Use of Discounted Airfares by the Office of the Secretary

摘要

The General Services Administrations (GSA) Federal Travel Regulation, which governs Federal employee travel, requires travelers, with certain exceptions, to use a GSA contract fare for air travel. Under its city-pair program, GSA awards competitive contracts for air transportation services between specified destinations, called city pairs, based on the best overall value to the Government. For many city pairs, two contract fares are available: a discounted fare (which we refer to as the standard fare) and a highly discounted fare (which we refer to as the discounted fare). The discounted fare imposes no restrictions, but seating availability is limited. Thus, Federal travelers who can book early or who have flexible travel schedules have a better chance of receiving the discounted fare. The Department of Health and Human Services, including the Office of the Secretary (OS), uses the GovTrip Web-based travel system, which a GSA contractor developed, to plan and authorize travel. During fiscal year (FY) 2006, OS spent approximately $4 million for employee airfare.