Addendum 0011 Contractor Travel Approval Process.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

Army Enterprise Staff Management System Enterprise Task Management Software Solution

(ETMS2) Contract Contractor Travel Approval Process

Version 1.0 August 17, 2020

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AESMS ETMS2 Vendor Travel Process Page i

DOCUMENT CHANGE HISTORY

Version Description of Change Author Date

1.0 Initial Document Mathew Conway 17 AUG 20

PREPARATION AND APPROVAL

Prepared By:

17 AUG 2020

Mathew Conway, Project Management Specialist

Approved By:

Andrus Landry, Project Lead, Contracting Officer’s Representative

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AESMS ETMS2 Vendor Travel Process Page iii

Table of Contents

1. Purpose

2. Guidebook Maintenance

3. Roles and Responsibilities

3.1 Contractor

3.2 Program Analyst (PA) and/or Project Management Specialist (PMS)

3.3 Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)

4. Travel Request and Approval Process

5. Short Notice Travel

6. Travel Cancellations

7. Change in Cost

8. Travel Claims / Invoicing

List of Figures Figure 4-1: Contractor Travel Approval Process

AESMS Vendor Travel Process Page 1

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this guidebook is to document and detail the process for submitting, reviewing and approving contractor (vendor) Travel Authorization Requests (TARs).

2. GUIDEBOOK MAINTENANCE

This guidebook will be reviewed annually and updated, as needed, as the program matures through development and execution of the PL AESMS and PD ES best practices.

This guidebook contains a revision history log. When changes occur, the revision history log will include an updated version number, the revision date, the person or group making the change, and a high-level description of the change(s) made.

3. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As this program continues to evolve and mature, it is necessary to update our tools, processes and procedures to align with current and emerging trends. The Product Lead will ensure that all tools, processes and procedures are kept up to date by reviewing and updating this plan to ensure emplacement of consistently logical and complementary procedures for all program and project level documents.

3.1 CONTRACTOR

The Contractor is responsible for directing and overseeing travel of Contractor employees. Contractor employees will prepare TARs for all travel, which will be reviewed by personnel designated by the Contractor prior to submission. Contractor will ensure that all costs that can be forecast are captured in the TAR to provide as accurate of a quote as possible. The Contractor will submit a monthly projection of travel report to the COR on the 15th of the month prior conducting travel to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to obtain preliminary approval. For example the report detailing the travel to occur during February will be submitted no later than 15 January.

The Contractor will also submit individual TARs for each traveler and period of travel to the COR for final approval 3 weeks (15 business days) prior to the start of planned travel.

TARs will be signed by the Contractor Project Manager to indicate that the document has been reviewed and is authorized by the Contractor. The Contractor will resubmit any TARs returned by the COR or their designated agent within 2 business days.

3.2 PROGRAM ANALYST (PA) AND/OR PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST

(PMS)

The PA and PMS, as designated by the COR, are responsible for maintaining the government travel logbook and conducting a cursory review of all TARs prior to the COR reviewing and approving travel. The PA or PMS will review the TARs for the following information:

• Lodging and per diem rates are in line with the current established rates established by GSA.

AESMS ETMS2 Vendor Travel Process Page 2

• Mileage estimates are in accordance with current government standards and estimated using Defense Table of Official Distances

• Airfare is reasonable

• Requested travel would not violate the requirements of the Federal Travel

Regulation or IRS regulations; i.e. Reimbursement for Commuting Expenses or lodging/per diem payments for travel under 12 hours (single day travel)

3.3 CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (COR)

The COR is responsible for reviewing, and approving or rejecting TARs no later than 10 business days prior to the requested date of travel. The COR will review travel claims and invoices to ensure they are payable in accordance with all applicable regulations and that charges do not exceed 15% of the requested amounts.

4. TRAVEL REQUEST AND APPROVAL PROCESS

The request and approval process is detailed below and a graphic representation is provided in Figure 4-1.

1. Contractor will determine employees are required to travel to execute their duties in relation to the contract.

2. Contractor will submit the Monthly Travel Projection Report which includes the following information:

o Personnel who will be traveling o Supported organization o CLINs travel is expected to be billed against o Trip purpose o Destination o Dates of travel o Mode of travel o Estimated costs

3. Contractor employees will prepare a TAR for each travel period that details:

o All items required on the travel projection report o Itemized forecast of expenses including but not limited to:

Lodging Per Diem Airfare Booking Fees Mileage for personal vehicles Rental Car costs Rental car fuel projection Tolls Hotel Taxes Parking Other expenses authorized by the FTR

AESMS ETMS2 Vendor Travel Process Page 3

4. Contractor Program Manager will review TAR to ensure costs are within government standards, are necessary and that all known costs are accounted for.

