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I.
Decision:
By
decision of the Secretary General, the following policy guidelines are
established for official travel from Headquarters:
1.
Official and statutory travel by staff and their dependents is
governed by Chapter VIII of the Staff Rules.
2.
All travel must be authorized in advance and in writing. In order
for a staff member to travel on official business, a Travel Order must be
initiated in the Management Information System ("MIS"). The Travel Order will include information on the itinerary,
the dates of travel, estimated cost, the purpose of the travel, and the
account to which the obligation for travel is charged.
In addition, a processing fee of $5.00 should be included in the
miscellaneous category of the cost summary.
This fee represents two services, one for $2.00 for travel advances
(see Paragraph 6 below), the other for $3.00, for reviewing and recording
processing services (see Paragraph 8 below).
The service fees are applicable each time an administrative action
is required. The amount of
the fees will be updated periodically by the Department of Financial
Services.
3.
Only the Secretary General and the Assistant Secretary General may
approve their own Travel Orders. All
other Travel Orders must be approved by the staff members' supervisor who
must be at or above the level of department/office/secretariat director. Travel Orders for executive and assistant secretaries,
executive coordinators, directors, and senior advisors to the Secretary
General, shall be approved by their immediate supervisors or, upon
delegation of such authority from the Secretary General, by the Chief of
Staff.
4.
Travelers must obtain prior approval by their supervisor to use
annual leave during the travel period.
Any itinerary changes must also have the supervisors' prior
approval, in writing.
5.
After the Travel Order has been approved through the MIS and
budgetary channels, and the travel arrangements have been completed by the
Travel Unit of the Department of Material Resources, the Traveler must
pick-up and sign for the travel tickets and the OAS Travel Document at the
Travel Unit in the Department of Material Resources.
6.
Travel advances for per-diem and terminal expenses (which include
transportation to and from the airport, baggage fees, and departure taxes)
shall be advanced to Travelers by the Department of Financial Services. This will be accomplished by depositing the advance in staff
members' accounts at the OAS Credit Union.
The Department of Financial Services will record a $2.00
expenditure for this Credit Union service fee against the Travel Order.
7.
The Secretary General, the Assistant Secretary General, executive
and assistant secretaries, the Chiefs of Staff of the Secretary General
and Assistant Secretary General, executive coordinators, and directors of
offices or secretariats, may choose to be reimbursed their actual
documented expenses upon their return from an official trip, instead of
receiving an advance. In such
cases, this must be indicated on the Travel Order, by the words "NO
ADVANCE, ACTUAL DOCUMENTED EXPENSES UPON RETURN" to be inputted on
the "REMARKS" line in the Travel Order.
Travel advances will not be issued to these travelers, and the
actual cost of reasonable documented expenses shall be refunded to them by
the Department of Financial Services upon the presentation of completed
TECs with the required supporting documentation. Travelers are instructed
to obtain receipts for all expenses related to travel for which
reimbursement will be requested.
8.
Within 15 days of their return from an official mission, staff
members shall return the OAS Travel Document to the Department of Human
Resources. The Department
will issue a receipt for the Travel Document.
In addition, all staff members must submit to the Department of
Financial Services for review and archiving a Travel Expense Claim, OAS
Form 7, ("TEC") - to which should be attached all original
receipts, airline or other ticket stub, boarding passes, OAS Form 343
(registry of staff member on official mission), a copy of the Travel
Order, the receipt for the Travel Document from Human Resources, and other
supporting documents of expenses - signed by the Traveler and approved by
the supervisor. The
Department of Financial Services shall record a $3.00 expenditure against
the Travel Order for this service; the fee will not be levied in the case
of travel financed with Voluntary or Specific Funds.
Instructions on how to complete a TEC are attached to this
Administrative Memorandum. Failure
to submit a TEC to the Department of Financial Services within the
required time period will result in a deduction of the travel advance
amount from the salary of the staff member.
9.
