Hitting the Road More Often

n fiscal 2000, federal agencies spent more than $9 billion on travel for mission-related business around the world. Overall travel spending was up 6.3 percent from $8.5 billion the year before. This follows the government's pattern of planning to spend less on travel and then overspending its budget. Last year, agencies spent 8.1 percent more than they thought they would, amounting to $681 million in unplanned expenditures. Some $4.7 billion of that cash flowed through travel cards issued to federal employees, up from $4.4 billion in 1999. A rule that made card use mandatory went into effect in the spring of 2000. A General Services Administration spokesperson says the agency wasn't projecting a big boost in card expenditures with the rule last year, but expects them to creep up over the next year or so. The 25 top-traveling agencies accounted for more than 99 percent of the money spent last year. (Indirect travel expenses, such as administration and processing costs, are not included in the analysis.) The Defense Department spends almost two-thirds of the federal travel budget. Another nine agencies and departments account for virtually all of the rest. Last year, Defense outspent its travel budget by more than 12 percent. Without the Pentagon's overspending, the executive branch as a whole would have been at-or below-its spending target. For several years, Defense has predicted a big drop in travel costs as it scraps its antiquated and cumbersome travel procedures. But the much-anticipated Defense Travel System has failed to materialize for yet another year, and the department's travel spending continues to climb. Defense officials said earlier this summer that a decision on the system's fate would be announced soon, but wouldn't specify a date. Several other agencies also missed their travel targets by quite a bit last year. The Agriculture Department ended the year 13.5 percent over its projection and has revised this year's estimate upward by more than 18 percent. And the State Department came in almost 12 percent over budget in 2000 and has increased this year's estimate by almost 19 percent. The overspending by these agencies was offset in part by significant underspending on the part of the Treasury and Veterans Affairs departments and other agencies. This year, in the annual effort to cut travel spending, budgeters initially projected a 7.8 percent reduction in agency travel expenditures. They have since revised that estimate and are now predicting travel spending will decline just 4.5 percent from the fiscal 2000 level. If things go as planned for the first time in recent memory, travel outlays will shrink to $8.6 billion in fiscal 2001. For fiscal 2002, most agencies are anticipating only slight adjustments in travel spending; a few are expecting changes in the double digits. State predicts another 18 percent increase, but Agriculture and Treasury still are promising to cut travel outlays. Defense is forecasting a 5.1 percent increase, to $5.7 billion. That's perhaps more realistic than some of the department's previous plans-with promises of big spending cuts-but it's still lower than last year's actual expenses. Overall, however, for only the third time since fiscal 1992, when Government Executive started tracking federal travel spending, the federal government is planning for an increase in expenditures. Under current plans, spending in fiscal 2002 would increase by $342 million, or 4 percent, over fiscal 2001, to slightly less than $9 billion.