5. Contractor will seek approval of all travel no later than 3 weeks (15 business days) prior to the start of the requested travel

a. All TARs will be uploaded to the Accenture page on the PL AESMS SharePoint site within the Travel Approval Requests library.

https://peoeis.kc.army.mil/es/potmt/accenture/Travel%20Approval%20Requests

b. Contractor personnel responsible for uploading TARs will ensure that the following SharePoint Data Field information is properly assigned to each TAR after it has been uploaded

1) Document Status = All new TARs will be assigned “Submitted”

2) Customer(s) = The Organization(s) that will be billed for travel

3) Traveler (populated from drop down list generated by the Contractor

Personnel Roster)

4) Departure Date

5) Contract Year

6. The AESMS Project Management Specialist will log and review all TARs

a. All TARs will be entered into the contract travel log and assigned a control number (TAR #)

1) The TAR # will be entered onto the TAR in the appropriate box

2) The TAR # will be entered into the SharePoint Data Field

b. The TAR will be reviewed to ensure the following is accurate

1) The CLIN is proper for the customer being supported

2) Per Diem and lodging amounts will not exceed the maximum rate for the location where the travel/duty will be performed.

https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates

3) First and last date travel per diem rates are only 75% of the maximum rate

4) Travelers using POV have estimated their mileage in accordance with

Defense Table of Official Distances.

https://dtod.sddc.army.mil/default.aspx

5) Travelers using a POV have accounted for mileage at the current rate.

https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/rssDetail.cfm?id=2871

6) Any TARs that do not pass initial review will be assigned a SharePoint Document Status of “Returned for Correction” and an email explaining the discrepancy will be submitted to the Contractor with courtesy copy to the

COR

https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates https://dtod.sddc.army.mil/default.aspx https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/rssDetail.cfm?id=2871

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7) All TARs that pass initial review will be assigned a SharePoint Document Status of “Reviewed”

7. The AESMS COR will:

a. Review the TAR to validate the same information as the Project Management

Specialist.

b. Any TARs that do not pass final review will be marked as “Returned for

Correction” and an email explaining the discrepancy will be submitted to the Contractor with courtesy copy to the Project Management Specialist.

c. All TARs that pass final review will be digitally signed and locked and then returned to the Contractor by updating the Document Status to “Approved”.

Contractor Travel Approval Process

C on tra ct or P er so nn el

A

ES

M S

P ro je ct M an ag em en t S pe ci al is t

A

ES

M S

C on tra ct in g O ffi ce rs

R ep re se nt at iv e

Direct Employee to Travel

Prepare Travel Authorization

Request (4 Weeks in advance)

Are expenses

IAW FTR/FAR/

GSA?

Enter TAR in Travel

Logbook and assign TAR

Number

Approve TAR

No

Correct TAR and resubmit

Yes

Review TAR for accuracy

Are expenses

IAW FTR/FAR/

GSA?

No

Yes

Upload TAR to

PL AESMS

SharePoint

Change Document

Status Category to “Reviewed”

Change Document

Status Category to “Approved”

Complete SharePoint Data Fields

Change Document

Status Category to

“Returned for Correction”

Conduct Travel

COR/PMS

Automatically Notified by SharePoint

PMS

Automatically

Notified by SharePoint

Figure 4-1: Contractor Travel Approval Process

5. SHORT NOTICE TRAVEL

Travel conducted on short notice will be kept to an absolute minimum. In the event that travel plans are not able to be made 3 weeks (15 business days in advance), the Contractor’s Project Manager will provide the COR with an email documenting the need for travel, and an explanation why travel plans could not be made in accordance with the required timelines, prior to uploading the TAR for the trip.

AESMS ETMS2 Vendor Travel Process Page 5

6. TRAVEL CANCELLATIONS

In the event travel is cancelled after the TAR is approved, but before costs are incurred, the Contractor will change the TAR document status on SharePoint to reflect “Trip Cancelled” and send an email to the COR and PA/PMS notifying them that the trip was cancelled. The designated AESMS personnel will update the AESMS Travel Logbook to reflect the cancelled travel.

7. CHANGE IN COST

If a change in estimates of greater than 10% is realized prior to conducting travel, the Contractor will amend the TAR, and resubmit the TAR by changing the TAR document status on SharePoint to reflect “Amended.” This is an estimating tool and TARS will not be amended after travel has been conducted.

8. TRAVEL CLAIMS / INVOICING

Contractor will ensure that their and their subcontractor employee’s submit claims for travel expenses within 5 business days after returning from travel. All travel claims should be invoiced within 4 billing cycles or may be considered delinquent. Continuous recordings of delinquent travel claims will result in escalating the matter to the Contracting Officer for determination on appropriate action and may result in future late travel claims being rejected for reimbursement, and/or recording of negative CPARs.