About the Shared Travel Services Initiative
The daily operations of the STSI are carried out by the Government Travel Modernization Office,
which operates under the Acquisitions Branch, PWGSC. This group works closely with its supplier Accenture and its team of sub-contractors to deliver the
suite of Travel AcXess Voyage services and tools.
The goal of the STSI is to improve the travel experience for employees by giving them better tools
to make travel arrangements, manage the travel process, and reduce government travel costs. The STSI
is a Government of Canada initiative, led jointly by PWGSC and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
(TBS).
A brief history…
1995: Office of the Auditor General made a number of observations on
the management of government travel:
- Reducing the cost of travel administration could make travel administration
more efficient and help departments cope with budget reductions.
- The administration of travel is labour- and paper-intensive. While there
is no measurement of the cost of travel administration, various sources roughly estimate
that the average cost would be between 25 and 35 percent of travel expenditures.
- Reducing the time people spend on the administration of travel would free employees
to serve the public and meet other GC operational requirements. Automation and simpler ways
of obtaining least-cost travel could make a sizable difference.
2002: The STSI is created to guide the procurement process and the
implementation of a new electronically-based travel and expense management solution.
May 2002: A Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued for the new travel tools
and services. The RFP asks travel industry leaders to provide innovative ways to further
automate, simplify, streamline and improve the economics and convenience of the travel
experience for government employees.
June 2003: TBS gives Effective Project Approval (EPA) and authority to enter into
contract for the delivery of the new travel services – now known as Travel AcXess Voyage (TAV)
– with Accenture Inc. and its team of sub-contractors American Express, Concur Technologies and
Bell Canada.
April 2004: The new American Express Government Designated Travel Card (DTC)
and Travel Call Centre are introduced government-wide.
November 2004: The TAV Portal and On-Line Booking Tool (OBT) are launched.
2006-2007: The last of the new travel services, the Expense Management Tool (EMT),
is scheduled for implementation.
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