Once the TEC has been completed and approved by the supervisor, any
unused, left-over funds obligated under the original Travel Order must be
deobligated by the originating area/department so that the funds can be
reprogrammed.
10.
In the case of statutory travel (recruitment, transfer, education
travel, home leave and repatriation), the TEC and supporting documents
shall be submitted to the Department of Human Resources to verify that the
statutory travel took place; copies should be retained in the originating
department files. The
Department of Human Resources will subsequently forward the TECs to the
Department of Financial Services for review and archiving, as in Paragraph
8 above.
11.
The Department of Financial Services is responsible for reviewing
and recording all documentation related to official travel.
All unsupported expenditures will be the Travelers' or the
certifying officers' responsibility and may be deducted from their
salaries. The Department of
Financial Services is responsible for deobligating any outstanding
balances resulting from expenses being lower than anticipated which were
not deobligated under Paragraph 9 above.
12.
Should the Travelers' total expenses be less than the amount
advanced by the General Secretariat, then the Traveler shall reimburse the
General Secretariat promptly upon his/her return and not later than 15
days after the travel has been completed.
13.
Should the General Secretariat owe the Traveler $200.00 or more,
then an amendment to the Travel Order must be prepared for the
corresponding amount and sent, with the TEC and supporting documentation,
to the Department of Financial Services as under Paragraph 8 above.
In the event the Traveler
is owed less than $200.00, then no Travel Order amendment is necessary.
14.
If the trip is canceled after the advance and/or the travel tickets
and Travel Document have been issued, then these should be returned
immediately to the Department of Financial Services and the Department of
Material Resources, respectively, along with a written explanation for the
cancellation which should make reference to the Travel Order number. The originating area is then responsible for the timely
deobligation of the Travel Order, through an amendment action in the MIS.
15.
It is the responsibility of supervisors to secure prior country
clearance approval for the trip from the appropriate Permanent
Missions, if required, before travel arrangements are initiated.
16.
All staff members on official travel from Headquarters to the
member states shall inform the Office of the General Secretariat in the
appropriate member state of that travel beforehand, and shall register
with the Office upon their arrival in the country.
Traveling staff members shall fill-out an OAS Form 343 (registry of
staff member on official mission), signed by the Director of the Office,
for each Office of the General Secretariat visited during the trip. If the
Office is not in a city on the traveler's itinerary (for instance Brasilia
and Rio), a telephone registration will suffice.
17.
Every staff member, except the Secretary General, the Assistant
Secretary General and the Executive and Assistant Secretaries, who travels
on official business away from Headquarters (except in the case of
statutory travel) shall submit a mission report to the supervisor who
authorized the travel no later than 15 days after returning.
The report should specify the purpose of the trip, contacts made,
progress achieved, problems encountered, and commitments undertaken on the
official mission.
18.
Executive Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Executive
Coordinators, Unit Chiefs, and Directors of department and offices
("the Supervisors") will produce quarterly Official
Travel Plan documents. Each
report should spell out official travel planned, its justification in
terms of the aims of the Organization, the approximate cost, the
individuals involved, and the expected results.
It shall be presented to the Secretary General for consideration
and approval at least one month before the quarter in question begins.
Once the Official Travel Plan
is approved, the administrative actions should be processed at least five
working days before the travel.
19.
In addition to the above, the Supervisors should submit a quarterly
Report on Official Travel which
details all travel carried out during the three months previous to the
report. This document should specify the reason and cost for the travel,
the staff members involved, and the accomplishments achieved on the
official mission.
20.
Unplanned travel due to unforeseen circumstances shall require
prior approval by the Chief of Staff of the Secretary General, and the
administrative procedures must be initiated no less than three working
days before the travel. Such
additional travel shall be identified separately in the Report
on Official Travel and will be justified in terms of its contribution
to fulfilling the aims of the Organization.
21.
