A House subcommittee chair has reached out to the Department of Defense regarding its decision not to go through with transitioning from the Defense Travel System to MyTravel.
Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) reached out to Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros and Director of Defense Capabilities and Management at the Government Accountability Office Elizabeth Field last Friday regarding this decision.
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Cisneros announced in a May 24 memorandum that the Pentagon would not be going forward with using the new MyTravel system and to instead continue using the Defense Travel System. Both are web-based applications that allow service members and DOD’s civilian personnel to plan government travel.
The Pentagon has used the Defense Travel System for about 25 years.
“The rapid reversal on MyTravel — a system being developed for DoD for over four years at a direct cost of more than $20 million — is troubling. It inevitably raises broader questions about DoD’s ability to manage its finances and information technology,” Mace wrote in a letter to Cisneros and Field.
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She also requested Cisneros testify at a subcommittee hearing on July 18 regarding the cancellation of the MyTravel change, and that his office notify hers by July 7 on whether he’ll appear.
The department announced it had selected the software that later became known as MyTravel to replace DTS in August 2018, while Cisneros announced in an October 2022 memorandum that DOD travelers should begin using the new platform when possible. Cisneros’s memo from May rescinds that one, and he said in the latest one that DOD will stop MyTravel operations altogether this coming September.
