WASHINGTON - The U.S. General Services Administration, the federal government's supplier for goods and services, announced it is shopping for an upgraded E-Gov Travel Service that will maximize taxpayer value for government agencies. The government is looking to increase cost savings in federal travel purchases and improve end-user service for federal travelers, according to GSA.

"By tapping into the best that commercial travel providers have to offer, GSA will provide federal travelers 'best-of-breed' travel management solutions that maximize operational efficiency and contain costs," said GSA's Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Steve Kempf.

With a focus on strategic sourcing and sustainable travel, GSA issued a Request for Proposals this week for a second generation, end-to-end travel management service to be called E-Gov Travel Service 2.0, or ETS2, to improve usability, data driven transparency, and total cost savings for travel spending for the federal government.

This new upgraded service will further automate and consolidate the federal travel process and will leverage advances in the travel industry to build on the success of the current system, known as ETS. The new ETS2 online portal will offer commercial-like travel booking and management capabilities for all aspects of official federal business travel, including planning, authorization, reservations, ticketing, fulfillment, expense reimbursement, and travel management reporting.

ETS2 will also include a robust offering of services that will help federal travelers determine whether to travel or use greener collaboration alternatives such as tele-presence.

"By bringing collaboration options such as enabling tele-presence and web conferencing directly to the user at the point of decision, we can further fulfill the government's commitment to minimize its environmental footprint," said Kempf.

The RFP culminates a 16-month comprehensive process to incorporate feedback received from customers and the cutting edge capabilities offered by industry.

The current E-Gov Travel Services contract was launched in April 2002 to save costs and increase employee productivity. ETS will have saved the federal government about $345 million in civilian agency travel management costs over the life of the contract.