Deltek Insight 2012: Leveraging Deltek Expense to Keep You Compliant with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR)

GC-240 Leveraging Deltek Expense to Keep You Compliant with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR)Susan Sizemore, Sr. Technical Consultant, Aronson, LLCLinda Riesenman, Project Manager, Aronson, LLCGC-240

2 ©2012 Deltek, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Susan Sizemore – more than 10 years of experience with Deltek products including Costpoint, GCS, Time & Expense, Impromptu and Cognos. Currently work with clients to implement solutions for their business.

Linda Reisenman – more than 20 years of experience with Deltek products including Costpoint, GCS, Time & Expense, Impromptu and Cognos. Currently work with clients to implement solutions for their business.

Speaker Introductions/Bios


In our session today we will be covering the following topics:

What governs government contract travel?

Ways Expense supports the government travel regulations Per Diem Compliance Unallowable/Over Per Diem Per Diems as Allowances/Ceilings 75% First day/Last day Per Diems as Allowances/Ceilings Capture of Key Expense Info Travel Authorization Process Over per diem non-reimbursable POV Mileage Receipt Requirements

Agenda

What governs contractor travel?

The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) governs the reimbursement of costs to government contractors.

Section 31.205-46 of the FAR governs travel and requires compliance with the costs incurred for lodging, meals, and incidental

expenses shall be considered to be reasonable and allowable only to the extent that they do not exceed on a daily basis the maximum per diem rates in effect at the time of travel per the following:

Federal Travel Regulations, prescribed by the General Services Administration

Joint Travel Regulation, Volume 2, DoD Civilian Personnel

Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians,Foreign Areas), Section 925

Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)


Overview

The FTR is the regulation contained in 41 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Chapters 300 through 304, that implements statutory requirements and Executive branch policies for travel by federal civilian employees and others authorized to travel at government expense.

What are the Federal Travel Regulations (FTRs)?

What is the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR)?

The Joint Travel Regulations are maintained by the Dept. of Defense (DoD) to provide guidance to DoD employees and non-employees regarding travel. They maintain a set of per diem schedules for Conus (domestic) and Oconus (non-domestic travel).

Ways Expense supports the government travel regulations?


Section 31.205-46 of the FAR states “…expenses shall be considered to be reasonable and allowable only to the extent that they do not exceed on a daily basis the maximum per diem rates in effect at the time of travel…”

Per Diem Compliance

Expense makes it easy to stay within the per diem rates established by the FTR & JTR.

The government creates files that contain all the rates for each city.

Expense has a per diem preprocessor to import the per diem files created by the GSA and DoD.

The preprocessor tracks the effective dates of the per diem rates by location, so the proper per diem rate is used.

Per Diem Compliance

The per diem preprocessor is located under Utilities>Per Diem Preprocessor.

Per Diem Compliance (con’t)


The same regulation governs the use of per diems as a limit on daily costs.

Expense has the capability to handle any amounts over the per diem rate that are incurred and automatically assign them to an account specified in the setup.

By using Charge Types for each expense type you can assign account number to handle any unallowable amounts or amounts over the per diem.

Charge Types have setup for Under Ceiling, Over Ceiling, and Unallowable.

Over Per Diem & Unallowable Costs


A separate charge type should be setup for each different account that you might have for an expense.

If you have Direct Airfare, OH Airfare, GA Airfare accounts, you will want to setup different charge types for each account.




>Expense Setup>Charge Type Screen

Place for Account numbers for Over Ceiling, Unallowable and Under Ceiling


FTR 301-11.100 states – “When travel is more than 12 hours and overnight lodging is required you are reimbursed your actual lodging cost not to exceed the maximum lodging rate for the TDY location or stopover point.”

Per Diems can be used as a limit on costs called a ‘ceiling’.

M&IE per diems can be an set amount each day called an ‘allowance’.

Per Diems as Allowances/Ceilings


Expense has the functionality to allot M&IE per diems as allowances or set the per diem as a ceiling.

An allowance is the maximum daily M&IE rate for the location and is automatically put on the expense report for each day.



A ceiling is a limit placed on the expense amount. Any amount over the ceiling can be designated to a specific account.

For lodging you would want to set a ceiling against the per diem.

For M&IE you would want to set an allowance to give the specified amount each day.

For Actual meals you would want to set a ceiling against the M&IE per diem.

This setup is at the Expense Type level.



This setup is at the Expense Type level.



FTR states that any amounts over the per diem are unallowable and potentially non-reimbursable by the government.

Expense has the ability to make any amounts over the per diem non-reimbursable or reimbursable.

The application can also require comments to be completed for over-the-ceiling and unallowable amounts.

This is setup in the expense type configuration.

Over per diem non-reimbursable


Over per diem non-reimbursable


FTR (301-11.101) limits the per diem to 75% of the per diem amount for the first or last day of travel.

Expense has functionality to set the % of per diem calculated for the first and last day of travel.

This is set at the Expense Report level of configuration.

75% First day/Last day


75% First day/Last day


FTR 31.205-46 (a)(7) states- “ Costs shall be allowable only if the following information is documented--”

Date and place Purpose of Trip Name of person on trip and that person’s title

Expense captures this information as a part of the expense report header information.

Capture of Key Expense Info


Capture of Key Expense Info


Although internal pre-approval for travel is not a requirement, it is a good practice and a way to track travel commitments on a contract.

Expense provides a travel authorization form and a separate approval process for travel.

The header information from the authorization populates in the expense report, so the expenses go to the pre-approved project on the expense report.

Travel Authorization Process


Travel Authorization Process


FTR 301-10.301 states – “…You compute mileage reimbursement by multiplying the distance traveled… By the applicable mileage rate.”

POV Mileage


Expense has functionality to enter the applicable mileage rate and an effective date to ensure the proper rate is used. This is configured in the expense type setup.

The mileage rate used can be the IRS rate or other government assigned rate.

The application maintains the history of the mileage rates by the effective date.

POV Mileage


POV Mileage


FTR 301-11.25 states – “…You must provide a lodging receipt and a receipt for every authorized expense over $75…”

Receipt Requirements


Expense has functionality to enter a dollar limit to require receipts. This is completed in the expense type setup. Any items over the set dollar amount will require a receipt once the expense report is signed.

Expense will also store scanned images of receipts with the expense report. The actual receipts are still required to be maintained until approval is received to maintain electronically.





Although Expense has a lot of features support the FTR/JTR, Expense has the flexibility to support both Government requirements and other types of business.

For example some companies have a government business and a commercial line of business. Expense will support separation of the rules for each type of business.

Expense types can be configured depending on the need of the business.

Those expense types can then be assigned to a separate Expense Report type

Then the expense report types can be separated by employee classes to limit which employees can see which expense report types.

Flexibility of Expense


The Expense software has many functionalities to help keep expense reports in compliance with the Federal guidelines.

Expense is also flexible enough to work outside the government contracting environment to support other parts of the business.

Conclusion

Questions?

Call to Action

Come visit us at the Aronson kiosk in the Expo Hall

Contact information:

Susan Sizemore

[email protected]

410-926-8491

Linda Riesenman

[email protected]

703-593-5591

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Technology

Deltek Insight 2012: Leveraging Deltek Expense to Keep You Compliant with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR)