Three agencies must account for missed E-Travel deadline

Three agencies have until March 30 to explain why they did not meet the Dec. 31, 2004, deadline to award an E-Travel contract.The Education Department, NASA and the Social Security Administration must submit a request to the General Services Administration for an extension. The appeal must detail why the agency did not meet the deadline and when it plans to award a contract or sign up with an existing agency provider, GSA said in a Federal Register earlier this week.The Federal Travel Regulation required every agency but the Defense Department to award a contract by the end of last year to one of three vendors and fully implement one of three systems by Sept. 30, 2006. DOD has developed its own travel system.GSA in November 2003 awarded three contracts to Carlson Wagonlit Government Travel Inc. of San Antonio, EDS Corp. or the Mission Systems unit of Northrop Grumman Corp. that could be worth a total of $450 million over 10 years. Most cabinet level departments and major agencies had awarded contracts between June and December of last year, with Carson Wagonlit winning eight task orders, EDS seven and Northrop Grumman six.