Travel Guidance under Nations Bank

Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 01:49:00 -0500
To: "AO - All Administrative Officers"<distribution
From: "Alice A. Sabatini, Division Administrative Officer" <aasabati
Subject: Travel Guidance under Nations Bank

Forwarded for your advanced information.

Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 18:03:51 -0500
To: "Alice A. Sabatini, Division Administrative Officer, WRD" <aasabati,
        "Carter-Pfisterer, Carole" <ccarter, "Pectol, MaryLou D" <mpectol,
        "Pillera, Joseph S" <jpillera, "Lucas, Hattie Y" <vonnie_lucas,
        "Sisler, Gayle A" <gsisler
From: "Susan R. Sheely" <ssheely
Subject: Travel Guidance under Nations Bank
Cc: "John J Blickley,  Reston, VA "<jblickley, ofm_ts@mailrvao1.er.usgs.GOV,
        "Kelly L Bradley, Chief, FORS, Reston, VA "<kbradley,
        "Ferris, Lawrence F" <lawrence_f_ferris, "Putnam, Dianne E"
<dputnam,
        "Martha M Long,  Reston, VA "<mlong,
        "Bonnie A Ridgeway,  Reston, VA "<bridgewa,
        "Terry L Linton,  Reston, VA "<tlinton,
        "Bradford, Debra A" <dbradfor

An all employee e-mail will be sent out in the next day or so by John
Peterson which will address items concerning all three business lines of
the Nations Bank Master Card.   I provided John with some travel related
items to be included but thought I would also send these to all of you now
rather than have you wait for the e-mail.  Even though this guidance is
intended to resolve issues where questions have been brought to our
attention, I am sure some new ones will be raised.  I appreciate the
patience and cooperation that employees are demonstrating as we proceed
through this transition.   

Susan


Susan R. Sheely, Chief
Travel Management Branch
703-648-7602   Fax 703-648-4112
ssheely@usgs.gov

December 8, 1998

Travel Voucher Preparation

Travelers should continue to follow the Department policy which requires
filing a travel voucher within 5 working days after completion of travel,
or at least once every 30 days for employees who are in a continuous travel
status.  Prompt filing of the travel voucher speeds the reimbursement and
allows the employee to meet his/her obligation for expenses charged on a
government issued charge card.

Employees are instructed not to claim reimbursement for passenger
transportation (air, rail, etc), car rental and car rental gasoline charges
that have been charged to the NationsBank Government Charge Card.  However,
while these items will be centrally billed to the bureau, the traveler is
still required to identify these charges as a non-reimbursable item on the
travel voucher and to include supporting documents.  Copies of these
document will also be required as part of the documentation to support the
payment to Nations Bank via the centrally billed account.   Selecting
whether an item is reimbursable or non-reimbursable is an option when
utilizing the Travel Manager Software. 

A copy of all passenger transportation tickets (verification document for
e-tickets), car rental and lodging receipts are required to support the
both the reimbursable and the non-reimbursable expenses annotated on the
travel vouchers.   When EAGLS becomes available to all card holders, the
employee will be asked to attach a copy of the required account data to
support the travel claim and be used to verify the centrally billed items.
 EAGLS will not be available to travelers during the initial phase of
conversion; therefore, a copy of the charges reflected in the employee's
EAGLS account will not be available for submission with the travel voucher.
     			     
Unused passenger transportation tickets must be attached to the front of
the travel voucher or if the trip is canceled, the ticket must be
transmitted to the finance office by memorandum.  The employee may become
liable for any cost associated with unused tickets unless they are promptly
surrendered for a refund.  Payment of airline administrative fees for
researching and replacing/refunding lost unused tickets are the
responsibility of the employee.
     
Employees should be advised to retain a copy of all travel claims and
receipts, regardless of amount, in the event they are required for future
audits and reviews.

Individuals preparing travel vouchers should be extremely careful not to
claim reimbursement for the traveler for items which are being centrally
billed.  If this occurs, the travelers will be billed by the Office of
Financial Management to repay the amount that was mistakenly reimbursed to
them.			

Tax Exemption

Travelers have encountered situations where establishments are refusing to
grant the tax exemption even though provisions were made to establish
exemption status.  Travelers are reminded that they will be reimbursed for
taxes paid while in travel status.	

Travel Management Centers (TMC)

Transportation tickets for official travel should be purchased only from
travel agencies under GSA Contract, i.e., Travel Management Centers (TMC)
or directly from a transportation provider using contract airline and rail
passenger service rates.  The fact that the transportation charges are
centrally billed does not change the requirement to use TMC's.

Travel Advances

ATM privileges on the travel business line may be used to obtain limited
cash advances for official travel expenses.  ATM cash advances should not
exceed the expected local allowance for Meals and Incidental Expenses
(M&IE), including expected, reimbursable out-of-pocket expenses which may
not be chargeable on a card (e.g. local transportation and parking).  ATM
fees are reimbursed up to the fee applicable for the stated maximum for
travel advances.  ATM withdrawals from a Bank of America or Nations Bank
branch will not incur a terminal access fee.  ATM withdrawals from other
institutions may incur a terminal access fee and in some instances it is
included in the amount of the withdrawal.  For example, if there is a
terminal access fee of $1.50 and a traveler is attempting to withdraw $250,
the ATM will not permit the transaction because it exceeds the limit of
$250 ($250 + $1.50).  The withdrawal will need to be decreased to allow for
the terminal access fee.  This does not happen in all instances.