normally 

not programmed in the agency annual funding authorization;

• nontraining conference—travel performed in connection with a 

prearranged meeting, retreat, convention, seminar, or symposium for 

consultation or exchange of information or discussion; and,

• training—travel in conjunction with educational activities to become 

proficient or qualified in one or more areas of responsibility.13

GSA encourages federal agencies to use ETS2 reporting capabilities as a 

means to track, monitor, and report on costs related to travel spending. 

ETS2 is a comprehensive travel services program that brings a reporting 

capability to the agencies’ travel programs. In addition, GSA created 

ETS2 with the expectation that the services available under ETS2 would 

1) enable federal agencies to further consolidate travel services, 

platforms, and channels; 2) improve the leverage of government travel 

spending; 3) increase transparency for improved accountability; and 4) 

reduce waste. According to GSA officials, ETS2 provides the travel 

reporting capability that aligns with and supports OMB’s Memorandum M12-12. ETS2 can generate reports related to an agency’s travel costs and 

other travel-related activities. For example, through ETS2 an agency can 

generate operational reports to monitor day-to-day travel services, travel 

management, and regulatory reports that can be used to foster and 

encourage an agency’s managers to make informed decisions. By 2013, 

GSA awarded the development of ETS2 to two contractors that allowed 

 13Federal agencies that spend more than $5 million annually for all travel (domestic and 

international) must prepare and submit a TRIP report to GSA that consists of travel costs 

incurred by the agencies. The report must contain summary-level data on travel costs 

related to transportation, lodging, and other miscellaneous travel-related costs.

E-Gov Travel Service 2
Page 8 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

agencies to design a travel data cost system that best meets their 

respective needs.

Officials at each of the six selected agencies stated that, while their 

respective agencies pursued a wide range of cost-saving efforts to 

address the GSA cost-saving provisions, all of them had policies in place 

that addressed these provisions prior to GSA issuance of either an 

amendment or travel bulletin. Some of the agencies’ cost-saving efforts 

involved these agencies updating internal policy statements, issuing 

internal guidance, configuring their ETS2 to require justifications for 

making a policy exception, and providing in-person and web-based 

trainings. For example, Department of Defense (DOD) officials stated that 

for half of the travel bulletin provisions (10 of 20) DOD’s related actions 

had been in effect since at least 1998. In one instance, DOD included a 

provision in the December 1998 Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) that 

limited reimbursement of employees buying rental car insurance. This 

included the collision damage waiver adjustment and theft protection. 

This aligned with the 2014 GSA Bulletin FTR 14-05’s guidance 

recommending that travelers decline additional insurance when renting 

vehicles.14 Similarly, the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) travel 

system contained a restriction prompting travelers to provide a 

justification for not using a CPP fare, as well as confirmation that the 

alternative air fare is greater than the “least logical airfare plus 75.00 

dollars.” In addition, USDA’s internal travel policies state that each 

agency and staff office is expected to use the method of travel most 

advantageous to the government, including lower-cost airfares.

 14GSA Bulletin FTR 14-05, Rental Car (Passenger Vehicle) Requirements, (Washington, 

D.C.: Jan. 16, 2014).

Cost-Saving Efforts at 

Selected Agencies 

Generally Aligned 

with Regulations and 

Guidance

Selected Agencies Already 

Had Travel Policies in 

Place Prior to the 

Issuance of Regulations or 

Guidance
Page 9 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

According to officials at the six selected agencies, they were already 

taking action to address the issues introduced by FTR amendments and 

GSA travel bulletins. However, because the bulletins served to reinforce 

existing policy, these actions resulted in these agencies’ officials taking 

further actions—either developing new travel policy or issuing a 

memorandum to staff reminding them of existing agency travel policy—to 

highlight the policy. For example, according to officials at the Department 

of State (State), while the agency had codified the requirement for using 

contract air carriers in its own Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) at least as 

