NASA picks EDS for $20 million eTravel contract

NASA has awarded a task order to Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, to implement and maintain an electronic travel system. The task order has a maximum value of $20 million over 8.5 years. In its announcement of the award, the agency stated that it will be available to all its employees by September 2006.“NASA is committed to the President’s Management Agenda goals for electronic government,” said Patricia Dunnington, CIO for the space agency. “The selection of an eTravel vendor is a milestone toward achieving NASA’s eGov goals and ‘staying green’ on NASA’s eGov scorecard.” Establishing an eTravel system for all federal agencies was one of President Bush’s original e-gov initiatives. The travel system is an integrated application to handle online travel booking, authorizations and vouchers. The goal of the program is to realize cost savings and improved service by using a common, automated and integrated approach to managing the federal government’s travel functions.