TRW's Defense Travel System Gets Go-Ahead from DoD

    RESTON, Va.--July 25, 2001--The Office of the Secretary of Defense released a memo last week reaffirming its commitment to go forward with TRW's Defense Travel System (DTS) and deploy it throughout the department and across the services and agencies.
    This decision follows a favorable review of the system by a Defense Department panel that convened in February as a result of performance issues that emerged during live testing in October 2000.
    "The assessment has been completed and has validated both the functional and technical viability of the DTS program and concludes the DTS will meet our future temporary duty travel authorization, arrangements, payment and accounting requirements, while providing broad benefits to the Department," the memo states. The decision confirms that "... DTS will be the single standard system for satisfying temporary duty travel requirements."
    "We are pleased that OSD has reaffirmed its commitment to the Defense Travel System, allowing TRW to take DTS to the next level. We are completely committed to delivering this revolutionary electronic system that will transform DoD's travel process: The government estimates that DTS will not only reduce DoD's annual travel costs by $100 million but also save DoD users priceless time," said Donald C. Winter, president and CEO of Reston-based TRW Systems.
    "Although a highly complex systems integration effort, our team remains focused on completing operational testing without delay and fielding a fully functional system," said Rich Fabbre, TRW program manager for DTS. "We are eager for DoD to realize and reap the enormous benefits of DTS as soon as possible. Now that the assessments are complete and we have a positive program decision, the vision to reengineer DoD travel is about to become a reality."
    The functional assessment confirmed DTS provides a very secure, automated solution for managing DoD's travel processes and that it meets the Defense Department's vision for reengineered travel. The technical assessment measured the performance of DTS software at various points in the DoD infrastructure and proved that there were no response time issues.
    These results indicate that the Defense Travel System is ready for deployment.
    With DTS, travelers will be able to generate travel authorizations, make trip reservations, and route travel requests for approval, all from their desktop workstation. The system is paperless and uses DoD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates to digitally sign documents.
    When the trip is complete the traveler files a voucher that is electronically routed for approval and sent to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. An electronic funds transfer (EFT) to the traveler's bank account completes the process.