early as 2005, the more recent GSA travel bulletin on contract and 

noncontract airfares influenced State to reinforce the policy by issuing 

departmental notices and cables to all diplomatic and consular posts 

outlining the parameters for the use of commercial airfares.15 Similarly, 

DOD officials said that the agency addressed two cost-saving provisions 

within the same GSA travel bulletin by taking a new action to augment an 

existing policy. One provision addressed the issue of reviewing internal 

policies to ensure that the agency’s use of CPP contract and non-contract 

air carriers resulted in overall cost savings. The other provision addressed 

agencies’ management of their internal procedures to assess risk 

associated with using non-contract fares, which officials said they 

addressed through the same cost-saving effort. DOD officials stated that 

they had already taken a related action prior to the issuance of the 

bulletin. However, the travel bulletin resulted in DOD updating the JTR by

strengthening the language related to using restricted fares and requiring 

the use of a Decision Support Tool to assist in determining if a restricted 

fare may be advantageous to the government.16

In other cases, FTR amendments or GSA travel bulletins prompted the 

six agencies to take new actions. In these instances, these agencies took 

action as a direct result of the recently-issued GSA provisions for which 

they had not previously pursued a related cost-saving effort. This usually 

 15GSA Bulletin FTR 13-07, Emphasizing Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) Opportunities 

for Achieving Reduced Travel Costs through Use of City Pair Program (CPP) Contract and 

Non-Contract Airfares, (Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2013).

16DOD’s Decision Support Tool provides a checklist of questions for agency officials to 

answer, including; (1) whether the departure date is more than 7 days from the ticket 

purchase; (2) whether the travel is not subject to date, time, or destination change; and (3) 

whether the costs of the restricted airfare is less than the least expensive unrestricted 

airfare by $150 or more.

Selected Agencies 

Developed New Policies 

or Guidance to Reinforce 

or Update Existing Internal 

Travel Policies
Page 10 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

happened through the development of a new agency-specific travel policy 

or the issuance of a memorandum to staff reminding them of existing 

agency travel policy. For example, one FTR amendment addressed the 

use of rental cars that resulted in the Department of Justice (DOJ) issuing 

a memorandum advising travelers that pre-paid fueling options for rental 

vehicles are not authorized according to the amendment. This was a costsaving effort that the agency had not pursued prior to the amendment.

Officials at five of the six selected agencies described a few cases where 

their respective agencies took no specific policy action, but either: 1) 

advised employees to follow the FTR; 2) asked individual components to 

create unique policies that ensured FTR compliance; or 3) provided 

approving officials with the discretion to oversee employees’ compliance 

with the FTR as appropriate, and determine whether or how to adopt 

promising practices from the GSA travel bulletins. For example, according 

to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, employees were 

reminded to follow the FTR. However, if any of the agency’s components 

needed to clarify or address parts of the FTR not specifically covered by 

the agency’s Financial Management Policy Manual (FMPM), DHS 

empowered them to do so. For example, FMPM does not have a specific 

policy prohibiting reimbursement for purchasing pre-paid fueling options 

for rental cars, a GSA requirement. However, DHS officials stated that 

employees were asked to “exercise the same care in incurring expenses 

that a prudent person would exercise if using his or her personal funds 

while on personal business.” According to officials, components and 

travelers were still responsible for adjusting their travel actions to remain 

compliant with the FTR even when DHS policy could not be promptly 

updated. According to DHS officials, “as questions are raised by the 

travelers, the policy staff at each component provides the guidance 

necessary to maintain FTR compliance.”

In another example, officials at State refrained from taking a policy action 

to address two provisions in GSA Bulletin FTR 13-03 because the 

department wanted to provide approving officials with some discretion 

over travel decisions on individual trips and vouchers, such as 

determining if a rental car is a better option than public transportation for 

travelers, and whether travelers should be required to share rental cars 

and taxis while on official travel in groups and when public transportation 

Selected Agencies 

Advised and Reminded 

Employees to Continue 

Following the FTR in a 

Variety of Additional Ways
Page 11 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

is not a better option.

17 The cost of transportation is among many factors 

approving officials weigh when deciding. Given a wide diversity of factors 

across global locations in safe, secure, and available local transportation 

options, State officials told us that at that time they did not dictate a 

centralized policy on employee sharing of rental cars and taxis in order to 

leave this discretion to the traveler’s approving official. Use of public 

transportation over rental car usage, remains in the traveler’s approving 

official’s discretion. State subsequently updated their FAM on Dec 7th, 

2015 with specific provisions for rental cars on official travel. They said 

this allows approving officials the discretion to apply the prudent traveler 

rule, which in application “should clearly require employees to share 

rental cars while on official travel in groups.”18

We also found that the selected agencies initiated travel cost-saving 

efforts that were in addition to provisions recommended by GSA. For 

example, a September 2015 Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) 

report—DOD Travel Reform—said that DTMO tracked numerous costsaving travel reform initiatives for policy simplification that it pursued 

outside of the actions taken related to GSA’s bulletins and FTR 

amendments.19 These initiatives include: 1) standardization of 

reimbursement rates for privately-owned vehicles into a single rate; 2) 

creation of a standard travel rate to ensure that per diem is very limited 

for trips in which it takes a day to travel to a temporary duty (TDY) travel 

location; and 3) expansion of the definition of incidental expenses to 

include miscellaneous expenses.

In another example, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials 

stated that in addition to the web-based training material providing for 

reduced per diem for long-term TDY, VA had additional requirements that 

were beyond the scope of GSA’s bulletins and FTR amendments and that 

targeted additional cost savings. These requirements stated that travelers 

must stay in weekly or monthly rentals during extended assignments 

whenever possible and reduce their meals, incidentals, and expenses 

 17GSA Bulletin FTR 13-03, Promoting Efficient Travel Spending, (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 

21, 2012).

18GSA Bulletin FTR 13-03.

19Department of Defense, Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), DoD Travel 

Reform, (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2015).
Page 12 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

when the traveler is able to obtain lodging or meals at lower costs.

The Senior Travel Official Council (STOC) brings travel officials from all 

federal agencies together to share information and best practices to 

further cost-saving efforts.20 GSA established the STOC in 2015 to 

identify consistencies and best practices in the areas of travel policy, 

programs, and procurement.21 According to GSA officials, STOC is 

designed to help agencies make better use of their travel cost data to 

make informed decisions about internal policymaking and replicate 

actions taken by other agencies that implemented successful cost-saving 

policies and practices.

According to STOC meeting minutes, the council has taken some steps 

toward information-sharing efforts that could benefit all federal agencies. 

For example, in 2015, the council initiated a pilot program involving eight 

agencies to share promising practices in five areas: online booking, 

airfare savings, hotel reservations, car rentals, and SmartPay usage.22

Based on the pilot, STOC will come up with policies and processes that 

other agencies can choose and implement. In a December 2015 STOC 

meeting, officials from DOJ and the National Science Foundation 

provided information on actions they took prior to the pilot, and how those 

actions resulted in cost savings at their agencies. DOJ noted that their 

cost savings programs had top-down agency support and agency officials 

 20GSA bulletin FTR 14-08 strongly encouraged the designation of a Senior Travel Official 

and stated that: “in addition to the directives in Section 3(a) of EO 13589, the senior travel 

official: “works to direct and manage agency-wide travel programs ... to obtain economy 

and efficiency.” GSA Bulletin FTR 14-08, at § 4(c).The bulletin also states that: “no later 

than 90 days from issuance of this bulletin, the GSA Travel Policy and Program Offices 

will implement quarterly meetings of STOs.” GSA Bulletin FTR 14-08, at § 5.

