Federal employees traveling on business can now look up per diem lodging, meals and incidentals reimbursement rates from anywhere, thanks to a new smart phone app created by the General Services Administration.
The app -- Per Diem for Continental U.S. -- is available for free download on iPhone and Blackberry devices. It allows federal travelers to look up the daily allowance for meals and lodging by location or zip code throughout the country and U.S. territories. Travelers can look up rates for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, with 2012 rates coming online later this summer.
I downloaded and tested out the iPhone app. It downloaded quickly and is easy to use. I know I'll be recommending it to my active-duty military husband, who is often making calls to learn of per diem rates before booking travel for training or other events.
Still, one user review on the iTunes App Store noted that the app would be more useful if GSA allowed users to search per diem rates for military installations. "Not very useful if you have to know which county a military installation is in," the user noted.
Click here to download the app.
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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