Domestic Travel Authorization

Official university travel must be planned to achieve maximum savings and efficiency. Travel expenses must be lowest possible considering all relevant circumstances.

Put another way: Your traveler should opt for a reasonable fare. That doesn't mean it has to be the cheapest, especially if that cheapest happens to stretch 24 hours across 3 stops to get from Austin to San Francisco. But the idea is to land reasonably. How do you measure that? Good question. It's definitely a judgement call.

• Consider this...
  Sponsor Perspective: If it were your money, and you gave it to a PI at the University of Texas at Austin to accomplish a travel-based research objective, how would you like to see that money spent? Assuming average flights from Austin to Boston are running about $380, would you be okay with a $975 flight or would you rather see it closer to $400? At the very least, you'd probably want to know why that airfare went north of $900 - extenuating circumstances need to be documented.
   
• Another thing to Consider...
  The Front Page Test: If a reporter were to investigate your PI's travel, what would they find and how would it look in an article covering faculty travel at UT Austin? Would it be one of many details in a seemingly well-run program or would it be headline material?
  
  EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
  UT FACULTY MEMBER CHARGES SPONSOR $18,000 FOR FIRST CLASS FLIGHT TO UK!*
  *based on actual events
   
  • There is a common sense element to being reasonable and there are additional elements to factor in, such as time of year, destination, size of airport, whether or not a PI needs to work or sleep throughout the flight, and even the timing of the flight itself, among other things.
     
  • Does this all sound super judgy? Well, yes, it does. And it's part of our job as stewards of university funds to point out the requirement for reasonableness, even if it might seem a little uncomfortable. You can do this without a judging tone by sharing the requirement with your faculty members so they are clear on where it's coming from. 
    
    Here's the OSP link that discusses reasonable costs:
    Direct Costs: Allowable, Reasonable, Allocable?
    
    Here's the federal link that discusses reasonable costs:
    § 200.404 Reasonable costs
     
  • If a faculty member insists on purchasing travel services that may not meet the reasonable test, be sure to inform them there could be issues with reimbursement. ALSO: There is a section within the *Define VE5 document for estimating expected costs. It's optional for UT employee travelers, but USE THIS FEATURE to ensure approvers see the proposed costs at the authorization state. This gives them a chance to ask questions and weigh in on reasonableness in advance. A travel reimbursement with approved costing estimates has a much stronger chance of being approved without issue.

 

Group travel to same destination for same dates should be arranged with shared resources toward savings to the university.

• Multiple personal vehicles or rental cars to same destination are discouraged unless truly not feasible. 
• Hotel rooms should be selected based on reasonable cost and best rate available.
• Groups of students travelling together should share lodging when appropriate.
• When booking lodging in countries that charge person basis, only travelers on official UT business count toward reimbursement, no companion reimbursement if not in official UT business status. Same goes for other travel costs, such as flights, meals, transportation, banquet attendance, etc.

Reasonableness is hardwired into policy in the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP), and pulls directly from federal policy. Please visit OSP's Direct Costs webpage, or the Code of Federal Regulations, § 200.404 for more information. 

Please do reach out to discuss further!

Directing sponsored funding to cover expenses for a conference related to a faculty member's area of research is not sufficient justification to charge those costs to a particular sponsored project.

• The clear primary reason for the travel must benefit the specific project
   
• How the travel benefits the project needs to be documented in the travel authorization
  • This is part of the permanent official record for the transaction
     
• The traveler/PI needs to identify which deliverable(s) of the project's articulated statement of work will be benefited or achieved due to their travel/attendance.
   

Sound a little crazy?

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit at UT spanning 3 years of activity, 2014 - 2016.

• The NSF OIG audit concluded in 2019 with 10 findings that cost UT almost $300,000 in rejected costs.
• We found ourselves attending new compliance training in 2020
   
• At the conclusion of the audit, the university was presented with a resolution that detailed expenditures (opens in new window) deemed misappropriated, unallowable, not allocable, incorrect or ineligible in some way
   
• Eventually, after a long and laborious process of cooperating, fact finding and negotiating, the total amount the university was obligated to pay back to NSF totaled just over $280,000 - that's down significantly from the initial list of concerns that was closer to $1,000,000. (full resolution is here)
   
  • That $280,000 may not sound like a lot for a major university, but when you realize each rejected cost found its way home, to the colleges, departments, units, centers, to the individual PIs, some of whom were still here, some not... and each impacted person had to supply a non-sponsored source of funding to cover these costs? Trust and believe, it was not a good time.
     