21According to its charter, three of STOC’s objectives are to: 1) leverage best practices to 

inform government-wide travel solutions; 2) maximize visibility into government-wide travel 

spending; and 3) implement government-wide policies that simplify, standardize, and or 

reduce the cost of travel. STOC set up two primary working groups to discuss 

government-wide travel data analytics and best practices in relocation. GSA, GTAC 

Charter, at 1.

22Established in 1998, the GSA SmartPay Program is a government charge card and 

commercial payment solutions program that provides services to more than 350 federal 

agencies, organizations, and Native American tribal governments. GSA SmartPay 

payment solutions enable authorized government employees to make purchases on 

behalf of the federal government in support of their agency/organization’s mission. 

The Senior Travel Official 

Council Encouraged CostSaving Efforts among the 

Agencies, but More 

Information Sharing 

Needed
Page 13 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

implemented a policy change that required online booking and the lowest 

logical airfare. By implementing this policy, DOJ officials claimed a 

savings of more than $9.2 million when using lowest logical airfare (nonrefundable tickets) and an online booking rate of 68 percent in fiscal year 

2015. According to GSA officials, the STOC plans to encourage agencies 

to pursue these policies beyond the pilot program.

However, according to GSA officials and STOC meeting minutes, STOC 

members have yet to take full advantage of the STOC to network and 

learn about other agency-initiated policies that could lead to potential cost 

savings. According to GSA officials, the STOC members had not yet 

formally shared much information about other promising practices for 

tracking and monitoring savings that could be replicated to benefit other 

federal agencies. However, these officials said that the STOC is still in the 

early stages, and opportunities for agencies to share information have 

been limited. Such practices could help agencies to develop and 

implement cost-saving efforts, and quantify those efforts when possible. 

Without using the STOC meetings to engage in information sharing about 

these practices, agencies have a limited ability to learn from and apply 

other agencies’ methods for using E-Gov Travel Service 2 (ETS2) data 

reports to track and monitor the impact and effectiveness of their policies 

on travel spending reductions.

Only four cost-saving efforts at two of the selected agencies—DOJ and 

DOD—could be quantified. DOJ officials were able to quantify their 

estimated cost savings for implementing three cost-saving measures: 1) a 

savings of more than $15 million due to the use of non-contract, nonrefundable fares from fiscal year 2015 through the first quarter of fiscal 

year 2016, 2) an increase in the use of video conferencing that saved an 

estimated $16.3 million during fiscal year 2010, and 3) a requirement for 

the use of online booking for travel reservations whenever possible that 

saved nearly $3.4 million in transaction fee savings for fiscal year 2015. 

DOD officials also reported quantifiable cost-savings related to a GSA 

provision—which promoted implementing a per diem reduction for travel 

over 30 days23 that DOD adopted by mandating a per diem reduction to 

 23GSA Bulletin FTR 13-03, Promoting Efficient Travel Spending, (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 

21, 2012).

Most Efforts to 

Reduce Agency 

Travel-Related 

Spending Could Not 

Be Quantified
Page 14 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

75 percent of the locality rate for TDY at a single location that extends 

between 31 and 180 days and 55 percent for TDY of 181 or more days—

that resulted in savings of over $56 million between November 2014 and 

December 2015.

Although most cost-saving efforts at the selected agencies were not 

quantifiable, agency officials described how cost savings were likely 

achieved and what data limitations existed. Officials said that attempting 

to quantify many of the cost savings efforts would be a very labor 

intensive effort, and would require documenting the cost of decisions 

which are not made at the individual travel voucher level. For example, at 

VA, a travel policy stipulated that in selecting a particular local 

transportation method, the agency should consider, among other things, 

the accessibility and availability of public transportation at the TDY 

location. Therefore, VA officials said they did not approve car rentals in 

areas where public transportation is accessible and available, such as 

Washington, D.C. While VA officials stated that this approach likely 

resulted in cost savings by having travelers avoid expensive hotels and 

city parking fees, they could not quantify these cost savings.

