GSA announces 2002 per diem rates

The General Services Administration announced 2002 per diem rates on Friday.

The new rates for business trips by federal employees take effect Oct. 1 and can be downloaded from GSA's Web site.

This year, 22 percent of the per diem rates increased over 2001 rates, 68 percent remained the same and 10 percent declined, GSA said. The cities with the highest rate increases are Edison, N.J.; Lewes, Del.; Traverse City, Mich.; Big Sky, Mont.; Nantucket, Mass.; Kennebunk, Maine; and Atlantic City, N.J. Rates in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area will increase Jan. 15 through Feb. 28, 2002, because of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

With a lodging rate of $215 during the seasonal peak, Ocean City, N.J. has the highest rate of all 627 domestic per diem rate locations in 2002. Vail, Colo., comes in second with a $200 lodging per diem.

This year 29 cities, including Yuma, Ariz.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Ontario, Barstow, Victorville, San Mateo and Redwood City, Calif., saw per diem increases thanks to the comments of federal employees. Federal employees can submit complaints about locations where there are frequently no vacancies at hotels within that area's maximum per diem rate online at GSA's No Vacancy Web site.

Another 24 cities, including Mobile, Ala.; Stanley, Idaho; and Madrea, Redding and Stockton, Calif., dropped into the standard continental United States (CONUS) rate category. The standard CONUS rate is currently $55 for lodging and $30 for meals and incidentals. GSA establishes a standard CONUS per diem rate for all cities not specifically shown in the per diem rate listing.

For 2002, GSA integrated the Federal Premier Lodging Program (FPLP) into the per diem rate-setting process. Under the program, GSA tries to guarantee that a certain number of rooms will be available within the per diem in specific geographical areas. Before now, there was no guarantee that rooms would be available at the federal rate.

Last year, a pilot version of the program ran in Boston and was deemed successful. Recent contracts were awarded in Chicago, Ill.; Denver; and Jefferson County, Colo., according to a GSA spokeswoman. Other contracts are pending in New York, Baltimore, Boston, Seattle and Portland, Ore.

GSA plans to have contracts in all of the top 75 travel destinations by the second quarter of 2002. Until the contracts are negotiated, per diem rates for those locations will remain the same.