Both the Official Travel Plan
and the Report on Official Travel
should cover only travel related to the official activities of the area in
question. Statutory travel
should not be included.
II.
Rescissions:
By
way of this administrative memorandum, all rules, regulations,
instructions and practices of the General Secretariat that run counter to
these provisions are hereby rescinded.
III.
Entry into Force:
This
administrative memorandum shall enter into force on the date of its
signature.
Date:
September 12, 1997
Original: English
James R.
Harding
Assistant Secretary for Management
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR COMPLETING OAS FORM 7
TRAVEL EXPENSE CLAIM, "TEC"
All
staff members who travel on official business of the General Secretariat
must complete a Travel Expense Claim, or "TEC", upon returning
from their trip. Staff
members on statutory travel must also fill-out a TEC upon their return.
The completed TEC, along with all supporting documentation (all
original receipts, airline or other ticket stub, boarding passes, OAS Form
343, a copy of the Travel Order, the receipt for the Travel Document from
Human Resources, and other supporting documents of expenses) must be
submitted to the Department of Financial Services not later that 15 days
after the completion of the travel. Failure
to submit a TEC to the Department of Financial Services within the
required time period will result in a deduction of the travel advance
amount from the salary of the staff member.
In the case of statutory travel, the TEC should be submitted to the
Department of Human Resources within the same period as allowed above.
How
to complete the TEC form:
On
pages 6, 7 and 8 of this Administrative Memorandum is a reduced copy of a
TEC form to serve as a guide. The
page has arrows pointing to parts of the TEC form which indicate where
information is to be entered on the form.
1) The TEC
form must contain the corresponding Travel Order number in the upper
right-hand corner of the form, under item 1 of the form.
2) Travelers
must enter their name, grade, employee number, telephone extension number,
their office room number and building code.
3) Travel
itinerary information is entered here.
The itinerary of each family member who traveled separately should
also be included.
4) Entitlements
are as follows:
a) Per Diem:
- Full per diem rate for the staff member for each
full day of travel.
- Half the per diem rate for each dependent's full day of
travel.
b) Terminal Expenses :
- Established rate for the staff member
- For eligible dependents: $3.00 per official stop, that is
$6.00 for recruitment, transfer or repatriation, and $12 for
home leave.
-
Departure taxes are included in the terminal expenses and should not
be included separately.
5) All
receipts for taxi fares must accompany the form.
Taxi fares are not reimbursed for statutory travel.
Any expense which is not supported by a receipt will be at the
Traveler's own expense.
6) Item
6, Miscellaneous Expenses, is limited to excess baggage fees and expenses
related to passport renewal. In
the case of statutory travel, miscellaneous expenses approved prior to the
travel by the Department of Human Resources, may also be included.
7) The
total for all supported expenses is entered in the box on the right-hand
side of the form under item 7.
8) Under
item 8, Travelers must indicate the amount of the travel advance they
received prior to their trip, and must also indicate the duty station at
which the advance was received.
9) The
traveler must calculate item 9, Settlement.
This item is the difference between the amount entered in the box
at item 7 and the amount entered at item 8.
If a positive balance results from this subtraction, then the
traveler should tick the small box at item 9, "Traveler-Check will be
issued to you" and should enter the amount of the calculation in the box
at the right-hand side of the form. If
a negative balance results from this subtraction, then the traveler should
tick the small box at item 9,
"OAS - Check is attached", should
enter the amount of the calculation in the box at the right-hand side of
the form, and should attach a check, payable to the General Secretariat of
the Organization of American States for the corresponding amount.
10) Item
10 contains additional instructions on how to complete the form, as well
as a space to enter the dates of any annual leave taken during the trip.
11) Item
11 is a certification by both the traveler and the traveler=s supervisor
that the information the traveler is submitting is accurate and correct.
Information submitted which was deliberately false or misleading
will lead to disciplinary measures taken against both signatories of the
form. The reverse side of the
TEC contains space for entering information under "Remarks".
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