In other instances, the selected agencies could not provide evidence of 

quantifiable cost savings at the aggregate level because travel data were 

not available from certain components within their agencies. For example, 

many sub-agencies within DHS kept track of and reported some cost 

savings through the elimination of non-mission critical travel, and by 

maximizing the use of conference calls and web-based training and 

meetings. However, DHS did not track such savings at the department 

level and could not quantify them for us. According to DHS officials, they 

were unable to determine or quantify cost savings at an aggregate level 

for most measures because DHS components had a wide variety of ways 

to avoid costs that were most appropriate for their unique missions, and 

the agency did not have a tracking mechanism to identify costs avoided. 

In addition, State officials said that there may be some limitations in their 

ability to collect and report data since travel at State is decentralized with 

each office authorizing, conducting, and collecting its own travel data.

Generally, it was not possible for most of the selected agencies to 

associate any one description of cost savings with a specific GSA 

provision. Officials at the agencies we interviewed told us that a wide 

range of factors influenced cost-saving efforts, including, but not limited 

to, GSA provisions contained within FTR amendments or GSA travel 

bulletins. For example, in addition to responding to GSA provisions at 

DHS, officials credited the Secretary’s initiative to cut costs and improve 
Page 15 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

overall operational efficiency as a reason for taking action on some of the 

same issues later recommended by GSA. Officials also cited other 

government-wide factors including requirements under Executive Order 

13589 and OMB Memorandum M-12-12 that influenced cost saving 

efforts at agencies at the same time officials responded to GSA’s costsaving provisions.

According to officials at five of the six selected agencies, a number of 

limitations in the travel data system designed by GSA and maintained by 

the agencies affected their ability to identify cost savings related to 

implementation of cost-saving provisions in FTR amendments and GSA 

travel bulletins.24 GSA officials stated that while most agencies have the 

capability via ETS2 to track, monitor, and report on cost savings, this 

reporting capability is not being leveraged consistently across the federal 

agencies to manage their travel costs. However, because agencies can 

customize ETS2 to fit their particular needs, these advances may still not 

provide for common reporting of travel information across federal 

agencies. Further, officials at GSA confirmed that while ETS2 offers 

better tracking and monitoring of travel costs compared to its 

predecessor, it still cannot provide for a central means of collecting and 

reporting data that would be reliable for the purposes of comparison 

across agencies.

Access to quality travel data is essential to performing key travel 

management tasks. The 2015 Government-wide Travel Advisory 

Committee (GTAC) final report stated that access to quality data requires 

maintaining data from multiple sources in an integrated framework 

whether a system, database, or data management tool that would allow 

federal agencies to compile and maintain enterprise-level travel data 

sufficient to support business decisions, respond to government-wide 

data calls, leverage sourcing strategies, and comply with the Government 

Performance and Results Act of 1993.25 However, GTAC found that the 

 24DOD does not use a GSA’s ETS2 travel system. Instead, DOD uses their own systems: 

primarily the Defense Travel System, as well as the Reserve Travel System and the 

Integrated Automated Travel System.

25GSA, GTAC, Final Report, at 22 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 4, 2015) citing the 

Government Performance and Results Act, Pub. L. No. 103-62, 107 Stat. 285 (Aug. 3, 

1993).

Travel Data System 

Limitations Hinder 

Agencies’ Ability to 

Identify Cost Savings
Page 16 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

federal government still had not started maintaining data from multiple 

sources in a single, centralized, and integrated framework, whether a 

system, database, or data management tool.26 The report’s findings 

supported the GSA officials’ statements. According to GSA officials, there 

is a need for more standardization in travel management reports to give 

GSA the ability to compare travel cost data between agencies that use 

either of the two ETS2 vendors, and report government-wide trends. 

Agencies’ abilities to customize their reporting options without also 

meeting standard reporting requirements hinder GSA’s ability to establish 

a common metric for tracking and monitoring federal travel spending. 