  • Many of the flagged transactions were for travel, and left a trail suggesting some folks were putting more emphasis on 10-day personal vacation compared to the 1 day of conference attendance (out of a 7 day event), where someone showed up just long enough to present a paper and then get on with the rest of their plans.
    
    Guess who paid for the entire flight in these cases.

 

Now that we know where all this is coming from, let's take another look at what we're asking for in authorizations...

• The clear primary reason for the travel must benefit the specific project
   
• How the travel benefits the project needs to be documented in the travel authorization
  • This is part of the permanent official record for the transaction
     
• The traveler/PI needs to identify which deliverable of the project's articulated statement of work will be benefited or achieved due to their travel/attendance.
   
• All of the above should be added to the notes and/or moreable* in the purpose section of the authorization. 
  • The *moreable is the +sign inside the purpose section that allows input of more detail.
  • Alternatively, these details should be included in the comments section of the online Travel Authorization Request form (TAR) and it wouldn't hurt to include in those comments a request that the processor of the authorization specifically add them to the notes (or moreable) to ensure compliance.

 Unallowable expenses, including but not limited to the following:

• Alcoholic beverages and associated tips - without express, written (and extremely rare) consent from the sponsor/award covering costs
• Personal travel - including personally benefitting costs incurred that result in above avg costs of duty related travel
• Travel to other unaccounted for destination(s) during official university travel (including near-by non-duty locations)
• Meals and lodging in traveler's own headquarters - Austin in most cases (unless expressly stated in agreement covering costs)
• Meals when there is no overnight stay - regardless of destination
• >20% Tips and Gratuities on pre-tax amount <--all tips and gratuities are disallowed on state funds only.
  On sponsored awards, if per diem exceeds daily maximum, itemized receipts are required (for the entire trip, not just day) and tips will be subject to the 20% maximum on a pre-tax basis.
   
• COVERING SOMEONE ELSE'S TRAVEL
  UT traveler can be reimbursed ONLY for their own travel (this includes students and non-employees). 
  To clarify: If traveler A pays for any portion of traveler B's costs, receipts submitted for traveler B's costs will be reimbursed to traveler B (via their own reimbursement request). And it will be between A & B to settle up. Travelers that share lodging should each be reimbursed half - note roommate name(s)/org(s) in voucher notes. Shared rental car should be included only under driver's reimbursement. 

Arrival 1 day before, and staying 1 day after event is allowable. Dates beyond official event dates must be linked to other identified travel purposes <-- This needs to be communicated to travelers at the authorization stage and should be addressed in the event that travel dates appear to stretch beyond UT duty-based travel dates.

Weekend Travel
If employee returns home for weekend between dates of UT-related travel, reimbursement is limited to the lesser of total amount of expenses that would have been reimbursed had the employee stayed at duty point.

• Put another way:
  • UT employee travels to Mexico for research
  • Dates of travel extend across three weeks
  • On the 2nd weekend, employee flies home for personal reasons, then returns to UT-related destination
  • Employee does not automatically get reimbursed for the additional flight and other expenses if the return home was not due to a business reason
    • If cost to fly home and then return to UT duty destination results in savings to UT, actual expenses are reimbursed.
    • If cost to fly home and then return exceeds cost of staying at duty destination, employee may claim up to the cost of staying at duty destination, which may include hotel, per diem, parking.
      • You'd need to supply receipts documenting the actual additional expenses and receipts that demonstrate the would-be costs had the employee stayed at the duty destination.
         
• Weekend travel expenses may not exceed the average weekday travel cost multiplied by the number of days in the weekend and there must be a legitimate, documented need to remain at the duty station past the weekend.
   

Similarly, reimbursable expenses are limited if an employee leaves a duty point during the UT travel (not after it) and travels for personal reasons to a location other than the UT duty destination(s) -this includes traveling home.

• Nearby non-UT destination expenses may not exceed the average daily UT-related travel cost multiplied by the number of days incurred and must represent a savings to the university as compared to returning home.
• Put another way:
  • UT employee travels to Switzerland for a one week workshop
  • The workshop attendance days are Mon-Wed and Fri-Sat
  • UT employee travels to France Thursday morning for personal travel
    • The cost and timing to fly back to the U.S. and return the next day is not feasible
    • UT employee stays overnight at hotel in France Thursday night
    • Employee submits France hotel as part of reimbursement
      • If hotel is less than UT business hotel, actual cost is reimbursed
      • If hotel is more than UT business hotel, add'l night of UT business hotel is reimbursed

 

Reimbursing Coach Amount from First/Business Class Airfare

To reimburse the coach amount of first/business class airfare, an apples-to-apples comparison must be obtained AT TIME OF BOOKING. Use Concur Travel tool, other 3rd party booking tool or contact a UT travel agency to obtain the exact same itinerary in coach class. Hold on to it for reimbursement purposes.

Pro tip: You can log into Concur and reserve the coach class version of the flight - instead of booking it, step through the process and place the itinerary on hold. Concur will email the itinerary to you, including date stamp. This can be included in reimbursement documentation to prove difference in cost. (unpurchased on-hold itineraries in Concur are released after deadline, usually within 24 hours, so no payment will occur and you don't have to worry about canceling)

Be Aware of Booking BASIC Economy & 3rd party Online Non-Refundable Itineraries

Basic economy means no seat-selection, reduced carry-on allowances, and no changes allowed. On-line lower cost airfare is usually discounted because it is non-refundable and changes incur additional costs. Know before you book.

Seating & Class Upgrades, Early Onboarding, Baggage Fees, Other Options 

Upgrades and optional services are not reimbursable, including for hotel, airfare and other transportation costs. Additional and overweight baggage fees are only reimbursable for business related needs.
Exception: Southwest Airline's EarlyBird Check-in fee is reimbursable on local funds (not state funds).
Internet/Telephone service costs must be incurred only for UT business.

Reimbursing Airfare Originating in Non-Headquarters Location

If a traveler needs to book airfare to a UT business-related destination, and the itinerary is to originate from a location different from traveler's home base (headquarters), a comparison airfare must be obtained AT TIME OF BOOKING that shows similar itinerary and cost from home base. Reimbursement is limited to the lesser of the two itineraries. Use Concur Travel tool, other 3rd party booking tool, or contact a UT travel agency to obtain comparison itinerary in coach class. Hold on to it for reimbursement purposes.

Expenses Incurred while Qualifying for Discount Airfare

When an employee stays extra days at a duty point to qualify for discount airfare, employee may be reimbursed for travel expenses incurred if additional expenses plus discount airfare are less than or equal to the average coach airfare. It must be in the best interest of the University to allow employee to be absent for the extra days. The extra days may occur before or after the official state business.

Voucher must show additional expenses (all applicable categories) incurred are less than or equal to average coach airfare, as well as show average coach airfare and source used to determine that airfare
Use Concur Travel tool or other 3rd party booking tool to screenshot a handful of itineraries - do this at the same time as booking the airfare for an apples-to-apples comparison, include date of comparison

Use of Personal Car

Personal vehicle usage for UT business-related travel is reimbursed via mileage. Traveler should plan to use point-to-point odometer readings or online mapping tools to determine total mileage. (Any online mapping tool is allowable with local funds, state funds require specifically the mapquest.com tool)
Traveler cannot be reimbursed for fuel costs with personal vehicle usage.

Traveler may be reimbursed for mileage within the duty destination (to from airport, hotel, meetings, etc.) so long as it's incurred for UT business-related reasons. Traveler may be reimbursed for mileage to and from their local airport, including round-trip mileage (on both ends of the trip) when someone else drops them off and/or picks them up.

For out-of-state travel, reimbursement is limited to the lower of average coach airfare and related expenses, or mileage plus allowable meals and lodging. When additional employees are transported, the average coach airfare of each employee should be used in the comparison.

The idea is to prove savings to the university. Traveler (or admin) will need to obtain an apples-to-apples airfare comparison at time of booking. A screengrab that shows date of comparison and a grouping of similar itineraries can be obtained via UT's Concur Travel tool, other 3rd party booking tools, or contact a UT travel agency and request an average coach fair be emailed. This can be included in reimbursement documentation.

Texas-based Lodging EXEMPT from Occupancy Tax

State employees (that's us) are exempt from Texas state hotel occupancy taxes. Traveler must present hotel with completed exemption certificate (<--PDF auto-download) prior to finalizing invoice. If hotel refuses to honor certificate, traveler will be reimbursed the tax, then notify state comptroller about hotel's refusal. Employees are not exempt from county or municipal hotel occupancy taxes.

Single Occupancy Only

Hotel cost must be for one person only (unless rooming with another business traveler to split costs). If UT traveler will be accompanied by non-UT traveler, be sure to get a single occupancy rate comparison to prove double occupancy rate is the same. (this is typically not an issue with domestic travel)