As you may have heard, the Harvard University Travel Policy has been updated recently to align with the “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards” (Uniform Guidance) governing travel charged to federal awards. The revised policy includes the following clarification regarding travel on federal funds: No business class or economy class upgrades are allowable on federal funds without an approved and documented exception. Details on the federal airfare exceptions and other considerations when traveling on federal awards can be found in the Travel Policy Appendix G.
The policy will go into effect on March 1, 2016, which means any travel booked on or after March 1st will fall under the new policy. We have created several email templates that you may tailor to meet your communication needs to the various travelers in your department including faculty, faculty assistants, postdocs/students, and non-Harvard travelers. OSP has created a comprehensive FAQ, along with an Informational Brochure and other tools to help guide us through this transition. The templates and links to the OSP tools have been added to our website.