WHITE PAPER

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Taking a Closer Look at Government Travel

Executive Summary

Tightened federal travel budgets have created a challenging environment for government travelers and the missions they serve. Extended stay lodging (ESL) provides agencies looking for ways to develop creative budget solutions, quantifiable processes and analytics that promote better travel policies.

This white paper discusses the continued need for government travel and how ESL providers can help agencies make cost-effective spending decisions.

Introduction

In May 2012, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo directing agencies to reduce travel spending by 30 percent compared with 2010 levels and to maintain those levels through 2016. Agencies are also required to report annually on any conference spending in excess of $100,000, and employees must seek senior management approval for conference spending. As a result, federal travel spending fell 18 percent from fiscal 2012 to 2013 -- from $8.5 billion to about $6.9 billion -- and 2014 is proving to see even deeper cuts. Reports from the General Services Administration’s SmartPay charge card program, which covers more than 2.5 million card holders across the government, show fiscal 2014 travel spending down about 33 percent from the same time last year.1 With these budget constraints and travel restrictions impacting the ability of government agencies to provide training and professional development opportunities to their employees, this is the perfect climate to take a closer look at government travel.

Government Leadership and Effective Travel Spending

In this constrained environment, it is important to remember that the daily business of the federal government requires long term travel for numerous reasons. Employees still need to spend extended periods of time away from home in order to obtain needed training or accomplish mission objectives. In some agencies, employees can spend two to six months on mission-specific assignments. Agencies may also send acting supervisors to cover more territories rather than hire new employees. Similarly, as new hires are trained they might work on long term assignments at various sites.

All of these needs require the support of customized travel options to ensure that any related spending best serves the American people and is an effective and efficient use of federal funds.

Making the Case for In-Person Learning Opportunities

Professional development activities also continue to play a critical role in the business of government. In fact, the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey found that 90 percent of surveyed government employees continue to look for innovative ways to improve their job performance, but only 54.7 percent feel their agency supports and encourages them to do so.2

While some agencies are rethinking the need for conferences and travel, there are others that use the increased transparency and accountability as a way to support appropriate in-person professional development activities. For example, a large agency concerned with national security recently took advantage of a savings calculator that compared traditional travel expenses to the discounted rates of an extended stay lodging provider. This customized reporting and analysis provided the agency with information to highlight savings in travel budgets that could then be applied to overall travel spending, possibly including in-person training opportunities.

Best Practices for Travel Policies

Establishing best practices in travel planning can provide a quantitative approach to trimming spending without compromising mission goals. ESL providers are able to work with agency travel managers to create custom-built policies and procedures that maximize their travel budgets.

For example, a large agency within the government’s judicial arm does not have a standard policy concerning its travelers’ Per Diem structure, which can be problematic in high-cost cities like Washington, DC. Understanding these difficulties, the agency’s travel managers took advantage of tiered-pricing models for areas within and around the DC Metro area, provided by a trusted ESL provider. In another instance, a cabinet-level department of the federal government created quantifiable definitions of short versus long term stays to determine when using a hotel stops being cost-effective, and an extended stay lodging provider becomes the better choice. By explicitly stating at which point overnight stays are considered “long term”, travel managers are able to explore extended stay lodging solutions, confident in the savings they’ll receive compared to those accrued using a traditional hotel.

Conclusion

Government agencies need to provide long term travel for mission-critical programs, as well as support training and professional development opportunities to their employees. With travel budgets down by 30 percent through 2016 and beyond, the need for efficient travel solutions is more important than ever. ESL providers are becoming trusted partners to agency travel managers and government agencies as a whole in order to help define best practices in travel planning and look at current travel trends in order to help create custom-built policies and procedures that control spending while keeping government employees on the move. Customized solutions that include quantitative reporting and analysis provide the tools government agencies need to make smart decisions about travel spending.

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To learn more about this white paper or how Oakwood Worldwide can work with you to provide a temporary

housing solution for your team, please call 1.888.268.9998 or visit Oakwood.com/Government.

About Oakwood Worldwide

Oakwood Worldwide® is the leading provider of extended stay lodging solutions to federal, military and government contractors through its two well-known brands, Oakwood® and ExecuStay®. Both brands provide move-in-ready furnished housing designed to meet the needs of government travelers on long and short term assignments. Oakwood has access to the largest selection of housing options and a presence in all 50 United States and more than 70 countries. ExecuStay is the preferred corporate housing partner of Marriott® International and is the only corporate housing brand where guests can earn Marriott Rewards® points for stays at any ExecuStay location in the U.S. For more information, please visit Oakwood.com and ExecuStay.com.

Sources

1) Andy Medici (2014, February 11). Travel spending drops 18 percent in 2013. Federal Times Mobile. Retrieved from: http://apps.federaltimes.com/mobile/article/302040008

2) Lauren Fox (2012, May 14). Federal Budget Office Asks All Agencies to Cut Conference, Travel Costs. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/05/14/ federal-budget-office-asks-all-agencies-to-cut-conference-travel-costs

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