The government has another winner

[GQ_jumper 4]

DTS(Defense Travel System), the way of the future. The DOD has forced us to begin using a new system for official travel and despite compaints across the board from just about every member of the military who uses it they continue to push it.

A little history on how it used to work(in my unit at least, every unit did it slightly different), when we were told we would be going on official travel(military school, deployment, recruiting gig, off-post training, etc.) we would fill out an RFO(request for orders), you put your name and basic info on there, where you are going, the purpose of the trip, whether or not you need a rental vehicle, and any special needs(classified materials courier orders, excess baggage fees, etc.). The unit resource management office would take the form look up where you were going, and print out your orders, which would include the fund site for the trip where they would reserve the estimated cost of the trip. You would go on your trip and when you came home fill out a voucher that showed all your stops and listed all your expenses, you would fax the voucher into the finance office with all of your reciepts and your orders and they would input it into the computer and you would be paid shortly. Sometimes it would take a bit longer if they were backlogged but a quick phone call and they would pull up your file and if you had an urgent need for reimbursement put you at the front of the line. Back then you didn't have to use your government visa, most of the time I used my own money to pay for the trip so when I was reimbursed everything went to my pocket and I broke even, more often than not made out a bit ahead.

Now enter the new era in government travel(it says that on the DTS website!), when you have to go somewhere you log onto this site, which you can only do from a government computer becuase your ID card has to be used to log in, you make your orders yourself by going through an hour long process of telling the computer what you need and putting in all kinds of justification codes for the special requirements of the trip, it asks for you to enter the fund site(which we are never given so we always have to guess and usually get it wrong), and then you send it up for approval. It has to get reviewed but a CPT, and then approved by one of two Major's at the battalion, it never goes through the first time, they always kick your orders back with a note about changing something. By the time everything usually gets fixed you have already left on your trip and don't always have access to a government computer to check your orders(I reported to the HALO JM course without orders in hand). By regulation we are now required to use our government credit card for all travel, the card must have a zero balance at the end of each billing period, no exceptions! If this doesn't happen your chain of command starts breathing down your throat and you end up having to write justification letters and constantly reporting to higher about why its not paid. Once your travel is finished you go back to the DTS website where your orders are waiting(supposedly, my orders for a trip I made back in November were approved yesterday), you pull up the orders and make an online travel voucher using those orders, the voucher proccess is even more painful than the one for making the orders, then you send it up through the same approval process as before, always having them kicked back once or twice sometimes for an unjustified reason. Once they get approved it goes to finance and should be paid out within a week(yeah right!), they split up the disbursement between your government card and you, all the reimburseable expenses go to the card and all your daily per diem for food and incidentals goes to you. when it's all said and done there is always still a balance on your gov. card which you have to send in a check for and recently I've always ended up paying out of pocket to pay my card down. And if you don't get the card paid down eventually those gripes from you chain of command turn into command action that can negatively affect your career. And now to add to the fun we've been told that if you have a balance on your card from a previous trip you cannot leave on your next trip until it has zero balance, so now we HAVE to pay out of pocket before the reimbursement comes through if we have back to back trips, all this summer I was travelling, I had just enough time after one trip to do my laundry re-pack my bags and head back to the airport. I've had a balance on my card for 45 days now because I refuse to pay out of pocket(due to the fact that my personal bills take priority over the governments training bill), my team SGT has my back, he doesn't like the system and does what he can to protect us from backlash of a messed up system, but with a training deployment coming up next week the higher ups are saying I can't go with my card still in debt.

So there it is, the government once again developed a system that would make their life easier with absolutely no concern for how it would affect those using it. I know it was a long rant, but I like to whine a lot I'm sure the other active military types on here will agree that this system is no good.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Icon134 0]

I haven't traveled in a while but it sounds like a Nightmare...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[dbattman 0]

I take it the 'Roaming Gnome' isn't available?

[sweetmoose 0]

Yeah, I'm so glad I got out, I left the airforce like 6 months after they started that DTS crap, so I never put in for it, even though I was supposed to. Several people I knew got screwed out of money for months before errors were fixed so they could get reimbursed, what a pain in the ass.

We die only once, but for such a very long time.

I'll believe in ghosts when I catch one in my teeth.

[Zipp0 1]

Here's the problem - all of the decision makers have secretaries that handle their travel, so they have no DTS headaches. I am not even a big shot, and there is someone who does all of the DTS BS for me(Division secretary).

All most people do is turn over copies of their expenses and pay their BOA card.......

--------------------------
Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

[TheAnvil 0]

I've actually heard some people say some good things about it.

Heard a lot of shitty things too. A lot of the sole-sourcing going on in the military acquisition world is disturbing. Kind of like somebody read Demming and didn't understand.

I've only recently registered for the system and can't comment. Sorry you're having issues.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[GQ_jumper 4]

I've actually heard some people say some good things about it.

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The only people I have say something positive are those who work for DFAS and basically have their hands in the system so they can MAKE it work.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

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[BIGUN 1,506]

On a lighter note, so how was the HALO JM Course?

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[GQ_jumper 4]

Great course I really enjoyed it, they didn't put out a whole lot I hadn't already picked up but it was still an overall great time. I had a few gripes about one of the cadre members teaching method which involved him saying one thing and enforcing another(it caused a serious headache for me come JMPI test time). Being a JM on a HALO team is great though, especially when you're only an E-6

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[TrophyHusband 0]

my wife has travelled several times and the bill was due before getting reembersed every time. fortunatly we've had the money to pay it, but it still pisses me off. expenses can add up quickly, especially if there's a hotel and rental car involved and many people in the military don't have the extra money laying around. it's a very shiity position to put people in and it's a terrible idea. just because something is cheaper, doesn't make it better.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[GQ_jumper 4]

quick fix, I jsut don't pay the Gov. credit card bill with my own money they want to force me to use something that costs me money out of my own pocket they can piss off, I've written my fair share of justification letters to the batallion commander because the card wasn't paid, and my team sergeant has never let it come back to bite me in teh ass because he doesn't agree with the system either. It always gets paid in the end, when they get off their ass and send me the money to pay it.

