Standard Operating Procedures Manual SOPs External Relation Travel Management Presented to: Independent Elections Commission (IEC) Funded and Supported By United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Kabul- Afghanistan Date: March 2016/ Hoot 1394 Prepared by: BDO- Jordan & SH 1
Date March 2016 Department External Relations SOP No. EX Relations-01 Revision No. and date New Implemented By External Relations Director Review authority No. of pages 12 Pages Signature/ stamp Travel Management Section SOP: 1. Objective and Scope: - The purpose of this SoP is to provide guidelines and help the IEC External Relations office and Finance Office in managing all travel requisitions, expenditures including transportation charges fair(s) accommodation, stay charge and pocket money related issues, for official travels inside and outside country. Scope: - in order to regulate the national and international travels of government officials, and contracted staff working for IEC, that travels for attending Workshops, Trainings, Conferences, Study Tours, Seminars, Symposiums, Exhibitions, and other important official meetings or visits. 2. Terms, Definitions & Abbreviations:- Travel is the movement of people between relatively distant geographical locations and can be performed by any traveling means like Car, airplane, boat, foot and any other means of transportation, here the purpose of this note is to provide the IEC staff with information on regulating and managing a smooth and efficient system for all domestic and international travels for all individuals traveling for official purposes and representing the government ministry or independent organizations. The procedure that has been explained in this standard operating procedure has been agreed and finalized by the Afghanistan Cabinet of Ministers and has been approved by the Afghan President and have been issued by the Administrative Office of the President (AoP). 2
1 CEO: Chief Executive Officer 2 IEC: Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan 3 SOP: Standard Operating Procedure 4 CSC: Civil Service Commission 5 MFA: Ministry of Foreign Affairs 6 ERD: External Relations Department 7 GoIRA: Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 8 AoP: Administrative office of the President 9 CM/VCM: Chairman/Vice Chairman 10 MoF: Ministry of Finance 3. Tasks, Responsibilities and Accountability: Task Authorized Responsible Requisition & Travel External Relations External Relations Director Request form. officer/traveler Chairman/Vice Chairman & Authorized Approver CM/VCM Processing all the Payments for traveler The President of Afghanistan. Financial Management Office/Director Finance Officer/Manager 4. Operating procedure: A. Government officials holding Grade 1, above grade 1 and all the officials working at the director level who are graded as grade 1 & 2 of the civil servants pay and grading system should follow the procedure listed in point B of this Sop B.ERD should prepare a travel request form and a requisition (Peshnehad) through the Chairman/Vice chairman of the organization and send it to the Administrative office of the president for review and approval, following documents should be attached: a. Copy of invitation letter from the host country or host organization with the names of people who are introduced by the management of IEC. b. Concurrence of ministry of foreign affairs (MFA). C. For all other travelers other than the ones listed on point A of this SoP, that are traveling outside the country should be harmonized with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and written concurrence/no objection should be issued by (MFA) at least ten days in advance of the travel date and subsequently should be approved by the Chairman/vice Chairman of IEC. 3
D. All the information on the event the traveler is attending and is traveling for should be attached with the form and then routed for approval. This is applicable for all travelers at all time. E. Invitation letters received for the officials listed on section A of this Sop should be evaluated carefully by the Management and if it is beneficial and practical should be approved by Chairman/Vice Chairman. F. Management of the organization should consider significance of the purpose of the trip with the role and responsibility of the individual attending the event and then submit to Chairman /Vice Chairman to decide on approval/denial of the Travel request. G. The selection of officials or employees for event depends on its type, if the program requires presence of a delegation from senior Management of Commission then Chairman or vice chairman will decide on introduction of the officials. Meanwhile if the trip is for capacity development or is designed for a special technical department then CEO or his/her designee will decide on introduction of appropriate people for the trip, but in either case decision should be made in accordance with invitation conditions and procedure for governmental official s overseas tours. H. If the expenditure of the trip is covered by the host country or by the donor agency/international partner organization, the Traveler should only request for pocket money and the extra expenses that the individual is eligible to be given as per the regulation on (Rental fee and Accommodation). I. Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue government officials travelling for official business purposes with diplomatic/service passport once the travel request is approved by the president. J. All the domestic travels should be requested by the traveler and routed to the Chairman/Vice Chairman IEC for review and approval meanwhile the head of unit is responsible to send an email explaining the dates which an individual employee will be traveling, to HR office as in order to inform HR on Attendance of the subject employee. K. All the official trips made for business purposes domestic or international by either means of transportation are covered by the related government organization and all the expenditures including, Transportation allowance, Accommodations and Per-diems should be paid to the traveler in advance L. For travel purposes by any transportation mean (Air, Ground) governmental, domestic and private sector companies who are providing the required services in terms of travel facilitation should be given preference. M. Upon the return from travel, Travelers who holds grade 1, 2 or above should submit a detailed report about the trip through ERD to Administrative office of the president, and other vouchers and documents listed below to (ERD). Whereas all other travelers should submit their report, and other receipts (vouchers, Tickets, boarding Passes, Hotel bills 4
and other expenditure bills incurred for the official business purposes) to External Relations Department for processing the advance clearance and routing to finance office. N. Per-diem rate for all local travel is Afn 1000/day. If the traveler used governmental vehicle for the purpose of domestic travel will not be eligible for transportation allowance, but per-diem & pocket money should be paid. O. Per-diem rate for all International travels has been provided by law and is attached in the annex part of this Sop; it differs based on the location and also the position and grade of the traveler. P. All expenses made during the travel should be claimed by the traveler Via ERD to finance department once returned from trip within 10 days, all slips, boarding passes and vouchers should be attached to the claim for finance to review and clear against the accounts Q. if different transportation means have been used during the trip (i.e. Airplane, car, or animal) the payment should be counted separately for each of them. And any additional expenses occurred during the travel claimed by the traveler is payable subject to approval of the Highest Ranking Official of the organization. R. Additional luggage fee for international travel by air is payable up-to 30kg and for domestic travel by ground is payable up-to 40Kg. domestic travel less than 20Km is not eligible for per-diem S. For domestic travel, the traveler is eligible to receive per-diem up-to 60 days, and is extendable *(see article #8 of gazette #1138) for additional 30 days subject to providing justification and approval from CEO/Chairman or Vice Chairman of the organization. Travels lasting more than 90 days of stay are not eligible for per-diem. Meanwhile all international travelers are eligible to receive per-diem up-to a maximum of 45 days. T. Travelers who are staying on government facilities domestically or internationally will be eligible for 50% of per-diem. U. For travel allowances, transportation charges and per-diems of Contracted/Short Term Staff the term of contract on travel should be given preference, or if not covered under the contract the terms and conditions listed on (gazette #1138) is applicable to them as well. V. if a traveler is getting ill during the trip and is not able to perform his duties is eligible to receive per-diem and travel allowances until the time he is admitted to the hospital, once hospitalized her/him will be paid medication charges not per-diem. 5
Travel Management Flow Chart:- Invitaion through MFA (ERD Office) Approved by CM/ VCM (ERD Officer) Concurrance MFA (ERD Director) Requisition (PESHNEHAD) (ERD office) Approval by AoP (ERD Officer) Ticket & Travel Advance (ERD Officer) Inform HR on Travel (ERD Director) Trip Report (Traveller/ERD) Presentation to Relevant Officials in IEC (Traveler) Report to AoP (ERD) Travel Expenses Clearance (ERD/Finance) 6
5. Related Documents: 6. References: 1. SoP on regulating government Officials Travels outside Country issue by AoP date November 2012. 2. Regulations on Payment Procedure for Travel Charges/Accommodations and Pocket Money Official Gazette # 1138 issued June-2014. 7. Attachments: Attachment #1 Per-diem Rates for different International Destinations. Attachment #2 Pocket Money Rates for different International Destinations Attachment #1 Per-diem Rates for different International Destinations 7
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Attachment #2 Pocket Money Rates for different International Destinations. 9
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