Proposals for Improving the Management of Federal Travel

GAO discussed the elements of a good travel management system; current policies and procedures to budget, monitor, and authorize travel in the Federal Government; the equity of different military and civilian travel reimbursement practices; recent travel management initiatives; and the applicability of private sector travel policies and practices to Federal travel management. Travel in the Departments of Agriculture and the Army and the findings of congressional investigative staffs in the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency were reviewed.

Budgets are essentially based on past levels of travel expenditures. The lack of accurate data on the cost and purposes of travel can make travel budgets unreliable and travel unmanageable. The President's 1981 budget did not reflect all of the reductions in 1980 travel mandated by Congress. Loose authorization procedures and lax management attitudes have hindered effective travel management. Department of Agriculture employees use general travel authorizations beyond the scope intended for their use. Agriculture has delegated trip approval to first-line supervisors who may not be aware of the agency's priorities and travel funds' availability. Congress has cited numerous examples of questionable travel practices in the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services and in the Environmental Protection Agency. These include unjustifed use of first-class accommodations, frequent use of personal leave in conjunction with official travel, retreats held for top managers attended largely by headquarters personnel, and questionable need for travel by secretaries. Similar abuses of conference travel have been reported at the General Services Administration. Different statutes, written by different authorities, established travel entitlements for civilian and uniformed personnel and, as a result, they receive different entitlements for similar travel. Differences also occur when Congress does not simultaneously raise the per diem ceilings for the two groups.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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