Serving Uncle Sam can be a learning experience
It was big news when Carlson Wagonlit Travel bought Navigant International because the acquisition made CWT an even bigger player in travel management -- perhaps the biggest in the industry.
Less discussed is that Navigant owned SatoTravel, long the agency most associated with serving government and military travel accounts. As a result, not only does Carlson own Sato, it is one of the three vendors for E-Gov Travel Service (eTS). On top of that, Carlson operates FedRooms, Uncle Sam's lodging program.
Scott Guerrero, president of CW Government Travel, the umbrella for Carlson's government operations, said Carlson now has a four-pronged operation for government travel: Carlson Wagonlit, E2, Sato and FedRooms.
"Carlson has made a big investment in government travel," Guerrero said. But he added, "It is not a new focus." The company won its first army contract 18 years ago.
Why is Carlson so focused on government travel? Simple, said Guerrero: "The federal government spends a lot on travel."
"We clearly see government travel as an opportunity to bring our expertise in best practices for managed travel in the commercial sector to a different arena," Guerrero said. "We serve major commercial clients, and those standards set the bar as far as delivering economic value."
But Guerrero calls the relationship a "two-way learning street," adding that commercial travel managers could learn from the government.
As an example, he said, "I think pre-trip authorization is a key aspect where commercial entities can emulate the government."
FedRooms, the Carlson-operated federal lodging program, is turning out to be a learning experience for all concerned.
Government travelers, according to FedRooms, spend $2 billion annually on hotel rooms. Participating hoteliers ensure that government travelers stay in rooms that are compliant with Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations at rates that are at or below per diem.
FedRooms now has more than 3,300 hotels under contract for federal travelers, and, as is the case with other Carlson divisions (its hotel brands, for example), it is "travel agency agnostic," said Tracy McCormick, director of FedRooms.
One continuing challenge, she said, is to keep reminding federal travelers and department heads that "the so-called government rate offered by many hotels doesn't mean anything and is not a managed rate. We offer guaranteed per diem or lower, 4 p.m. checkout and a same-day cancellation policy." -- H.C.
The
goal: To elevate management of the federal government's
annual travel spending -- estimated at between $12 billion and $20
billion -- to the efficiency level of the best corporate travel
management.
The
deadline: All federal agencies were to have deployed the
E-Gov Travel Service (eTS), a system being managed by the General
Services Administration, by Sept. 30.
The bottom
line: Most federal agencies will miss the deadline,
although most of the very largest agencies will meet it.
The government is undergoing sweeping
changes in the way federal employees travel, changes that are
having a profound impact on the way travel agencies deal with the
government. But like much of government, the process is far from
seamless.
In fact, the
picture that emerged in recent discussions with a range of affected
parties -- the GSA, travel agents, consultants and the private
contractors putting together eTS -- revealed an initiative that is
moving forward but faces obstacles resulting from the sheer size of
the undertaking, bureaucratic inertia and a regulatory environment that corporate travel
managers do not typically encounter.
For travel agencies
that have handled government business in the past, eTS has been a
business killer in some cases, a serendipitous opportunity in
others.
The GSA describes
eTS as "a government-wide, Web-based system that aims to apply
world-class travel management practices to consolidate federal
travel, minimize cost and produce superior customer
satisfaction."
The system is
designed as an "end-to-end process," meaning that a single system
enables travelers to get pre-authorization, book travel, submit
expenses and get reimbursed.
It replaces a
decentralized system that the GSA described as "labor-intensive,
inconsistent and unable to effectively monitor travel operations,"
and that "still relied heavily on paper-based systems."
Progress and problems
People interviewed
for this report, both in and out of government, differed in their
views of how well eTS is meeting its
mission.
An audit released
last March by the GSA's own Inspector General, titled "Review of
the Effectiveness of the GSA E-Gov Travel Program Management
Office," reported that eTS was being "hampered by deployment delays
caused by both agency and vendor setbacks." Some travelers, the
auditors said, "find the system hard to use, with help from vendors
lacking."
Timothy Burke,
program manager for eTS, said the Inspector General's report
covered a 12-month period that was long past, and that eTS was now
"well ahead of that." He said the Sept. 30 and other deadlines had
been "aggressive by design."
Many agencies
requested extensions, which Burke said could only be granted for
"business
reasons."
Still, he said, of
the 24 largest federal agencies, 22 have now deployed eTS; many of
the rest have not yet deployed the system but are making "solid
progress."
In those agencies
on which eTS is up and running, "online usage has surprised us,"
Burke said.
"We thought 40% of
travelers would be making reservations online by now; in some cases
it exceeds 70% and even 80%. And we're doubling usage month to
month."
Recently, the GSA
stepped up efforts to encourage eTS use, issuing new rules
requiring travel managers to submit plans to the eTS office
detailing how they will increase their agency's use of the
system.
According to the
GSA, eTS is capable of "lowering costs by 66% from the off-line,
full-service system."
Greg McIntyre,
president of MLinqs, a company formed to help federal agencies
through the eTS transition, said, "It's an evolution, not a
revolution. Adoption is occurring, and it will be
inevitable."
Three private contractors
In November 2003,
the GSA awarded 10-year contracts (a three-year contract plus
options) to three vendors to create eTS systems on a competitive
basis: Carlson Wagonlit Government Travel (whose service is called
E2), EDS (FedTraveler) and Northrop Grumman (GovTrip).
Each vendor in turn
selected a mega-agency with which to partner for fulfillment and
other transactional purposes: Carlson does fulfillment in-house,
Northrop Grumman chose American Express, and EDS went with Sato
Travel, which is now owned by Carlson.
All three have
already negotiated contracts with a number of federal agencies, and
they are still vying for more contracts. Here is how the three
differentiate their approaches:
"
Carlson: Scott Guerrero, president of CW Government Travel
(see sidebar, at right), described E2 as a "smart system
designed to accommodate what's unique to government." For instance,
he said, "If travelers have a meal at a conference and do not spend
their meal per diem, the system is designed to pro rate their per
diem."
Guerrero said E2
works with a computer application called GetThere for Government,
which was designed to display customized programs like City Pairs
(the government discount air fare program) and FedRooms (the
government discount lodging program).
There are eTS
success stories, said Guerrero, who noted that "the departments of
Labor, Education and Interior now book more than 50% of their
travel through our system; that's comparable to the commercial
world."
At one bureau
within the Interior Department, Guerrero said that "86% of bookings
are now made online."
"The approach we've
taken is to use our knowledge of the travel business, to recognize
that this is not just a voucher system but an integrated,
end-to-end service," Guerrero said.
Though the original
vision of eTS was "one-size-fits-all," he said, "We quickly
discovered that federal agencies migrated to best practices for
them individually."
Carlson has "done a
lot of work that the user never sees, including complex financial
interfaces," Guerrero said. "We also have good tools, like reliable
real-time inventory, the ability to choose airplane seats and
instant hotel confirmation. And we have a very good help
desk."
"
EDS: Company spokesman Brad Bass said EDS places its major
emphasis on usability. "The mind-set we have is that the user comes
first, and we take pains to work with users," Bass said. "We go out
to their offices to work hard on training and education and to
listen to them."
Although EDS's
agency partner is SatoTravel, which is now part of Carlson via
Carlson's purchase of Navigant, Bass said, "We will continue to
work with Sato. The Carlson purchase does not affect that
relationship."
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