Government Prohibition on Using Commercial Travel Agents

A recent GAO review on the prohibition against using commercial travel agents to arrange transportation for Government employees traveling on official business included a history of the prohibition and provided information on the yearly expenditures of Federal departments and agencies resulting from the prohibition. Responses to a questionnaire indicated that 1,526 Government employees spend, on the average, over 40 percent of their time on travel agent-type functions at an estimated cobout $8.8 million. Agencies were asked to discuss a proposed system for involving travel agents in Government business. Eleven agencies were opposed to the proposal, and 14 had no objections. If the proposal could be adopted, some problems would be eliminated but many problems, such as potential increased fares and how to deal with thousands of competing travel agents, would have to be resolved. No conclusion was drawn as to the desirability of changing the present prohibition, but there were no objections to doing so on a case by case basis.