During a typical fiscal year, over 3 million Department of Defense (DoD) personnel perform temporary duty (TDY) travel and generate over 5 million vouchers. The Defense Travel System (DTS) was established to meet the requirements for a single, paperless TDY travel system to be used by all travelers, commanders and process owners across the entire Department of Defense, as well as to consolidate the approximate 85 commercial travel office (CTO) contracts under a single procurement entity for all of DoD.

DTS is an electronic end-to-end travel management system that leverages the power of the Internet to improve the travel planning and voucher payment process. DTS is a fully web-enabled application that transforms the costly and burdensome paper-based travel processes into a streamlined, automated, paperless system. DTS provides an efficient and flexible mechanism for travel arrangements and trip reservations, travel vouchers, and reimbursement. DTS provides superior customer service by processing travel vouchers and depositing reimbursements via electronic funds transfer (EFT) directly to the traveler's bank account within two to three days!

DTS enhances security of personal data by using secure sockets layer (SSL) for data encryption and incorporates Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates for user authentication. DTS also uses DBsign, a plug-in installed on the PC, to allow users to digitally sign documents.

DTS is an evolutionary acquisition program that is already deployed and currently operational at over 25 sites, serving personnel from all Military Services and several Department of Defense Agencies. The Program Director anticipates deploying DTS to all DoD users by the end of FY06.

DTS is also a reengineering program that implements the streamlined and simplified entitlements found in Appendix O of both the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) and Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR).

DTS provides the full interoperability required with key DoD and commercial systems to make paperless travel a reality. These key interoperability partners are:

• DoD Electronic Business Exchange (DEBX)
• Global Distribution Systems (GDS) for airline & hotel reservations, etc.
• DoD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) DoD Travel Archive/MIS
• Government Charge Card Vendor (GOVCC)
• Defense Table of Official Distances (DTOD)
• DoD Official Per Diem Tables

In July 1994, three Under Secretaries of Defense (USD) for the Comptroller, Personnel & Readiness, and Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L;) chartered the Reengineering Travel Transition Office (RTTO).

In January 1995, the RTTO's report was published and made several recommendations:

• Consolidate travel services under one single procurement entity
• Simplify traveler entitlements and publish in plain English
• Make supervisors responsible for managing travel
• Use government charge cards
• Speed travel voucher settlement
• Use electronic funds transfer to speed payment of claims

The RTTO envisioned a seamless, paperless, TDY travel system that meets the needs of travelers, commanders, and process owners. It will reduce costs, support mission requirements, and provide superior customer service.

The Program Management Office - Defense Travel System (PMO-DTS) was established in late 1995. The acquisition of DTS proceeded as an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) sponsored Special Interest Initiative.

In 1996, alternatives for satisfying the mission need were analyzed. Twenty-seven pilot program sites across DoD validated the DTS concept. The DTS Request for Proposal (RFP) was released in June 1997, for which a contract was awarded and commenced in October 1998. In 2003, an update to the final Economic Analysis (EA) was completed. The estimated program return on investment (ROI) was between 5.81 and 1.13 and the estimated program net present value (NPV) was between $1.4B and $228M. The estimated reduction in the work required to administer travel was between 40% and 70% (between $178M and $327M in savings annually).

The USD for the Comptroller and the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L;) jointly signed 17 July 2001 an OSD memo to proceed with DTS implementation. In November 2001, DTS successfully underwent an Operational Assessment (OA) at Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB). In May 2002, DTS Adams Release 1.4 was granted a full Authority to Operate (ATO) by the Designated Accreditation Authority (DAA). On 26 June 2003, DFAS Director, Information, and Technology, in accordance with DoD instruction 5200.40 and DFAS regulation 8000.1-R, granted full Approval to Operate the latest version of the DTS software, Enhanced Jefferson (EJ), and is currently deployed at over 25 sites. The Madison Release follows in 2004.

DTS was designated as an Acquisition Category (ACAT) 1AM Acquisition Program in May 2002 and adheres to the DoD 5000 series oversight process for Major Automated Information Systems (MAIS). A Milestone C decision point was made in October 2003, in which DTS will be deployed to more than 250 high-volume sites across the country that serve over 80 percent of all DoD travelers and achieve DoD-wide implementation by FY06.