AR 215-1 - Soldier Support Institute - U.S. Army

(1) CTS. CTS include the booking and sale of reservations on behalf of eligible patrons on common carriers, and
other arrangements in support of travel, for example lodging and vehicle rentals. Commercial travel services are those
that are available to the general public on a scheduled basis. These include reservations and ticketing on airline, rail,
and bus. The installation MWR program will be responsible to the extent CTS are available at the installation. Where
feasible, CTS may be provided to eligible patrons via local NAF contract, by qualified MWR NAF employees, or via
Internet Web site maintained by FMWRC or the local NAFI/entity. Where the installation uses Web-based service as
its means of providing service, ITR or other MWR employees will be trained to assist military members in navigating
Internet sites to acquire services, and to assist individuals without credit cards to pay for transactions using a dedicated
NAF Purchase Card under the Government Smart Pay Program.
(a) The office that handles commercial travel, whether supported by a contractor or MWR program, may receive
payment in the form of a commission from the travel supplier as compensation for selling and booking the travel
arrangements. Because the amount of commission will vary, and in some cases, no commission may be paid, a
transaction fee may be charged as consideration for making a reservation on behalf of the patron. In the event a
transaction fee is added to the cost of travel, the fee will not exceed 80 percent of the average transaction fee charged
by travel agencies in the nearest civilian community. An installation MWR program may receive a share of the
transaction fee from the contractor but only in cases where the revenue is needed to off set NAF expenses for delivery
of the service. It is the obligation of the local LTS program manager to ensure that Soldiers are charged the lowest
possible price for travel arrangements. If CTS are provided by an MWR program, no transaction fee will be added to
the basic cost of the travel arrangement in excess of the amount needed to off set actual NAF costs to deliver the
service. The NAF goal of providing leisure CTS will be “service over profit.”
(b) Local CTS contracts will not imply or delegate any right of exclusivity to the contractor. The Army reserves the
right, always, to inform and provide its members of best values and alternative sources of travel services.
(c) Installation NAFIs/entities will provide information to their patrons concerning alternative sources of travel
services—for example via Internet Web sites and telephone reservation centers. Installation NAFIs/entities will promote
and publicize the availability of Army or local installation Web sites that provide information and sales of travel
services. A dedicated Web site will be established and maintained by FMWRC for this purpose. Where feasible, sales
resulting from the Web will result in a concession fee. Concession fees generated from online sales will be paid to the
NAFI/entity identified by a purchaser at time of the sale.
(d) At training installations, the MWR program working in coordination with the Basic Training/Advance Individual
Training coordinator(s) and the installation LTS provider are responsible to ensure support for the annual year-end
exodus movement. Minimum support will consist of counseling travelers, processing individual requests for tickets,
accepting payment, and issuing all necessary travel documents to the traveler.
(e) Under terms of an APF contract awarded by Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the official travel
contractor will be required to make personal/leisure travel arrangements in conjunction with official travel, and
Emergency Leave travel arrangements. Arrangements for leave in conjunction with official travel are limited to pointto-point
transportation, vehicle rental arrangements, and lodging. As a convenience to the customer, the official travel
contractor may also make travel arrangements for Family members not named on the travel orders but who wish to
accompany the individual who is authorized to perform the travel.
(2) ITR offices. These offices provide incidental travel and travel-related services, other than those defined as
commercial travel. These authorized services include information about activities and venues located both on and off
the installation; event and attraction tickets, including those sold via contracted kiosks; web site and telephone
reservation centers; group and individual travel arrangements; drive travel arrangements; lodging arrangements; vehicle
rental arrangements; and other advance sales or registration services that support installation NAFIs/entities. Conditions
of discounted individual tour, travel, and ticket arrangements are usually referred to by industry as frequent individual
traveler arrangements. These arrangements seek to provide the economic benefits of group sales to support a class of
individual customers.
(a) ITR offices will make available for sale to authorized patrons, tickets to off-post attractions such as entertainment
programs, sports events, theme parks, and other commercial programs that have broad appeal to the military
community. Tickets may be sold to customers from staffed offices and/or using one or more components of a virtual
ticket office (VTO).
1. Tickets may be acquired by ITR offices for resale via consignment agreements in accordance with AR 215–4;
prepaid purchase; ordering through a central ticket distribution program operated by and for DOD components; or by
issuing military travel vouchers (MTVs) supplied by FMWRC for prepaid admission to attractions that participate in
the program. ITR NAF operating expenses are expected to be offset from markups included in the end-price paid by
the customer.
2. Self-service ticketing systems may be installed at installations under provisions of a VTO, to include direct
customer purchase via a Web site, or at a telephone reservation center. A fee will be paid to NAFIs/entities from all
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