Like many government agencies, the FAA will be switching over to a new travel management program that will replace the current GovTrip system. On January 15, 2015, three PASS representatives participated in a briefing and demonstration of the new system, which is called “E2 Solutions.”
Most of the PASS representatives found the system to be as easy, or easier, to navigate than GovTrip. One flaw the reps identified to the agency was the new system’s inability to automatically charge the Travel Manage Center (TMC) fee to the traveler’s voucher as GovTrip does. The FAA agrees that this is a problem and has submitted it as a required change to the contractor who owns E2.
One advantage of E2 is that it will implement “split-pay.” This means that when completing the travel authorization and voucher, the traveler can identify certain charges to be paid directly to the travel card company, i.e., the hotel charges. For example, for a trip involving $500 for airfare, $300 for lodging, and $200 for mileage, the traveler can tell E2 that $800 (airfare and lodging) is to be paid directly to the credit card company. The traveler then receives just the $200 mileage reimbursement to his/her personal account. Both the PASS Air Traffic Organization (ATO) and Aviation Safety (AVS) collective bargaining agreements already contain negotiated provisions for split payments in the Travel and Per Diem articles in anticipation of this transition. This language can be found in Article 97 of the ATO agreement and Article 100 of the AVS agreement.
The FAA expects to transition to E2 around June 2015. As soon as they are available, the agency will supply PASS with a schedule for implementation and the date that online training will be available to employees. PASS will continue monitor the agency’s progress with the transition to this new system and publish updates to the members.
Many thanks to Martha Parish, acting National Flight Inspection representative, William Missal, PASS Alaska regional business agent, and James Pratt, national MIDO representative, for their participation in the briefing and demonstration.