Agencies are also unable to fully assess the travel costs incurred by their 

staff. Thus, they are unable to fully identify areas for potential cost 

savings.

ETS2 allows agencies the option to select between two vendors who can 

assist them with the tracking and monitoring of travel cost data. Agencies 

can customize and configure their travel data systems to meet their travel 

needs in alignment with their policies and business needs. According to 

GSA officials, because agencies can customize and configure their travel 

data systems, and because of the lack of government-wide standards on 

cost savings metrics, it is difficult for GSA to facilitate peer-to-peer 

comparisons across the federal agencies. For example, officials said that 

while both ETS2 vendors have a standard report to help agencies 

determine their hotel attachment rates within the system, one vendor’s 

report collects information on hotels booked within the data travel system, 

and the other vendor’s report collects information on hotels booked 

outside of the data travel system. As a result, it is difficult for agencies 

and GSA to determine if travelers at all agencies are taking advantage of 

the reduced rates available when booking their lodging along with 

transportation.

Additionally, one of the goals of ETS2 is to help agencies achieve greater 

data transparency. The required TRIP reports provide travel spending 

 26The purpose of GTAC was to review existing travel policies, processes, and procedures 

to ensure that they are accountable and transparent, beginning with the per diem 

methodology to aid in meeting agency missions in effectively and efficiently at the lowest 

logical travel cost. Through the review process, GTAC addressed current industry and 

federal travel trends and provided advice and recommendations for improvements to 

increase travel efficiency and effectiveness, reduce costs, promote sustainability, and 

incorporate industry best practices.
Page 17 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

information that was previously not tracked in ETS. This includes 

breaking out the travel and lodging costs into the five different categories 

of federal travel.27 Because of a standardized template used to generate 

the TRIP reports and the increased capacity of ETS2, agencies are now 

able to report travel spending in more consistent formats. While this 

indicates the potential for a greater level of tracking and monitoring of 

travel spending by agencies, GSA officials believe that this may not be 

achieved unless agencies adopt common reporting practices.

According to GSA officials, in late 2015, they began to plan a shared 

services model to help agencies better manage their travel programs. 

This model would allow agencies to share a wide range of travel services 

with each other to reduce both administrative costs and burden to the 

government, and enable data-driven decision making. According to GSA 

officials, based on the draft business plan the shared services model 

would be able offer government-wide data collection, benchmarking, and 

reporting standards that agency managers can access and use to inform 

decisions. According to officials, under the shared services model, while 

the agencies would still be the decision makers regarding agency-specific 

travel policies, GSA would be able to advise them on which system 

configuration would allow the agencies to obtain the lowest travel costs 

relative to mission objectives.

The six selected agencies that accounted for more than three-quarters of 

federal travel dollars (Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, 

State, and Veterans Affairs) did pursue a variety of efforts aimed at 

reducing travel costs that generally aligned with GSA’s amendments to 

the FTR and travel bulletins. However, these agencies generally lacked 

data to track these efforts. GSA’s efforts to track and monitor travel costs 

across federal agencies is similarly limited by a lack of standardized data 

as reported by individual agencies. More standardized data reporting 

could help GSA advise agencies on how to limit travel costs while still 

achieving their agencies’ missions. 

275 U.S.C. § 5707 (c) requires GSA to periodically, but at least every 2 years, submit to 

OMB “an analysis of estimated total agency payments for such items as travel and 

transportation of people, average costs and duration of trips, and purposes of official 

travel; and of estimated total agency payments for employee relocation.” 

Conclusions
Page 18 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

GSA created the STOC to identify efficiencies and discuss practices for 

achieving travel cost savings. However, STOC members have not yet 

taken full advantage of this opportunity. As the STOC moves forward, 

opportunities exist to help agencies share information. Additional attention 

to these issues by STOC can help agencies develop, implement, and 

share their travel cost-saving efforts. Such additional attention to these 

issues could in turn help STOC promote the more efficient use of travel 

funds across the federal government without imposing additional 

requirements on agencies.

