RESTON, Va., June 9, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury selected Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) to provide its eTravel Service (eTS), awarding a contract expected to exceed $60 million over 10 years. eTS is an end-to-end, online travel management service for federal government agencies.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which manages the government-wide program, expects eTS to save taxpayers up to 50 percent in federal travel management costs over 10 years.
The Treasury Department - the first of 24 government agencies that will select an eTS provider this year - has one of the largest travel volumes, filing approximately 420,000 vouchers (expense reports) each year.
The firm, fixed-price indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) task order was awarded June 3 to Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector for its GovTrip service. The GovTrip team includes American Express, the world's largest travel agency, which will provide reservation and fulfillment services.
"This first agency task order is an important milestone for GSA's eTravel initiative and a strong endorsement of our GovTrip service solution," said Leo Hergenroeder, Northrop Grumman's eTS program manager. "We are committed to working closely with the Treasury Department's Administrative Resource Center in Parkersburg, W.Va., to ensure rapid and efficient implementation of GovTrip throughout the department."
Hergenroeder said the Treasury Department would implement GovTrip in phases, with the first training class in Parkersburg already underway.
The GSA certified Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector in May, following tests earlier this year in Washington and at the Federal Aviation Administration office in Oklahoma City. The sector is one of three vendors competing for agency business.
"Beyond GSA's validation of operational capability and security, representatives from throughout the Treasury Department rigorously evaluated our service, conducting additional scenario testing and demonstrations for more than two days," Hergenroeder said.
"The remarkable accomplishment is how agencies prioritized and made hard decisions to achieve this milestone and make eTS a reality," said Tim Burke, GSA's eTravel program manager. "Agencies have been preparing organizationally for the past year so less than three weeks after eTS was open for business, the first agency - the Treasury Department - placed a task order. The department can now reap the benefits of eTS sooner rather than later."
GovTrip supports the entire government travel process, which includes planning and authorizing travel, making reservations, delivering electronic tickets, calculating and approving reimbursements, and archiving data. GovTrip increases the number of self-service transactions, reducing agency travel-management costs.
Integrated Data Corporation, Analytical Services Incorporated and Bruin Wave Solutions LLC provide information technology services and other support as subcontractors on the Northrop Grumman team.
Additional information about GovTrip is available at www.GovTrip.com.
eTravel is one of five E-Government initiatives managed by the GSA. The E-Government initiatives are designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal government through the use of technology and are an integral part of President George W. Bush's management agenda.
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, based in Reston, Va., is a global integrator of complex, mission-enabling systems and services for defense, intelligence and civil government markets. The sector's technology leadership and expertise spans areas such as strategic systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; command and control; technical services; and training.
Members of the news media may receive our releases via e-mail by registering at: http://www.northropgrumman.com/cgi-bin/regist_form.cgi
LEARN MORE ABOUT US: Northrop Grumman news releases, product information, photos and video clips are available on the Internet at: http://www.northropgrumman.com. Information specific to the Mission Systems sector is available at: www.ms.northropgrumman.com/index.html