All travel must meet the normal procurement requirements of being allocable, allowable, necessary, reasonable, and in compliance with host institution requirements. Necessary travel is considered to be travel required for conducting Hawai`i SBDC Network business in order to achieve its mission. Reasonable travel is generally considered to mean minimizing the cost to the Network, especially in obtaining the lowest price on a regularly scheduled airline and on hotel accommodations.
Air Travel. Policies regarding travel by air.
In-State Air Travel. In-state air travel is currently required by state policy to be on Hawaiian Airlines via Panda Travel Agency using type “G” coupons, unless a cheaper ticket can be purchased. This could change when the state contract is renegotiated. The over-riding policy is that airfare for in-state travel is required to be purchased from the least expensive agency (air carrier or travel agency), which is most commonly negotiated under contract by the State of Hawai`i DAGS office for in-state airline travel vouchers. (See DAGS State Price Listing for most current contract at www.state.hi.us/icsd/dags/prices/01-02.pdf )
Airline coupons may be purchased outside of the state contract only if the contracted air carrier does not fly to the required destination, or has no scheduled flight within two hours of an alternative airline with a preferred schedule, or has no scheduled flight that will arrive in time for the traveler to arrive at a meeting over which the traveler does not control the timing. Best efforts must be made to avoid these exceptions and those efforts must be fully documented in order for an exception to be made.
Out-of-State Air Travel. Out-of-state air travel policies:
When traveling out-of-state for a meeting that begins in the morning, it is permissible for the traveler to schedule arrival for the day prior to the meeting (assuming that flight was overnight) in order to have the opportunity to rest.
When traveling out-of-state, travelers will not be required by the Hawai`i SBDC Network to fly on more than one flight from Honolulu to arrive at a destination hub airport (or two from a neighbor island) in order to achieve cost-savings in airfare. However, in order to obtain an airline reservation, the airlines may require more stops.
Hotels. Hotel rooms may be reserved when overnight travel is required for business reasons or if the traveler chooses to stay overnight when traveling for business purposes on consecutive days and the hotel room cost is the same or less than flying on the subsequent consecutive days.
The basic criteria for selecting a hotel is that it must be the least expensive of those from which bids are obtained, but it must also be clean, safe, and in a suitable location. Other policies regarding hotels:
When attending conferences (or meetings held at a hotel), the traveler may stay in the hotel chosen by the conference at the conference rate for reasons of convenience and safety. The traveler may stay in another nearby hotel if preferred and if the rate is no higher than the conference hotel rate. While one should always attempt to make reservation early, if the conference hotel is booked at the convention rate, then a nearby hotel at as close to the same rate as possible should be sought. In these instances, competitive bids are still required.
When traveling to destinations where a designated conference hotel is not prearranged, three hotel rates must be compared. The hotels chosen for comparison must be reasonably priced. Reasonable costs (a) reflect the action that a prudent person would have taken under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision to incur the cost was made (a prudent person being one who is careful in the use of material resources, exercising good judgment or common sense, and is circumspect, economical, and frugal), (2) are generally recognized as necessary for the performance of the sponsored agreement, and (c) are consistent with established institutional policies and practices applicable to sponsored agreements. In Honolulu, any of the following hotels may be a reasonable basis for a comparison: the Ala Moana Hotel, the Holiday Inn, or the Hotel Ilima.
Rental Cars. Policies regarding the rental of cars.
Employees of the Hawai`i SBDC Network are permitted to rent a vehicle when traveling for business purposes under the circumstances outlined below. Rental cars should be no larger than compact in size, unless the car will be carrying more than three occupants or unless an occupant(s) requires special accommodations, which must be documented.
In-State Travel: The Hawai`i SBDC Network rents its cars from a Network Services designated company. Purchase orders for in-state car rentals should be issued to them.
Same-island travel: Cars may be rented on the island on which one resides, if the cost of the rental, plus parking of one’s personal car at an airport (if the rental agency is located at one) is equal to or less than a mileage reimbursement of the traveler’s personal automobile for the same distance. Insofar as possible, this policy should be interpreted to meet the needs of the traveler as long as taxpayer value is maintained.
Out-of-state travel: A car may be rented only if the cost to take a direct airport-to-hotel shuttle and/or taxi to the business destination(s) is more expensive than renting a car. Exceptions must be requested and justified in writing to the State director prior to the trip. Purchase orders to out-of-state car rental vendors are preferred. Otherwise, the traveler will need to select the least expensive compact sized car offered by three vendors, pay for the rental themselves, then be reimbursed when the completion report is filed.
See related topics in this section:
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Travel Procurement |
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