The Administrator of General Services, in consultation with the STOC, 

should develop a travel data management approach, including common 

reporting formats that would provide GSA with more consistent travel cost 

data allowing GSA to compare travel costs across federal agencies. GSA 

could also include in this data management approach the planned 

implementation of the shared services model that would allow agencies to 

share a wide range of travel services with each other. This process could 

reduce both administrative costs and burden to the government and 

enable data-driven decision making.

The Administrator of GSA, as chair of the STOC, should work with the 

STOC to identify promising opportunities and implement leading practices 

to help agencies leverage their travel resources and implement travel 

cost-saving efforts.

We provided a draft of this report to the Administrator of the GSA and the 

Secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, State, 

and Veteran Affairs for review and comment. GSA agreed with both 

recommendations as discussed below. The Departments of Defense, 

Justice, State, and Veterans Affairs provided technical comments which 

we incorporated as appropriate. The Departments of Agriculture and 

Homeland Security had no comments to our report.

In written comments received on June 30, 2016, GSA staff agreed with 

the two recommendations in this report and agreed to take the following 

actions to address them. In response to the first recommendation, GSA 

officials stated that they will conduct a test program to determine the 

opportunities and barriers of creating a reliable standardized data 

repository containing government-wide travel spending data. To address 

the second recommendation, GSA officials agreed to establish an STOC 

working group to implement a process of documenting promising travel 

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

Agency Comments
Page 19 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

management and cost-saving practices, which could be used by Senior 

Travel Officials at their respective agencies.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees, and the aforementioned agencies. In addition, the report is 

available at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (202) 512-6806 or sagerm@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this report 

are listed in appendix III.

Michelle Sager 

Director, Strategic Issues
Appendix I: Travel Cost-Saving Provisions 

Contained in Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 

Amendments and General Services 

Administration (GSA) Travel Bulletins Issued 

between Fiscal Years 2011 and 2015

Page 20 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

FTR Amendments

Lodging Reimbursement 76 Fed. Reg. 63844, (Oct. 14, 2011) (codified at 41 C.F.R. § 301-11)

Agency must not reimburse real estate expenses or the lodging portion of per diem for the 

purchase or sale of a personal residence or recreational vehicle at the temporary duty (TDY) travel 

location. 

Agency must not reimburse the lodging portion of per diem to travelers who lodge at their personal 

residences while on TDY.

Removal of Conference 

Lodging Allowance Provisions 78 Fed. Reg. 65210, (Oct. 31, 2013) (codified at 41 C.F.R. §§ 301-11 and 301-70)

Agency must no longer use the conference lodging allowance reimbursement option for 

employees on TDY. This refers to the allowance for travelers to exceed the lodging rate by up to 

25 percent.

If per diem lodging rates are unavailable at conference location, travelers should construct a cost 

comparison to decide whether to find lodging within per diem that is away from the conference 

location or reimburse actual expenses for lodging at the conference location that does not have a 

per diem rate.

Enhancement of Privately 

Owned Vehicle and Rental 

Vehicle Policy 80 Fed. Reg. 27259, (May 13, 2015) (codified at 41 C.F.R. §§ 300-3, 301-10 and 301-70)

Travelers must use the least expensive compact car available unless an exception is approved.

Travelers will not be reimbursed for purchasing pre-paid fuel for rental cars. Travelers should 

refuel prior to returning the vehicle to the rental car company.

Travelers will not be reimbursed for fees associated with rental car loyalty points or transfer of 

points charged by car companies.

GSA Travel Bulletin

Promoting Efficient Travel 

Spending FTR 13-03, Dec. 21, 2012

Agency should justify that employee travel is necessary to accomplish the mission.

Agency should consider technological alternatives to travel.

