Press

PRESS

April 22, 2010

CREW Sues IRS for Records of Government Travel Management Costs

Lawsuits, Federal Agencies, Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Financial, Disclosure, Transparency, Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - CREW has filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), challenging the IRS’s failure to produce records in response to CREW’s November 10, 2009 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records related to savings from the e-Government Travel Service, web-based travel management services provided to the federal government by three contractors. When the $450 million e-Gov Travel contract was awarded in 2003, the government said it would save millions of dollars by reducing federal travel management costs by up to 50 percent. It is unclear if those savings have been realized, or if the costs associated with e-Gov Travel instead actually have caused some agencies – including the IRS – to curtail or limit travel. In response to the records request, the IRS denied CREW’s request for a waiver of fees and refused to process the request, then failed to respond to CREW’s fee waiver appeal as required under FOIA. CREW’s lawsuit challenges the IRS’s denial of the fee wavier request and its failure to produce records.

Click here to read CREW's complaint.

Click here to read the Treasury's response to CREw's complaint.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact David Merchant at 202.408.5565 or dmerchant@citizensforethics.org