FACSS TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION AND REQUIREMENTS

General Reimbursement Policies

1. FACSS will not accept responsibility for the reimbursement of travel related expenses for Delegates, Committee members or Organizing Committee members for the sole purpose of attending a Governing Board Meeting. The FACSS Executive Committee, voting SCIX General and SCIX Program Chairs, whose attendance is required at these meetings, are not included in this policy.
2. If your employer will cover expenses for your travel, please use those resources available to you when reasonable to do so.
3. If you also represent one of the member organizations in an official EC, GB, etc capacity and that organization will cover your expense, please use those resources available to you when reasonable to do so.
4. For those eligible for reimbursement by FACSS for travel expenses and have other duties (i.e., employee responsibility, or FACSS member organization responsibilities) that limit you from being available, 90% of your time, for FACSS/SciX, then we request that you split your expenses across those organizations based on your best estimate of time/days.
5. Receipts over $25 must be submitted. While detailled receipts are recommended, credit card receipts may be accepted in lieu of detailed reciept. If a receipt is missing, reimbursement for that expense must be approved by the GB Chair and Treasurer (or the past GB Chair and Treasurer if the requester is the GB Chair).

Before Trip - Travel Requirements

1. All travel must be pre-approved before funds are committed. Request and approval must be submitted (Approximately six weeks to 4 months in advance, if possible) in written form to the FACSS International Office. The Office will review and forward forms to the Governing Board Chair and Treasurer for approval (and where necessary the past Governing Board chair). The Office will notify traveler if approval has been granted.

Allowable Travel Expenses   

1. Airfare. All travel should be at lowest available fare (ex. 21 advance airfare). FACSS may reimburse only up to this lowest fare amount. Any other points of destination on the ticket must be paid by the traveler. FACSS portion of travel will be reimbursed at the prevailing discount rate. FACSS will only reimburse travel to and from the destination city. Fees for a seat assignment and for standard luggage may be requested for reimbursement. Upgraded or preferred seat selections and additional luggage fees will not be reimbursed.
2. Parking. Parking is authorized when driving to the airport and parking is the least cost option compared to taking a taxi or ride share service. If using a personal car or a rented car, and the hotel charges for parking, then the least-cost option for parking is authorized.
3. Mileage. When travel is authorized by personal automobile, an allowance of the prevailing government rate is made per Reference Note 1. Reimbursement for transportation by this means shall not exceed the otherwise allowable comparative costs of travel by common carrier. Gas is not reimbursed. Tolls and parking at the conference destination may be requested. FACSS requires that travellers provide the starting destination and the ending destination to be provided in addition to the mileage. The reimburable mileage is subject to verification using Google Maps and reimbursement will be for the most direct route (traveller may choose, but is not required, to provide a Google maps verification).
4. Lodging. Lodging and meals will be reimbursed in direct ratio to the number of days of FACSS REQUIRED attendance. If another attendee will be sharing your room, the allowable reimbursement of the room will be half of the nightly rate.
5. Meal Allowance. Meal allowance will be a maximum value set by the federal per diem for the city of travel as defined in reference note 2. Since some days the meal cost may be higher, it will be calculated on the entire trip. Using as an example, a 6 day stay in Raleigh using the 2024 Raleigh per diem of $64, the maximum allowed paid for meals would be 6 days x $64.00 per day = $384.00.
6. Baggage Handling. Actual and reasonable baggage handling expenses are reimbursable. (Guideline as per magazine "Meetings and Conventions" - $1.00 per bag and/or article box)
7. Car Rental. The actual and reasonable cost at the commercial rate as evidenced by the original receipt for approved and necessary automobile rental is allowable.
8. Miscellaneous Expenditures. All miscellaneous expenditures, such as internet charges while traveling, etc. must be pre-approved and documented.
9. Registration for Attendance to Meetings. No registration fees to attend meetings will be paid by FACSS unless pre-approved. If a registration is required, please notify the Governing Board Chairperson, since complimentary registrations may be available. Registration costs will be borne by the person attending the meeting.
10. Entertainment: In accordance with their roles as Governing Board Chair, Governing Board Chair elect, or Site selection chair, these functions will cause group dinners to occur. In those cases, the ranking officer, who called the meeting, will purchase the group meal and submit this as a separate reimbursement outlining both the purpose and the attendees. For example the Site selection chair may pay for a dinner for the site selection team. The Governing Board cahir may host a dinner for the General Chair, the Program chair, and appropriate guests (i.e., plenary speakers), the Governing Board chair may host a dinner for the SciX team attending a future conference site meeting. A maximum dollar value for the proposed expense should be included on the Travel Expense Authorization form. This expense will be listed in the Other's category of the travel form. This expense, if considered reasonable by the expense approvers, will be reimbursed. In the event that the expense is considered unreasonable, the Executive committee will adjudicate a decision and the amount the EC approves will be reimbursed. To avoid, overcomplication, the daily per diem will not be proportionally reduced for those who attend the group dinner.

After Trip Travel Requirements

1. Expense reports must be received for approval within 30 days of expenditures. Failure to do this will result in release of FACSS from reimbursement responsibility.

Reference Note

1. Mileage reimbursment rate will conform to the IRS published mileage for the timeframe of travel as found at https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/standard-mileage-rates
2. Meals and Incidental rates (M&IE) are defined by https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates. FACSS will use the value noted as M&IE total.