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The National Park Service: Actions Needed to Improve Travel Cost Management

GAO-03-354 Published: Feb 13, 2003. Publicly Released: Feb 13, 2003.
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Highlights

Unable to obtain information on the National Park Service's (Park Service) travel costs to ensure that the agency is spending appropriated funds effectively and efficiently, the Congress asked GAO to assess the availability of travel cost information and provide certain travel cost information, such as the cost of foreign travel and for attending conferences, for the Park Service for each of the past 4 fiscal years.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to establish procedures for capturing travel data, including travel type and purpose, as required by the Federal Travel Regulation.
Closed – Implemented
In FY 2004, the National Park Service (NPS) as part of a Department of the Interior(DOI)-wide system change migrated to the Travel Manager System. Again in FY 2008, the NPS changed systems to Northrop Grumman's GovTrip, one of three system vendors approved by the General Services Administration's (GSA) E-Gov Travel Service. As part of its default settings, GovTrip requires information related to the trip including, type, locations, purpose, estimated amount, ect. that are required by the Federal Travel Regulation.
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to enforce existing Park Service foreign travel policy requiring all foreign travel vouchers to be processed electronically by the Accounting Operations Center to enable a complete and proper recording of foreign travel costs.
Closed – Implemented
In FY 2004, the National Park Service (NPS) as part of the entire Department of the Interior (DOI) migrated to the Travel Manager System. In FY 2008, the NPS changed systems to Northrop Grumman's GovTrip, one of three vendors approved by General Services Administration?s (GSA) E-Gov Travel Service. GovTrip allows user agencies to have electronic communication between GovTrip and the agency's accounting records. When travel vouchers are processed and a payment is approved GovTrip will automatically update the accounting records an agency has setup. All travel (both foreign and domestic) processed through GovTrip is centrally and electronically processed for authorizations and payment vouchers. GovTrip provides the information needed to properly record, account for, and report travel-related obligations and disbursements. Also, embedded in GovTrip are certain reports that that agency officials can review. An official can review such foreign travel related items as flags for foreign travel (automatically generated when a non-US location is identified) and TDY location. GovTrip's ability to electronically link all travel with accounting records and its ability to run reports on numerous travel attributes satisfies the recommendation.
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to address the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program Travel System Requirements when designing and implementing the travel system scheduled for completion later this year as well as any future travel systems.
Closed – Implemented
In FY 2004, the National Park Service (NPS) as part of the entire Department of the Interior (DOI) migrated to the Travel Manager System. In FY 2008, the NPS changed systems to Northrop Grumman's GovTrip, one of three vendors approved by General Services Administration's (GSA) E-Gov Travel Service. The GSA has under contract three web-based travel vendors available for use by government agencies. The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) requires the use of a web-based travel system that adheres to regulations in the FTR. As a GSA-approved travel system, we concluded that the GovTrip travel system meets all the travel system design requirements of the Federal Travel Regulations.

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Topics

Accounting proceduresAccounting systemsAppropriated fundsFunds managementInternational travelReporting requirementsTravel costsInflationEmbassy managementFinancial management