Navy Travel Card Team Wins DoD Award for Smooth Banking Changeover

Financial Management Office Makes A Switch Without A Hitch

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Jun 02, 2010, 10:00 ET

ANNAPOLIS, Md., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- When the U.S. Navy's Financial Management Office changed the bank handling its transactions in the Defense Travel System (DTS), it reconciled and closed out more than $1.8 million in accounts, reducing the outstanding balance to zero in a matter of months.

Recognizing that achievement, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) is presenting an award to the 15-person team that made it possible, including Tod Farrell, senior management consultant, of Immersion Consulting, at the American Society of Military Comptrollers' annual professional development conference being held in Orlando, Fla. the first week of June.

When DoD made the decision to switch travel card venders, the team had a six-month window to close out and fully pay $1.8 million in accounts. In the end, the Navy was the only department to achieve full reconciliation of all outstanding "centrally billed accounts" (CBAs) without having to offset unreconciled balances with rebates earned. This effort enabled the department to use its rebates for unfunded budget requests, non-programmed expenses and a pilot program to augment its use of DTS.

DTS, an electronic travel system, allows military personnel to make their own reservations, as well as accommodating the use of CBAs – charge cards owned by commands to purchase tickets for military travelers without accounts. Using CBAs allows these individuals to travel seamlessly within the parameters of DoD mandates.

"We are thrilled to have played a role in the Navy Team's success in closing a commercial relationship so successfully, to the satisfaction of both DoD and Bank of America," said Mary Ahern-Snyder, president of Immersion. "When a similar transaction change was made a few years ago, there was more than $13 million in charges that weren't reconciled. This was an outstanding team effort."

About Immersion Consulting

Based in Annapolis, Md., Immersion Consulting is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business that improves processes, enterprise systems and cost-efficiency of government travel for customers throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). Immersion focuses on the needs of DoD agencies and being a trusted leader of change, from providing training and implementation to guiding policy. DoD and other government agencies can access Immersion's solutions via their website, http://www.immersioninc.com.