FY 2013 Highlights

FY 2013 Highlights

GSA establishes the per diem rates for the lower 48 continental United States (CONUS), which are the maximum allowances that federal employees are reimbursed for expenses incurred while on official travel.

The CONUS per diem rate for an area is actually three allowances: the lodging allowance, the meals allowance and the incidental expense allowance. Most of the CONUS (approximately 2600 counties) are covered by the standard CONUS per diem rate of $123 ($77 lodging, $46 meals and incidental expenses). In fiscal year (FY) 2013, there continue to be about 400 Non-Standard Areas (NSAs) that have per diem rates higher than the standard CONUS rate.

Since FY 2005, NSA rates have been based on Average Daily Rate (ADR) data from the lodging industry, which GSA obtains through a contract with a leading provider of lodging industry data. For more about how per diem rates are determined, visit Factors Influencing Lodging Rates. The ADR is a widely accepted lodging-industry measure based upon a property's room rental revenue divided by the number of rooms rented as reported by the hotel property to the contractor. This calculation provides us with the average rate that rooms rent in a given area.

As in previous years, GSA still uses:

• Only "fire safe" properties; GSA is required by law to use only properties that are certified as being in compliance with the Hotel & Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990.
• Properties that fall within the mid-price range.  This range includes all properties from the lowest to the highest of the mid-price, upper and upper-upscale properties in an area;
• Business travel week data (Monday through Thursday)

Agencies are reminded that the Federal Travel Regulation allows for actual expense reimbursement when per diem rates are insufficient to meet necessary expenses. Please see FTR §301-11.300 through 306 for more information.

FY 13 Results:

All current non-standard area (NSA) lodging rates will remain at FY 2012 levels for FY 2013.  The meals and incidental expense tiers also remain unchanged for FY 2013 and range from $46-$71.

GSA identified 10 new non-standard areas: