Travel Policy Compliance
The Defense Travel Management Office established and maintains a Travel Policy Compliance Program to ensure travel claims do not exceed reasonable or actual expenses and to minimize inaccurate, unauthorized, overstated, inflated, or duplicate travel claims. The Travel Policy Compliance Program:
- Ensures travel claims are paid in accordance with regulations
- Assists the Department with recouping funds for erroneous payments
- Educates travelers and Authorizing Officials on travel policy
- Alerts travelers to errors before being identified through audit processes
- Identifies travel trends
- Identifies training needs
- Identifies opportunities for greater controls in the future
The Compliance Program is not an audit program nor does it replace the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's post payment review. It assists those efforts by identifying errors that can be corrected before being identified through audit processes. The Compliance Program is managed in coordination with headquarters-level officials from the Components.
Travel Policy Compliance Tool
The Compliance Program employs an automated application, known as the Travel Policy Compliance Tool, to review all Defense Travel System vouchers in near real time and identify potential improper payments, including duplicate payments. When a potential error is identified, the tool sends an email to the traveler, non-DTS Entry Agency (NDEA) if applicable, and the Authorizing Official (AO) that approved the voucher with instructions for correcting the error. The tool continues to send reminder emails until action is taken to resolve the error or justification is provided as to why the payment was valid. Additionally, the tool includes a user interface that provides Service and Agency points of contact with access to a reporting and records management capability that will allow for tracking and monitoring of vouchers that have been identified as having a potential error.
Per memorandum titled “Implementation of the Department of Defense Travel Pay Remediation Plan,” dated July 18, 2013, the use of the Travel Policy Compliance Tool is mandatory for all Defense Travel System users. The Compliance Tool is also part of DoD’s Improper Payment Recovery Program, required by the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act 2010 (IPERA) and elaborated in the USD(C) Memorandum titled "Preventing Improper Payments and Enforcing Recovery."