NASA awards $20 million eTravel contract

NASA has awarded an 8.5-year, $20 million eTravel Service contract to EDS, leaving two agencies remaining that have not signed an eTravel contractor.

EDS, a Plano, Texas-based technology company, is required under the contract to install an application that will handle NASA's online travel booking, authorizations and vouchers. One of the original electronic government initiatives, eTravel systems are designed to improve agencies' efficiency and effectiveness in managing the travel arrangements of government workers.

The mandated deadline for completing all agencies' eTravel system migrations is September 2006, but the General Services Administration is encouraging agencies to finish by June 30, 2006.

The Education Department and the Social Security Administration have yet to award contracts. Both were required by GSA to explain in writing by March 30 why they had not awarded an eTravel contract. GSA officials have said in the past that the delay is due to ongoing financial system upgrades within the agencies.

NASA is one of the larger travel spenders among the agencies, with $66 million in overall travel spending in fiscal 2003. The Homeland Security Department spends the most, at $730 million, followed by the Justice Department at $390 million.

NASA's chief information officer, Patricia Dunnington, said in a statement that the selection of an eTravel vendor is a significant step toward "staying green" on the e-government portion of the President's Management Agenda score card.

EDS has been successful in competing for eTravel, accumulating more than 50 percent of all task orders since November 2004, or about 73 percent of the eTravel contracts' cash value, according to the company.

GSA originally excluded EDS from the eTravel program when it awarded a 10-year, $450 million contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. and CW Government Travel Inc. GSA eventually reopened eTravel to competition after EDS won a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office. Three months after the initial award, GSA announced that EDS would become a third vendor.