RESTON, Va., Oct. 20, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a task order from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to use the GovTrip end-to-end travel service. GovTrip is a Web-based travel service that streamlines reservations, travel authorizations, expense reimbursements and management functions for federal government travel.
GovTrip gives agencies access to a transaction, fee-based service, eliminating the capital expense of building and maintaining their own administrative system for travel processing, thereby enabling agencies to focus on their mission.
With GovTrip, the GAO will have access to self-service reservations, travel authorizations and timely expense management and reimbursement for users' government travel needs. This consolidation of travel management provides transparency, improved accountability, and leverages the government's purchasing power to contain costs. For customers currently using GovTrip, online usage exceeds 80 percent, which saved $3.4 million in fiscal year 2008 on travel services alone.
"Northrop Grumman is committed to providing the federal government with best value travel services through the GovTrip initiative," said Dave Nastase, vice president of Advanced Public Services for Northrop Grumman's Civil Systems division. "GAO will realize increased efficiency and reduced travel costs, as well as benefit from information technology best practices, resulting in improved employee productivity."
In 2003, General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service awarded contracts to Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector and two other companies to provide Web-enabled, end-to-end travel services to government travelers on official business. The online service replaced more than 250 independent, disconnected travel approval and reimbursement processes that were paper-based and required manual data entry into agency financial systems. In addition, the service is fully compliant with the Federal Travel Regulation.
Work on the task order will be conducted over four years in Fairfax, Va.
In addition to the GAO, GovTrip customers include the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Interior, Energy, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Smithsonian Institution.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.