Auditors cite critical flaws in Defense online travel system

Critical flaws and incomplete testing have resulted in massive delays for the Pentagon's end-to-end online travel booking system, according to a new report from congressional auditors.

The eight-year effort to implement the $474 million Defense Travel System has come under intense scrutiny from lawmakers and government watchdog groups.

The Government Accountability Office report (GAO-06-18) provides new fodder for opponents of DTS, which came close to being eliminated in a legislative effort headed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. It survived a 65-32 Senate vote that if successful would have forced the Defense Department to use one of the General Services Administration's eTravel Service providers.

"DTS development and implementation have been problematic, especially in the area of testing key functionality to ensure that the system will perform as intended," the 59-page GAO report stated. "Consequently, critical flaws have been identified that resulted in significant schedule slippages between the planned and actual system deployment."

In a response to the report, Defense Finance and Accounting Service Director Zack Gaddy concurred with all of the 10 recommendations offered by GAO, including ones to properly test new or modified system interfaces, collect data on the use of DTS and streamline travel management practices.

In October, DTS was placed in a new agency known as the Business Transformation Agency, along with a number of other departmentwide programs.

The DTS contractor, Northrop Grumman Corp., said that despite the criticisms of the overall effort, the report affirmed its work.

"Overall, the report endorsed that system development -- Northrop Grumman's contractual role -- is on the right track," said Janis Lamar, a spokeswoman for the company. "We feel confident [Defense's] Business Transformation Agency is addressing the GAO's recommendations to ensure DTS advances from being an 'emerging success' to a complete success."

For the last decade, the Defense Department has been working to develop an end-to-end travel system that would update and standardize existing travel practices. DTS, an Internet-based travel booking engine, was intended as the solution to these problems, but repeated setbacks have delayed the system's full implementation by more than four years.

GAO's analysis found that the system could not assure the proper display of flight and airfare information, a problem that was not detected before it was deployed.

Some previously reported problems, including duplicate payments for airline tickets purchased through centrally billed accounts, have been corrected, the auditors said.

The report also concluded that departmentwide action is needed at Defense to correct lingering problems involving improper premium-class travel, a lack of refunds for unused tickets and inaccurate travel claims.

Auditors said that DTS is struggling with underutilization at the military sites where it has been deployed. This affects the savings projected when Defense invested in the system, according to GAO.

And while DTS works with 36 different department business systems, there are another 18 that have yet to connect. That task will be difficult, GAO said.