Senate approves quota for small business participation in eTravel
Negotiators left to work out differences with House, which voted to cut the program.
The future of the General Services Administration's governmentwide electronic travel program is in the hands of congressional negotiators, following the Senate's passage of a version of the fiscal 2006 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill with more lenient language than that approved by the House in late June.
The Senate version would require at least 23 percent of contracts let under GSA's eTravel Service program to go to small businesses. The Senate approved the appropriations bill (H.R. 3058) Thursday evening by a vote of 93 to 1, with Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., casting the dissenting vote.
By contrast, the House version contains language that would bar GSA -- the facilitator of the travel systems -- from spending money on the program. That language is backed by a coalition of small travel agencies that claims the eTravel Service will cut smaller companies out of government travel contracts.
But the three eTravel providers -- Northrop Grumman Corp., EDS and CW Government Travel Inc. -- maintain that small travel agencies will be able to plug into the new electronic systems.
Small travel agencies said they approve of the Senate's 23 percent requirement, but are concerned that they will have to subcontract through the three large travel agencies aligned with the eTravel providers, because there is no requirement for how the 23 percent mandate is to be fulfilled.
"It concerns me that we won't be able to get the same opportunities that we had before," said Patricia Stout, owner of Alamo Travel in San Antonio and a member of the coalition that lobbied to block funding for eTravel. "It leaves us in a not very secure place. We're still going to have to subcontract."
Paula Wild, president and owner of Manassas Travel, a small travel agency in Salt Lake City, said that the eTravel vendors should disclose their formula for measuring small business contracts. Otherwise there is no way ensure that small travel agencies receive government contracts, she said.
Wild said she is hoping that if House-Senate conferees stick with the 23 percent requirement, they will find a way to provide that assurance. "[The final bill] needs stronger language to make sure that they are using this percentage for travel related contracts and not janitorial services," she said.