MEMORANDUM FOR: Directors, NWS Headquarters Offices
Directors, NWS Regions FROM: Irwin T. David, Chief Financial Officer Chief Administrative Officer SUBJECT: NWS Gainsharing Travel Savings Program 1. Introduction This memorandum describes the National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration/National Weather Service (NWS) procedures for implementing the NWS Travel Gainsharing Savings Program. The procedures are organized as follows: 1) introduction, 2) objective, 3)authority, 4) policies, 5) summary of responsibilities, 6) glossary, and 7) exhibits and sample forms. 2. Objective The Gainsharing Travel Savings Program (GTSP) rewards employees who save the agency money while on official travel. These savings will result from the use of less expensive lodging and/or from use of frequent flyer benefits for the purchase of airline tickets for official travel. 3. Authority The Government Employees Incentive Awards Act, 5 U.S.C., paragraph 4501-4507, authorized an agency to pay a cash award for Aefficiency@ or Aeconomy@. The NWS GTSP is described in Article 23, section 5 of the NWS-National Weather Service Employees Organization Collective Bargaining Agreement signed October 25, 2001. National Weather Service employee participation in this program is optional. All employees and managers can participate with the exception of Senior Executive Service or equivalent members. 4. Policies The amount of the award for the employee will be 50 percent of the savings on lodging expenses and/or the contract carrier airfare. Taxes will be withheld (Federal, State, local, FICA) on the award amount. In most cases, the cumulative savings to the Agency must be at least $200 before the employee is eligible to receive an award. However, awards may be processed prior to reaching the minimum dollar limit when: 1. The employee will transfer or be reassigned to another office; or 2. The employee is an infrequent traveler; or 3. It is the end of the fiscal year. Lodging savings can occur: When employees stay with relatives or friends while on official travel and avoid lodging expenses. These employees will receive one-half of the lodging rate for the locality toward the travel savings award. When savings result from shared accommodations at prepaid, contractual or lodging paid for by employees with per diem. When savings result from staying at a hotel with rates less than the government USA contract rates for the per diem. Lodging savings will not occur: When an employee is on travel where lodging was prepaid or prearranged through contractual arrangements with the hotel except if savings result from shared accommodations). Employees may not incur additional expenses in transportation or other miscellaneous costs in effort to reduce lodging expenses. Employees who incur additional transportation expenses must have those expenses deducted from their lodging savings. Examples of excess transportation costs include, but are not limited to, renting a vehicle (when one would not normally be rented) at a Temporary Duty (TDY) site to travel to a place of free or reduced lodging; when driving a privately owned vehicle (POV) driving more miles than would normally be traveled to/from the TDY site to obtain free or reduced lodging; or where a taxi fare is incurred which would not normally have been incurred to obtain free or reduced lodging. Additional duty time for travel is considered an additional expense. The approving official must determine if Aother@ transportation expenses incurred were excessive. All employees must utilize hotels/motels that meet the requirements of the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990. The list may be accessed through the Internet at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/hotel/index/htm. All TDY travel with lodging expenses, foreign and domestic, will be covered under this program. PCS travel is excluded from the gainsharing program. The first 30 days of extended TDY travel (e.g., a detail of more than 30 days where a reduced per diem amount is required) qualify for gainsharing, except when lodging has been contracted by an employee=s organization through a lease or purchase order. Employees who participate in the program can receive cash awards for incurring lodging expense at a daily rate which is less than the maximum lodging rate for the locality under the Lodgings Plus Method of reimbursement. For lodging savings at hotels identified under the GSA Premier Lodging Program, unless accommodations are shared with another employee on travel. For lodging costs incurred on personal time such as annual leave during official travel or any other type of personal preference travel used in conjunction with official travel. When lodging for extended TDY has been contracted by the employee=s organization through a lease or purchase order. Frequent Flyer Benefit Program Employees who obtain a free coach class ticket with frequent flyer benefits earned on official Government travel or personal travel are eligible for the travel savings program. Savings will be measured against the contract rate in effect at the time of the flight. If there is no contract rate, then the lowest available non-restricted coach fare will be used as the basis for measurement of the savings as supported by documentation from a SATO itinerary. 