Idaho Bulletin 250-7-1

October 4, 2006

SUBJECT:  FNM - Mixing Personal Travel with Official Travel

TO:  All Employees, NRCS, Idaho

Purpose.  To inform employees of procedure for booking travel

Expiration Date.  September 30, 2007

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer recently updated the Departmental Policy for the USDA on mixing employee personal travel with official travel.  USDA prohibits personal travel from being booked within FedTraveler.com (the contracted Travel Management Center - TMC).

When mixing personal travel with official travel, NRCS employees must book their official travel first using FedTraveler.com, either through the online booking engine or the TMC.  When FedTraveler.com issues the Government ticket (Electronic Ticket) and you receive your itinerary/invoice you may go to the airline or your travel agent and reserve your personal travel, and have the ticket reissued.  The traveler must pay the additional difference in cost with a personal credit card or cash at the time the ticket is issued.  This would be paid directly to the airline or travel agent issuing the ticket.  The General Services Administration (GSA) has advised USDA that any refund from the airline would go directly to the Government-issued travel credit card.  Government Contract Fares are not authorized for personal travel. 

Employees must abide by the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) FTR301-10.8 which states, "if for personal convenience, you travel by an indirect route, or interrupt travel by direct route, your reimbursement will be limited to the cost of travel by a direct route or on an uninterrupted basis".  The traveler will not be authorized per diem for the personal days taken in conjunction with official travel. 

/s/                                           
RICHARD SIMS                                         
State Conservationist               

< Back to 250 Expired Bulletins