Air Travel Contracts Awarded

THE DAILY FED

Air Travel Contracts Awarded

Each year, under the city-pair program, the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service awards contracts for air transportation for travelers on official government travel. The contracts are awarded competitively based on the best overall value to the government. The best value decision is based on considerations of the type, distribution and number of flights, the average flight time and the offered price.

For fiscal year 1997, which runs from October 1, 1996 to September 30, 1997, GSA awarded contracts for 6,147 city-pairs. (For the previous fiscal year, GSA awarded 5,115 city-pairs.) As a result of the contracts, the government saves approximately $2.4 billion over walk-up fares.

The contracts feature several advantages over commercial fares:

• No advance purchase is required.
• No minimum or maximum length of stay is required.
• The tickets are fully refundable. There is no charge for cancellations or for schedule changes.
• The seats are not capacity controlled. As long as there is a coach class seat available on the plane, the government traveler can purchase it at the contract fare.
• There are no blackout periods.
• The price will not change throughout the length of the contract, enabling agencies to better plan their travel budgets.

Sample one-way contract fares are:

Awards were made to the following airlines: