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B-199963 1 (1980-08-27)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabjvw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SCOMPTROLLER GENrtRAL OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 B-199963 August 27, 1980 The Honorable Jim Wright House of Representatives Dear Mr. Wright: We refer to your letter of July 31, 1980, in which you request our consideration of a letter from Beth Stanbrough of the Lone Star Travel Center, a travel agency located in Fort Worth, Texas. Ms. Stanbrough believes that travel agents should be permitted to procure tickets for official Government travel. She states that several agencies in the Federal building in Fort Worth have approached her concern- ing use of services offered by her travel agency but she has had to refuse the business because of the rohibition against t use of travel agent97to procure official Govern-- ment travel. The current prohibition against the use of commercial travel agents by the Federal Government was promulgated by the General Accounting Office (GAO) and is contained in 4 0' Code of Federal Regulations 52.3. The prohibition has been 3 in effect for many years and there are a variety of reasons for this. One reason is our concern that if travel agents handled Government travel, it would cost more than dealing directly with the carriers. We also are concerned that the public and the Government would pay higher air fares if the airlines must pay commissions on Government travel procured by travel agents. Also, travel agents may be unfamiliar with statutes and regulations concerning Government travel and this could render enforcement of those provisions more difficult. We studied the effects of our prohibition in 1978 at the request of the House Committee on Small Business and on August 8, 1978, we issued the results of our study which showed inconclusive benefits from lifting the prohibition. We also testified on the results of that report on August 9, 1978, before the Subcommittee on Special Small Business Problems, House Committee on Small Business. The House Committee on Small Business on July 16, 1979, issued House Report No. 96-339 and recommended that GAO remove its long- standing prohibition. The Subcommittee Chairman also wrote to GAO on July 25, 1979, asking what action we planned to take on the Committee's recommendation.

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