As for the voucher I just put in I am in the process of getting a letter signed allowing me to be reimbursed for more than the maximum lodging allowance because the hotel i was booked for was over the max amount allowed.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[matthewcline 0]

I travel enough that I am constantly stompen in to OPS to get the records fixed. I currently have a credit on my GOV BOA, can't use it as the card is "off" at the moment, so next time I will go against the credit right? Wrong! Upon activation for travel the card "zeros" if there is a credit or no balance due. So they get the extra money. It hasn't cost me any thing in reality but it is frustrating. This happens about 2 times year for me and is usually only around 20 bucks each time.

Matt

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[GQ_jumper 4]

they just leave our cards on all the time

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[matthewcline 0]

They tried that with us too, but the "system" is not supposed to work that way. We have to many "got to justify my job" civilians watching every thing we do. Including how we run the various schools now.

Matt

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[nerdgirl 0]

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just because something is cheaper, doesn't make it better.

Cheaper was the argument, but thus far DTS has turned out to be neither cheaper nor better. GAO investigations have found that (1) the predicted savings in both direct expenses and reduced personnel are not occurring, (2) the citation used to support the argument for DTS are suspect

See: http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-06-980

The whole system is less than adequate. I'm sure that others have worse "horror" stories than I do. One recent stupefyng experience was an attempt to combine two trips on the west coast. The first was being paid by my office and the subsequent on fund cite from a service. The latter travel authority refused to approve my flying directly from Los Angeles up to San Jose then back to DC. He wanted me to fly back to DC then get on another plane (literally two hours later) & fly back out to the west coast, which in addition to wasting my time & taxpayers' dollars also would have made me late; he insisted that I had to depart from & return to my permanent duty station. The goal of my job is NOT to acquire frequent flyer miles on the taxpayers' expense.

Marg

Excerpt from the GAO report:
"GAO's analysis of the September 2003 DTS economic analysis found that the two key assumptions used to estimate annual net savings were not based on reliable information. Two cost components represent the majority of the over $56 million in estimated net savings--personnel savings and reduced commercial travel office (CTO) fees. In regard to the personnel savings, GAO's analysis found that the $24.2 million of personnel savings related to the Air Force and the Navy was not supported.

Air Force and Navy DTS program officials stated that they did not anticipate a reduction in the number of personnel, but rather the shifting of staff from the travel function to other functions. The Naval Cost Analysis Division stated that the Navy will not realize any tangible personnel cost savings from the implementation of DTS.

In regard to the CTO fees, the economic analysis assumed that 70 percent of all DTS airline tickets would either require no intervention or minimal intervention from the CTOs, resulting in an estimated annual net savings of $31 million. However, the sole support provided by the DTS program office was an article in a trade industry publication. The article was not based on information related to DTS, but rather on the experience of one private sector company.

Furthermore, the economic analysis was not prepared in accordance with guidance prescribed by OMB and DOD. DOD guidance stated that the life-cycle cost estimates should be verified by an independent party, but this did not occur. The economic analysis did not undertake an assessment of the effects of the uncertainty inherent in the estimates of benefits and costs. Because an economic analysis uses estimates and assumptions, it is critical that the imprecision in both the underlying data and assumptions be understood. Such an assessment is referred to as a sensitivity analysis. D

OD acknowledged that DTS is not being used to the fullest extent possible, but lacks comprehensive data to effectively monitor its utilization. DOD's utilization data are based on a model that was developed in calendar year 2003. However, the model has not been completely updated to reflect actual DTS usage. The lack of accurate utilization data hinders management's ability to monitor progress toward the DOD vision of DTS as the standard travel system.

GAO also found that the military services have initiated actions that are aimed at increasing the utilization of DTS. Finally, GAO found that DTS still has not addressed the underlying problems associated with weak requirement management and system testing."

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[GQ_jumper 4]

The whole system is less than adequate. I'm sure that others have worse "horror" stories than I do. One recent stupefyng experience was an attempt to combine two trips on the west coast. The first was being paid by my office and the subsequent on fund cite from a service. The latter travel authority refused to approve my flying directly from Los Angeles up to San Jose then back to DC. He wanted me to fly back to DC then get on another plane (literally two hours later) & fly back out to the west coast, which in addition to wasting my time & taxpayers' dollars also would have made me late; he insisted that I had to depart from & return to my permanent duty station. The goal of my job is NOT to acquire frequent flyer miles on the taxpayers' expense

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I had one of those trips last summer, I was supposed to go to HALO JM, and then the day I graduated catch up with my team at Kirtland AFB, which would be two seperate TDY trips back to back, I couldn't make them one set of orders because they were different fund sites. When I left my JM orders were in the process of getting approved, and they hadn't even let me start on the Kirtland orders yet, so I was travelling without even knowing if the money would be there to reimburse me for the training. And with as much as my unit penny pinches because they waste their money on BS training it wouldn't have surprised me if I got stuck with the bill. My team has been fighting to get approval to go to AZ for 12 days to use some SWAT training facilities, it's a week of the best training we can get and we get a deal because the city of Chandler pays the training facility cost for us(we have a great inside man). Overall it's the best training we can get for such a good price and they wouldn't say yes, however they could spend over 100K to take the company to a resort with a shoothouse on it where they bring in half assed SWAT officers who have never seen combat to train us on how we should do OUR job. You should have seen my AAR write up for that one

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

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