U.S. General Services Administration
GSA Makes Travel Easier and Cheaper for Feds When They Rideshare
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When I joined the Federal Acquisition Service as the new assistant commissioner for the Office of Travel, Transportation and Logistics Categories (TTL) in November 2019, I was most excited about GSA’s broad mission and the great team of people I’d get to work with.
TTL has a vast portfolio: we manage GSA’s fleet of vehicles (now at 221,000 and counting), acquisition of travel and transportation services, and audit the government’s world-wide transportation billings to identify overpayments and seek recovery for the federal government. We also purchase vehicles for agencies that own and manage their vehicle fleets.
Since coming onboard, I’ve had the chance to meet many of our federal agency customers at our annual FedFleet conference. Based on what I heard, I know many agencies will be as excited as I am about our new, multiple awards, Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) for Ridesharing and Ride-hailing services. Services will be offered by Lyft and Uber in U.S. domestic locations. Coverage includes the top 50 markets where government employees travel.
I’m proud our team was able to negotiate discounts of 2-4%, comparable with large commercial customers, and waived technology fees charged to use back-office vendor data and reporting capabilities.
Improving the rideshare reporting process also is a unique opportunity. GSA’s new governmentwide Rideshare/Ride-hail BPAs modernizes official travel and will make it easier, and cheaper, to use rideshare services for official travel. No new apps to download - and no paper receipts to lose. Plus, auto billing to travelers GSA SmartPay travel cards earn agency rebates. Most importantly, it will be easier for agencies to report Transportation Network Companies (TNC) expenses as required by the Modernizing Government Travel Act.
TTL’s portfolio also includes the Emergency Management Program Management Office. Which means I have the privilege of leading a team of folks who are working around-the-clock to coordinate with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and others on our COVID-19 response. We also coordinate our emergency contracting activities within the agency.
I join others in saying that we all look forward to the COVID-19 emergency situation being resolved. In the meantime, know that FAS is doing everything we can to support COVID-19 acquisition activities, while still working to bring you smarter travel solutions like the new Rideshare, Ride-hail BPAs.