Philadelphia –
The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Defense Travel System team attended the GovTravels symposium February 26-28, 2024 in Alexandria, Virginia to gain knowledge on how to better support workforce travel needs.
Supervisory Management and Program Analyst Giovanni Morales, along with his teammates, Justin Riker and Trevor Draut, both management and program analysts, were first-time attendees to the event.
According to the symposium website, Gov Travels is a three-day event, co-sponsored by the National Defense Transportation Association and the Defense Management Travel Office. The purpose is to bring together experts from across the federal government and the commercial travel industry to examine a wide range of issues that impact the government’s multi-billion-dollar travel enterprise.
“We often receive similar questions from travelers and wanted to attend to gain a better understanding of the Defense Travel System in order to better serve our customers,” Morales said.
Draut agreed.
“Some of the most common errors, especially in vouchers, continue to be proper documentation,” said Draut. “The documentations such as utilization of valid receipts to support reimbursable expenses. The errors would include pre-Audits, per diem rates for meals and/or leave, and receipts loaded for all reimbursable lodging cost claimed.”
In addition to learning ways to serve the customer better, all attendees agreed that gaining the knowledge to educate customers on DTS as a whole was a benefit of attending the symposium.
“Primary reasons for errors were noted as a lack of Travelers knowledge of the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) and how to properly input items into DTS,” added Draut.
Plans are now in the works to create an internal training program for DLA Troop Support travelers.
“The key to any successful travel program is to implement a training program to further educate travelers on best practices for authorizations and vouchers,” Morales said. “The overall benefit for Troop Support in the fact it will continue to develop its Travel Team staff, to better provide services and communicate changes to the workforce.”
As the industry is constantly evolving, the team looks forward to more learning opportunities.
“The travel process is going to never be a routine process,” said Riker. “Technology is going to change, regulations will be put into place, and that we need to continue to be proactive in gaining knowledge in the aspect of supporting the mission to DLA Troop Support.”