Ten more cities will get non-standard travel reimbursement rates

Originally posted by Kedar Pavgi on GovExec

The General Services Administration has decided to designate 10 additional cities as "nonstandard" areas for travel reimbursement rates, according to an announcement posted in the Federal Register on September 5.

The designation means the regions -- frequently traveled by government employees -- will get unique per diem rates rather than being lumped together with the rest of the country. The reimbursement levels will be determined by the average daily industry rate. In August, GSA announced it was freezing fiscal 2013 per diems at fiscal 2012 levels.

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GSA spent $7.7 million on four years of virtual employee travel

Originally posted by Amanda Palleschi on GovExec

The General Services Administration spent $7.7 million during the past four years to transport its long-distance telecommuters to meetings and conferences, new documents reveal.

Reports first obtained by CNN and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee show that 60 percent of the 379 workers in GSA's virtual employee program traveled to conferences and meetings, mostly on cross-country flights. GSA is reviewing the program after CNN reported in August that an employee who worked for a regional office in Kansas City, Mo., while living in Honolulu, racked up $24,000 in travel expenses on the government's dime. The agency spent millions more on virtual employees during the past three years, CNN said.

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