In this Issue: Up, Up, and Away
Dust Off Your Airplane Wing Pins and Slip On Your
Travel Shoes
This
issue is brought to you by the Office of Ethics and the Travel
Office! We anticipate that EXIM employees will start to travel
more for official business in 2022. Official travel is a metal
bird of a different feather and there are rules you need to know
before jetting away on government business.
Before Takeoff
For EXIM official travel, you must want get all the
right approvals in advance.
Official Travel Expenses. If an event sponsor has made an offer to pay your
official travel expenses, you will need agency approval to accept
it before you fly. An employee may not ask for a sponsor to pay
travel expenses but may inform a sponsor about the ability for EXIM
to accept them.
EXIM may accept sponsor-paid expenses under two
authorities: 1) the government-wide travel authority for
attending a conference or seminar in one's official capacity; or
2) a specific EXIM authority which allows the agency to accept travel
payments for mission-related meetings and similar events. These
typically include transaction related meetings such as, site
visits, audits, inspections, and more.
No matter who pays for official travel, EXIM
employees follow the same travel regulations set by the General
Services Administration (GSA) and the  EXIM Travel Policy.
The Fly America Act provides that U.S. government
employees must book American air carriers when using federal
travel funding. However, if a non-government sponsor pays for a
flight, a non-American carrier may be used.
Free Attendance at Widely Attended Gatherings
(WAGs). You might
receive an invitation to an event separate from the official
business of the trip. Free attendance to an ancillary event is
likely a gift and could qualify for the WAG exception, but you'll
need advance approval. Before flying, submit event invitations
and details to the ethics office for review so you can be
approved for all activities you'd like to attend while you're on
location.
CONCUR. EXIM uses this system as the hub for all travel-related
logistics. Before leaving on travel, CONCUR is where you book
flights and seek approval for sponsor-offered gifts of travel
expenses. Accuracy is important for a successful trip, which
makes documentation for each aspect of the trip essential. It is
highly recommended that employees who travel on EXIM business
take the CONCUR training offered by the Travel office.
During the Trip
Personal Time on Official Travel. Stuck in a hotel conference room in Prague and you
can't sample the local sights or food? Sometimes work trips send
us places that would be great to explore but we have a full
schedule of official duties. However, with some planning, an
employee can combine personal travel with official travel.
Business matters come first in official travel but there is a way
to arrange for you to be "on your own time" in a place you'd like
to explore before coming back to the office. You may even be able
to extend your trip. Interested employees must consult with the
travel office to make appropriate arrangements. Any such personal
travel cannot increase the cost to EXIM.
Fly Coach. The general rule is to fly coach class. Government travel policy
provides that non-coach seating (e.g. business class) is
permitted only under limited circumstances. For flights of more
than 14 hours—wheels up/wheels down— or with a documented medical
need, an employee may be approved to fly something other than
coach.
Gifts Given In-Person. Gifts are frequently given to EXIM staff on travel.
They can come in the form of meals, gift bags, souvenirs, and
more. For gifts from foreign governments, employees should
graciously accept and report the gift upon returning to their
duty station for processing. Gifts from prohibited sources may
only be accepted if valued at $20 or less.
Some gifts could be approved during your trip if
they are in the agency's interest and other factors are met. For
example, what if a fellow conference attendee invites you to a
networking event outside the scope of the conference you are
approved to attend? You should reach out to the ethics office to
advise whether you could attend for free under the WAG rule.
Absent an approval, paying fair market value for admission to the
event is permitted.
Per Diem. While on government-paid travel, employees are given a "per diem"
amount of funding to cover expenditures such as lodging, meals,
and other incidental expenses. Employees may not exceed the per
diem amount. If you are traveling on sponsor-paid travel, you may
not submit a voucher for reimbursement of your travel expense.
This "double-dipping" is illegal.
Care for Your Government Equipment. Government-issued equipment and resources are for
official business only. Be sure to take personal equipment like
electronics or other travel gear for your personal needs.
Travelers to foreign countries must get clearance from IT well
before taking their government equipment overseas.
Back Home
Report Gifts. Tangible items will often fall under the restrictions against
accepting gifts and should be reported using our online
gift form within 3 days of returning to the office from travel.
CONCUR. Employees complete their travel when the final entries and
expenditures are recorded in CONCUR. One important task is to
file vouchers and receipts from the trip within 5 days of
returning from travel. Sponsor-paid expenses, especially in-kind
items are sometimes difficult to value and should be documented
with receipts. Documentation is essential.
EXIM Connect: Ethics | Travel
ASK ETHICS
What
does agency approval for sponsor-paid travel cover?
EXIM can only approve sponsor-paid expenses in
advance. This means any "surprise" costs that might arise while
on travel (e.g., an upgraded hotel suite) are not covered by the
original approval. An appropriate response to an offer to cover a
new or different travel expense is for the employee to politely
advise that they are only authorized to accept the original
approved offer of in-kind travel expenses.
What if I want to conduct unrelated official
business while on sponsored travel?
It is possible to combine a sponsor-paid trip with
other official EXIM business. Sometimes, a trip may consist of a
conference or other sponsored meeting as well as an official EXIM
function like business development or a site visit that is
unrelated to the sponsor's reasons for paying for your trip. Work
with the travel office to delineate how the costs will be paid.
Upcoming Dates & Deadlines
In March
2022 -
- A
KNOW EXIM session on this month's newsletter topic will be held
on the 24th.
|
About
the
Office
of Ethics
The
Office of Ethics was established by the 2015 EXIM Charter. The
Office of Ethics staff is available at any time to provide advice
and counsel to employees and managers on any ethics questions,
including: personal and financial conflicts of interest; gifts;
seeking and negotiating other employment; engaging in outside
activities; financial disclosure reporting; political activity;
and, post-employment restrictions.
In accordance
with the Charter, the Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics
Officer, Lisa Terry, serves as the Designated Agency Ethics Official
(DAEO). She oversees EXIM's federal ethics program and
administration of EXIM's ethics program.
The DAEO, along
with the Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official (ADAEO) Lance Mathews, coordinates with the Office of Government Ethics
and manages the day-to-day activities of the Office of Ethics.
Both the DAEO
and ADAEO, as well as ethics counsel, Stephen Grimes and Debra Zusin, are available at any time to provide advice and
counsel to employees and managers on any ethics questions.
The Office of
Ethic's program specialist Gabrielle Guy, provides Ethics' program specialist, provides
administrative support, including serving as system administrator
for the Integrity and Financial Disclosure (FD) online systems.
When
contemplating any action that may be covered by the ethics rules,
always seek the advice of the Office of Ethics at EthicsAdvice@exim.gov.
Lisa V. Terry
Senior Vice President &
Chief Ethics Officer
Office of Ethics Staff:
Lisa V. Terry
Senior Vice President &
Chief Ethics Officer (DAEO)
Lance Mathews
Deputy Chief Ethics Officer (ADAEO)
Stephen
Grimes
Attorney-Advisor, Ethics
Debra Zusin
Attorney-Advisor, Ethics
Gabrielle Guy
Program Specialist |
