Domestic Travel

Domestic travel consists of travel within the U.S. states and territories. Official travel begins when the traveler departs the office or home, whichever occurs last, and ends when the traveler returns to the home or office, whichever occurs first.

All official travel must be approved by your program sponsor and ORISE through a Travel Request before the trip begins and before any expenses are incurred. If you lodge overnight or are in travel status more than 12 hours, a Travel Request must be completed. The Travel Request is required to determine whether adequate funds are available to cover the estimated cost of the trip, prevent problems with unallowable travel costs, and to ensure all travel requests remain in compliance with ORISE participant travel guidance.

It is very important that you discuss your Travel Request with your program point of contact and let them know the Request will be forthcoming via Concur.

To ensure sufficient processing time, we ask you submit the Travel Request to Travel Central at least two weeks before the trip departure date. Travel Requests submitted less than two weeks in advance may not be approved. However, depending on the purpose of the trip and other agency restrictions, you may be required to submit travel requests more than two weeks in advance. A best practice is to complete a Travel Request as soon as you know you are traveling.

If you are attending a conference also refer to Conferences for more information related to conference travel.

Per Diem rates cover costs for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses (M&IE) and are based on the city of lodging according to the U.S. General Service Administration (GSA). Travelers are paid 75% of the M&IE rate for the first and last day of travel and are paid the full amount for all other business days. Meals that are provided, such as meals included in a conference registration fee, paid by a third party, or furnished by the government, must be deducted on the Expense Report.

Domestic travel M&IE rates and meal breakdowns are located on the GSA website links below:

The actual cost of lodging up to the U.S. General Service Administration (GSA) ceiling for the city in which lodging occurred is reimbursed.

Domestic per diem rates are located on the GSA Website.

Note: The domestic lodging ceiling does not include applicable taxes.

There may be times you may have the opportunity to add personal travel to appointment-related travel.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering adding personal travel:

  • The primary purpose of the travel must be appointment-related, and personal travel must be incidental. Expenses for lodging, meals and incidental expenses and other associated travel costs are not reimbursed for locations other than the city of business.
  • When personal travel is combined with appointment-related travel, an airfare cost comparison of business travel only vs. combined business and personal travel is required and must be completed by ORISE’s contracted travel agency, Omega World Travel. The traveler is responsible for any increase in airfare and other expenses due to the addition of personal travel and the increase in costs are deducted on the Expense Report.
  • If an airfare cost comparison is not completed and approved prior to travel, the traveler is responsible for a proportionate part of their airfare cost equal to the number of days on personal travel as determined by Travel Central.

Example:
Total number of travel days 10 | Business days 7 | Personal days 3

The program would pay/reimburse 70% of the airfare cost and the participant would pay for the remaining 30%.

Travel Certificates for reimbursement of Inbound/Outbound Expenses must be submitted as directed in the form provided by your ORISE Program. If you have questions regarding Travel Certificates, please contact your ORISE program point of contact for further information.