The Pentagon has bailed on a travel system that, when first launched, was aimed at lowering costs and modernizing booking travel for both service members and civilians working for the Department of Defense.
The system — known as MyTravel — became mandatory for everyone in the Defense Department last fall, according to a memo written by Gil Cisneros, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. At the time, Cirsneros argued the move would allow the Pentagon to “retire legacy travel systems while delivering an industry leading product.”
According to the contract, the Pentagon allotted just shy of $375 million for the service and expected it to run until fall 2028. Instead, Cisneros wrote a new memo in May saying that MyTravel would be ending and the Pentagon would go back to the old Defense Travel System, having spent just shy of $13 million on the project.
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Jade Fulce, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, told Military.com that “although the program made significant advancements, continued implementation of MyTravel is no longer in the best interests of the department.”
Fulce said a lower amount of travel than what was anticipated at the start of the contract “due to COVID-19 and a shift to virtual meetings” was part of the reason for the cancellation.
The memo issued by Cisneros halting the use of MyTravel did not cite any reasons for the…
