In a contract worth $9.3 million, US Department of Defense (DoD) has selected SAP Concur to develop a business travel system prototype that would replace its current Defense Travel System.

In the announcement the DoD describes its current system as “aging and inefficient” and says it expects that the SAP Concur “end to end travel-as-a-service” model would “exponentially lower the cost of airline tickets and save more than 10 million labor hours annually spent on the process of booking travel by more than 2 million active duty, reserve and civilian personnel.”

The DoD spends $9 billion on travel a year, with temporary duty travel accounting for 70% of all department travel vouchers. As part of its cost-savings, the DoD will apply new Joint Travel Regulations mandating the use of non-refundable airline tickets in markets without pre-negotiated fares.

The new system developed by SAP Concur should reduce the complexity of booking travel, with less time and effort spent by travelers, authorizing officials and administrators on travel planning and expense reimbursement.

Chief Management Officer John H. Gibson of the DoD said in a statement:

“We have a responsibility to ensure our resources are used in the most efficient and effective manner, and given this specific project has such a wide ranging and deep impact – reforms with results like these are crucial.”

SAP is expected to complete the prototype of the new business travel program within 24 months.  Its SVP Public Sector, David Ballard, said of the award in a post to the company’s news site:

“We have been fortunate to work alongside government agencies to drive digital transformation throughout the world, and our recent award from the U.S. Department of Defense is another example of our commitment to helping governments achieve their missions.”