The Defense Travel System: Boon Or Boondoggle (Part 2)

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Thursday, November 16, 2006
10:00 AM

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations plans to hold this second hearing on the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Defense Travel System (DTS) as part of its ongoing investigation of DOD’s travel policies and practices. The DTS was intended to be a seamless integrated computer-based travel system that would facilitate travel for DOD employees and lead to increased efficiency and substantial cost savings. Instead, DTS has cost more than was anticipated, is not fully deployed, does not appear to be widely used and may end up costing more than it has saved. The Subcommittee’s first hearing on DTS on September 29, 2005, established that DOD proceeded with the implementation of DTS despite warnings from the DOD Inspector General (IG) and the Secretary of Defense’s Program Analysis and Evaluation section that DTS might not be the most cost effective solution to DOD’s travel needs. Following the hearing, the Chairman asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the DOD IG to respectively determine if the projected cost savings were justified and to perform a cost benefit analysis of DTS. The November 16th hearing will present the results of those reviews and provide DOD an opportunity to respond.

Witnesses

Panel 1

• MR. THOMAS F. GIMBLE [view testimony]
  Acting Inspector General
  U.S. Department of Defense
• Mr. McCoy Williams [view testimony]
  Director, Financial Management and Assurance Team
  U.S. Government Accountability Office

Panel 2

• The Honorable David S.C. Chu, Ph.D. [view testimony]
  Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
  U. S Department of Defense