Agency should consider all viable lowest-cost transportation options, such as selecting a noncontract airfare.

Agency should have controls in place to collect all refunds for unused or partially used airline 

tickets.

Agency should encourage employees to use public transportation as the first option for local 

transportation when on TDY.

Agency should increase employee sharing of rental cars and taxis.

Agency should encourage employees to evaluate all lodging options that are within per diem.

Agency should evaluate reduced per diem for TDY assignments that last more than 30 days and a 

Temporary Change of Station for TDY assignments that last more than 180 days.

Appendix I: Travel Cost-Saving Provisions 

Contained in Federal Travel Regulation 

(FTR) Amendments and General Services 

Administration (GSA) Travel Bulletins Issued 

between Fiscal Years 2011 and 2015
Appendix I: Travel Cost-Saving Provisions 

Contained in Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 

Amendments and General Services 

Administration (GSA) Travel Bulletins Issued 

between Fiscal Years 2011 and 2015

Page 21 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

Emphasizing FTR 

Opportunities for Achieving 

Reduced Travel Costs through 

Use of City Pair Program (CPP) 

Contract and Non-Contract 

Airfares FTR 13-07, June 4, 2013.

Agency should review internal policies to ensure that use of City Pair Program contract and noncontract air carriers results in overall cost savings.

Agency may authorize use of non-contract airfares in three scenarios, including when a noncontract fare, if used, would result in a lower total trip cost to the government.

Agency must consider (1) all direct costs, including per diem and actual transportation cost, and 

(2) indirect costs, including overtime and lost work time, when authorizing a method of 

transportation.

Agency must assess risk associated with using non-contract airfares, which includes ensuring that 

the traveler reasonably anticipates using the ticket.

Agency should configure the E-Gov Travel Service (ETS) to reflect an airfare selection policy that 

is designed to achieve the lowest total trip cost.

Agency must book all travel airfare through appropriate ETS booking channels regardless of fare 

type.

Rental Car (Passenger Vehicle) 

Requirements FTR 14-05, Jan. 16, 2014.

Agency should review agency policy to verify that it is abundantly clear that all rental cars must be 

authorized only when in the best interest of the government.

Agency should ensure travelers book rental car reservations through ETS where available or 

arrange car rentals through agency’s Travel Management Center (TMC). No other methods may 

be used.

Agency should ensure travelers are familiar with the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), 

U.S. Government Rental Car Agreement and encourage them to rent cars from participating 

vendors.

Agency should educate travelers to decline additional insurance, such as collision damage waiver 

or theft insurance, which travelers generally may not be reimbursed for.

Designation of Agency Senior 

Travel Officials FTR 14-08, May 13, 2014.

Agencies are strongly encouraged to notify GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy of the name 

and contact information of the employee selected to be responsible on an agency-wide basis (i.e. 

the “Senior Travel Official”) for ensuring efficient travel spending.

Agencies should consider including certain major responsibilities as part of the Senior Travel 

Official position, such as researching best practices and recommending actions to improve 

efficiency and effectiveness of travel programs and directing and managing agency travel 

programs to obtain economy and efficiency.

Source: GAO analysis of General Services Administration documents. | GAO-16-657
Appendix II: Comments from the U.S. General

Services Administration

Page 22 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

Appendix II: Comments from the U.S. 

General Services Administration
Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff

Acknowledgments

Page 23 GAO-16-657 Federal Travel

Michelle A. Sager, (202) 512-6806 or sagerm@gao.gov

In addition to the contact name above, Tara Carter (Assistant Director) 

and Joseph Santiago (analyst-in-charge) supervised the development of 

this report. Jehan Chase, Kelvin Dawson, Keith Logan, Michael O’Neill, 

Laurel Plume, Silvia Porres-Hernandez, Steven Putansu, Wesley Sholtes, 

and Stewart Small made key contributions to this report.

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(451149)
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