Mace Announces Hearing on DOD’s Failed Attempt to Replace its Wasteful Legacy Travel System

WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) will hold a hearing titled “Getting Nowhere: DoD’s Failure to Replace the Defense Travel System.” The subcommittee hearing will examine the Department of Defense’s (DOD) quarter-century old legacy travel system. This system has diverted hundreds of millions of dollars annually from warfighting due to its inefficiencies and  generation of improper payments. This hearing will also examine why a nearly decade-long effort to replace the system was abruptly ended in May by DOD, which terminated a contract for a new system about be implemented Department-wide.

“The Department of Defense’s failure to implement the new travel system, which took nearly a decade to prepare, appears to be rooted in broader management dysfunction. If allowed to go unaddressed, this dysfunction will likely result in unabated waste of taxpayer funds on a massive scale. The DOD must steward U.S. taxpayer dollars and ensure funds are not being wasted or misused. We look forward to getting answers from Department officials on why the implementation plans were scrapped, what controls are in place to ensure funds aren’t being wasted, and what role Congress can play in safeguarding U.S. tax dollars in the future,” said Subcommittee Chairwoman Mace.

WHAT: Hearing titled “Getting Nowhere: DoD’s Failure to Replace the Defense Travel System.”

DATE: Rescheduled for Wednesday, July 26, 2023

TIME: 1:00 p.m. ET

LOCATION: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

WITNESSES:

• Jeff Register, Director, Special Operations Division, Defense Human Resources Activity, Office of the Under Secretary for Defense for Personnel & Readiness
• Elizabeth Field, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, Government Accountability Office

The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at https://oversight.house.gov/.