5. Summary of Responsibilities Employee A. Comply with all federal, departmental and NOAA travel regulations. In most cases, the cumulative savings to the Agency must be at least $200 before the employee is eligible to receive an award. B. Complete the Travel Savings Form (Exhibit 1). The employee will sign and date the Travel Savings Form and submit it to the Travel Approving Official for signature. Exhibit 2 contains Instructions for Completing Travel Savings Form. An example and sample Travel Savings Form is at Exhibit 3. C. Prepare the CD 326 Form for travel savings award. Use the following code in block 4: fiscal year, 01, project code: 481JGS or 48M1HGS, organization code. Obtain the supervisor=s signature on the CD 326 and forward it (Exhibit 4 contains a completed sample) along with the travel order and voucher to the Travel Approving official for signature. Travel Approving Official A. After reviewing documentation, sign and date the Travel Savings CD 326 Form. Note: in some cases the immediate supervisor and approving official are the same. B. Forward the CD 326 and the Travel Savings Form to the servicing Human Resource Office, for processing. C. Forward a copy of the CD 326 and gainsharing travel savings forms to the FMC Budget Office for record keeping. Human Resource Office The Human Resource Office will process the CD 326 and transmit it to the National Finance Center for payment. FMC Budget Office The FMCs should perform a quarterly search of the gainsharing awards under project code: 48M1JGS for all NWS units except NCEP (NCEP uses project code 48M1HGS) B quarterly process a Budget Operation Plan adjustment to transfer the expense to the awards account from the travel account for the amount of the gainsharing awards. The FMC budget office will receive a copy of the CD 326 and maintain records of the number and amount of gainsharing awards for transmission to W/CFO2 monthly (negative reports are required). 6. Glossary Frequent Flyer Benefits. Mileage points accumulated using the airlines frequent flyer mileage programs which results in free airline tickets. GSA Value Lodging Program. Hotels that have agreed to provide lodging at lower than the per diem rate. GTSP Gainsharing Travel Savings Program Travel Approving Official. A NWS employee delegated to approve travel, who serves as an award recommending individual. 6. Exhibits Exhibit 1 - NWS Gainsharing Travel Savings Form (GTSF) Exhibit 2 - Instructions for completing NWS GTSF Exhibit 3 - Sample GTSF Exhibit 4 - Sample CD 326 completed for Gainsharing Award Note: The gainsharing travel savings program is in the process of being incorporated into the NWS directive program. NWS Gainsharing Travel Savings Form Exhibit 1 Employee name:__________________________ Employee SSN: __________________________ SAVINGS COMPUTATION 1ST NIGHT 2nd Night 3rd NIGHT 4th NIGHT 5th NIGHT 6th NIGHT 7th NIGHT Day and Date 1. Maximum Lodging Rate 2. Minus Actual Cost 3. Minus Excessive Transp 4. Lodging Savings for NWS 5. Contract Carrier Cost 6. Actual Ticket Cost 7. Airfare Savings 8. Total Savings for NWS SAVINGS COMPUTATION 8th NIGHT 9th Night 10th NIGHT 11th NIGHT 12th NIGHT 13th NIGHT 14th NIGHT Day and Date 1. Maximum Lodging Rate 2. Minus Actual Cost 3. Minus Excessive Transp 4. Lodging Savings for NWS 5. Contract Carrier Cost 6. Actual Ticket Cost 7. Airfare Savings 8. Total Savings for NWS SUMMARY DATA 9. Total Lodging Savings Employee Signature ____________________ 10. Total Airfare Savings 11. Total Savings for NWS Approving Official 12. Award Amount to Employee Signature _____________________ Instructions for Completing NWS Gainsharing Travel Savings Form The NWS Gainsharing Travel Savings Form (WSForm) will be completed when lodging savings or redemption of frequent flyer benefits are realized and submitted with the travel voucher to the approving official for signature. Both the employee and approving official must sign and date the form and send it to the servicing Human Resources Division. Enter your name and social security number at the top of each form. Enter the authorization number for each trip reported on the form. Enter the property number for the hotel/motel identified on the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 National Master List. The list may be accessed through the Internet at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/hotel/index/htm. When a room is shared while on official travel, there may be a lodging savings. The employees should arrange to be billed separately. If this is not possible, a daily rate must be determined for each employee. Divide the total lodging costs by the number of employees and the number of nights to arrive at a daily rate for each employee. Subtract the daily rate incurred for each employee from the daily maximum lodging rate of the locality to obtain the amount of daily savings. Enter the day of the week and date of the week for each night of lodging a savings was realized. See Exhibit 3 for an example of a situation where an employee stayed with friends/relatives and used frequent flyer miles to purchase a ticket.
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