In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 102

                               MEMORANDUM


To:      All Employees, U.S. Geological Survey

From:    Barbara J. Ryan
         Associate Director for Operations

Subject: Implications of Travel and Transportation Reform Act on Travel 
         Charge Card Use

A law recently passed by the Congress, the Travel and Transportation 
Reform Act (TTRA), became on effective March 1, 2000. This law has some 
implications relating to government-issued charge cards. We wanted to 
share those implications with you, since many of you must travel to 
perform your jobs, and it is important that you are aware of what the new 
law requires.

The following provisions of TTRA are effective immediately:

. use of the government issued charge card is mandatory for all official 
  travel;

. the Bank of America, the charge card contractor, can elect to garnish 
  cardholder wages if his/her charge card account is more than 120 days past 
  due; and

. travelers are entitled to late fees from the finance office if 
  reimbursement of a claim takes more than 30 days.    

Mandatory Use of the Charge Card
TTRA requires all Federal employees to use the government charge card when 
traveling on official government business.  There are no exceptions that 
permit the use of a personal charge card or other financial instrument, 
although it may appear to be more advantageous at times to use these other 
instruments.

Charge Card Delinquencies
TTRA now allows Bank of America to collect undisputed delinquent amounts 
owed by cardholders on the government charge card account by garnishing 
the cardholder’s wages.  Bank of America can initiate garnishment 
procedures on accounts as early as 61 days past due.  Actual garnishment 
would occur when the account reaches 121 days past due.  However, 
employees with delinquent accounts will receive ample notice and 
opportunities to reconcile their accounts in order to avoid garnishment.  
The bank will be in contact with cardholders through letters and phone 
calls to help resolve the delinquency.  Please note that it is the 
employee’s responsibility to work with the  bank  to  avoid garnishment. 

Payment of Late Fees
The law requires the finance office to pay all travel claims within 30 
calendar days after an employee submits his/her voucher.  This law also 
requires employees to promptly file their travel claims and for approving 
officials to promptly review and approve the claims.  If the finance 
office takes longer than 30 calendar days to pay claims after an approved 
voucher has been submitted, the employee is entitled to interest on the 
amount of the claim.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is currently developing policies 
and guidance in response to the TTRA’s requirements.  We will share these 
with you as soon as we receive them.  If you have any questions, you may 
contact Jack Blickley at jblickley@usgs.gov or (703) 648-7609.