DOE Travel Workshop Griselda Lopez

Travel Workshop ► Purpose – Discuss changes in travel processes and to exchange information ► Attendees – DOE and Contractor travel administrative staff  FNAL ► Mala Sheshadri, New Travel Manager ► Griselda Lopez, CD Administrative Staff Leader ► Eileen Santarelli, CD Administrative Assistant

SC’s Conference Management ► Federal government’s conference spending has increased almost 70% in the past 5 years = new DOE conference rules (90 days) ► Conference Management System (CMS)  All non-DOE conferences must be entered  Still don’t know who inputs this information for FNAL  CD enters all travel meetings and conferences in a database (Matt’s talk)

Foreign Travel long standing problems ► 45 days in advance rule  Trips are often late because traveler doesn’t know about a meeting or conference  Not all travel details known e.g. hotel  BUT all information needed in DOE Foreign Travel Management System (FTMS) prior to submitting to lab foreign travel administrator (FTA) ► Lab approval process takes too long  Can not submit for Directorate approval until FTA approves the form. Criteria for form approval not written down and change frequently.  No one else at workshop seemed to have a problem with their approval process ► Traveler approval from DOE is therefore received only at the last minute  Even if it’s not a sensitive country  Julie Squires at DOE said not to wait until the last minute to call her for approvals on sensitive countries

Foreign Travel new problems/ conference rules ► 110 day rule on conferences  Even harder to enter all travel details  All information needed in FTMS prior to submitting to lab foreign travel administrator (FTA)  Conference attendance approval request form (CAAR) is needed  Learned that N/A was not acceptable in FTMS  Entries in FTMS self destruct in 60 Days ► Conference Issues  FTMS is not a good database to share information  The lab is creating a database for conferences, but it will not include foreign travel  Learned that there is a DOE CMS database  Other labs are having problems tracking and responding to the new travel rules ► New country clearance cable requirements  Handled by site?  What is the impact??

Passport/Visas ► DOE Federal is able to use US State Department for all passport and visa requests ► Administrative staff or traveler handles their own visa or passport at FNAL  Issue: Time spent  Should we have a centralized office at FNAL? ► Requirements are changing ► Travel.state.gov or

Counterintelligence ► DOE/Contractors should be briefed  Issue: How do we brief our employees ► FNAL – once a year/memos from site office ► Should admin staff/traveler know more about this?  CI Contractor calling several of our travelers  Reporting an incident ► Supervisor/Division Head/Bruce Chrisman

General Service Administration (GSA) ► Contractors are not covered under Federal Travel Regulations  Issue: Hotel Rates and Justifications for overage ► Write many justifications a year ► GSA has travel board meetings twice a year  Approachable and want feedback  Issue: Coordinated feedback from lab?