Travel Management Specialist

DUTIES:

The selected candidate will provide comprehensive support including:

Travel Authorization Review

• Review DTS travel authorizations for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with applicable Federal, DoD, Army, and Joint Travel Regulations.
• Review travel dates, destinations, itineraries, purpose of travel, and estimated expenses.
• Verify that required supporting documentation and Exception to Travel (ETP) are attached to travel authorizations.
• Review transportation arrangements, including airfare, rail, POV mileage, rental vehicles, taxis, rideshare, parking, and tolls.
• Review lodging selections and identify potential lodging rates or authorization issues.
• Review requests for actual expense reimbursement and required supporting justification.
• Verify and identify missing, incomplete, or potentially incorrect LOAs and coordinate corrections with appropriate Government personnel.
• Identify discrepancies and return travel authorizations to travelers for correction when appropriate.
• Conduct quality-control reviews before authorizations proceed to Government Approving Officials (AO).

Travel Voucher Review

• Review DTS vouchers for accuracy and completeness prior to Government certification.
• Compare actual travel expenses against the approved travel authorization.
• Review lodging expenses and receipts for accuracy and completeness.
• Review transportation expenses and supporting documentation.
• Review rental vehicle, fuel, parking, toll, taxi, rideshare, and other reimbursable expenses.
• Review meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) for accuracy.
• Review travel dates and actual itinerary against the approved authorization.
• Verify required receipts and supporting documentation are uploaded to DTS.
• Verify that the appropriate LOA is present and properly associated with the voucher.
• Identify discrepancies between authorization and voucher information.
• Return deficient vouchers to travelers for correction and resubmission.
• Maintain records of recurring voucher deficiencies and trends.

Traveler Profile Management and Lines of Accounting/Cross Org Management 

• Review and maintain traveler profiles in DTS.
• Verify traveler contact information, organizational information, and other required profile data.
• Identify outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate traveler profile information.
• Assist travelers with updating profile information.
• Coordinate required profile changes with DTS administrators and appropriate Government personnel.
• Support traveler profile updates resulting from organizational realignments, personnel transfers, onboarding, and other organizational changes.
• Verify that required Lines of Accounting are included in DTS travel authorizations and vouchers.
• Identify missing, inactive, incomplete, or potentially incorrect LOAs.
• Coordinate LOA discrepancies with designated Government financial, budget, resource management, or FDTA personnel.

Customer Service and Traveler Assistance

• Provide professional customer service to PAE Fires military and civilian travelers.
• Respond to traveler questions concerning DTS authorizations, vouchers, receipts, profiles, and supporting documentation.
• Assist travelers in understanding and correcting identified deficiencies.
• Coordinate complex or unresolved issues with the PAE Fires Payroll and Travel Office.
• Communicate effectively with travelers, Authorizing Officials, Certifying Officials, DTS administrators, and other Government personnel.
• Track customer inquiries and unresolved issues as required.
• Conduct quality-control reviews of completed travel authorizations and vouchers.
• Identify recurring errors and deficiencies across PAE Fires organizations.
• Monitor travel documents for completeness, accuracy, and timely processing.
• Identify potential duplicate claims, unsupported expenses, and documentation deficiencies.
• Conduct periodic sampling of completed travel documents as directed.
• Document review findings and corrective actions.
• Recommend improvements to travel processing procedures and internal controls.

Travel Tracking and Reporting

• Maintain travel tracking tools and databases for assigned travel documents.
• Track authorization and voucher status from initial review through completion.
• Monitor outstanding and aging travel documents.
• Track documents returned to travelers for correction.
• Maintain records of identified deficiencies and corrective actions.
• Prepare recurring travel status reports and management metrics.
• Identify trends and provide recommendations to improve travel processing.

Policy and Procedure Support

• Stay current on applicable Federal, DoD, Army, and Joint Travel Regulations and PAE Fires travel procedures.
• Assist with developing traveler training materials and job aids.
• Assist the PAE Fires Payroll and Travel Office with internal travel reviews and audits.
• Identify potential compliance issues and elevate them to appropriate Government personnel.
• Maintain documentation supporting completed reviews.
• Assist with identifying corrective actions resulting from audits or quality-control reviews.

Organizational Transition Support

• Assist with DTS travel support during organizational realignments and transitions.
• Support traveler profile updates associated with personnel transfers and organizational changes.
• Support DTS administration during Transfer of Function activities and other PAE Fires organizational transitions.
• Assist with identifying travelers who require updates to profiles, routing, LOAs, or other travel-related information.

Security and Information Protection

• Protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial information, and other sensitive Government information.
• Follow applicable Army, DoD, and Federal cybersecurity and information protection requirements.
• Maintain confidentiality of traveler and financial information.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required Skills/Experience:

• 3-5 years MINIMUM of related travel reviewer experience with the Defense Travel System
• Active U.S. DoW Secret clearance is required to perform this work.
  • Candidates are required to have a Secret clearance upon hire, and the ability to maintain this clearance level during employment
• Extensive hands-on experience utilizing the Defense Travel System (DTS) and an in-depth working knowledge of the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR).
• Proven ability to perform and thrive in a highly dynamic, fast-paced work environment supporting a high OPTEMPO military or government organization.
• Prior experience supporting an Army Project Office or similar command-level organization.
• High degree of professionalism and strict attention to detail, specifically regarding financial accuracy and regulatory compliance.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint) and Adobe Acrobat.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to clearly brief leadership and effectively assist travelers across all ranks and grades.
• Travel: Less than 10% in the Continental United States (CONUS)

EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

Education Requirements: High School diploma and DTS experience in a DoD program/project office environment is required.

PREFERRED/ DESIRED SKILLS:

• Demonstrated ability to resolve complex travel routing, funding, and ticketing issues under tight deadlines.
• Dependable self-starter with strong interpersonal skills, capable of multitasking and prioritizing assignments effectively both independently and within a team environment