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Air Force Ends Pilot
Travel Card Program By Jim Douglas |
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March 28, 2012 - The Air Force recently decided to
transition existing Controlled Spend Account travel
cards to an enhanced Government Travel Card by the end
of fiscal 2012. "The CSA, a pilot travel card program, provided some enhancements for travelers, but also brought about significant challenges for our most frequent travelers and those with unique mission sets," said Mrs. Joan Causey, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Operations.
"We recognized that for any travel card program to work,
it has to work for all travelers. In the end, we were
not satisfied that any proposed changes to the CSA
program would get us to the desired state for our most
frequent travelers." |
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The
actual transition will occur in August and September and
current CSA cardholders should continue to use their cards
as normal. The transition strategy allows travelers to
continue using their "blue cards" without interruption.
The card functionality will be converted to
a GTC by CitiBank without the need to get a new card. Also,
travelers will once again be provided with a permanent credit
limit, and there will be no need to call for "temporary spend
limit" increases. One of the enhancements being pursued for
the GTC program will be via the Defense Travel System. Default
settings will be changed to automatically align most non-mileage
expenses to the card.
Additionally, the traveler can
split-disburse any residual funds to his/her personal account.
Finally, as a carryover from the CSA program, Citi will upgrade
their GTC online system to allow travelers to request electronic
fund transfers of credit balances directly to their bank
accounts. "The CSA to GTC transition plan is already in motion," Causey said. "We're planning a brief test in July to ensure all systems are a go. If all systems perform as expected, roughly 300K cardholders will be converted during the August/September timeframe." |