Agriculture awards EDS $93 million e-travel contract

The Agriculture Department has selected EDS Corp. to provide employee travel services under the General Services Administration's e-Travel Service indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract vehicle.The 10-year, firm fixed-unit price tailored task order contains a 28-month base period with three extension options and is valued at $93 million if Agriculture exercises all extensions, the company said yesterday. The contract is the first for EDS' FedTraveler.com, which is designed to manage the entire travel process, including planning and authorizing travel, reservation and fulfillment services, approving vouchers, and providing robust reporting and auditing capabilities. Agriculture will implement the service over the next 18 months.GSA manages the government-wide e-travel program, which agency officials expect will cut federal travel management costs in half over 10 years. EDS is one of three authorized vendors for GSA’s e-travel services. The others are Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Mission Systems, which the Treasury and Health and Human Services Departments recently chose to provide e-travel services, and Carlson Wagonlit Government Travel Inc. of San Antonio.