1

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

2

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).

3

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 Request form.

External Relations Director External Relations officer/Traveler

Authorized Approver Chairman/Vice Chairman & The President of Afghanistan.

CM/VCM

Processing all the Payments for traveler

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.

4

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

5

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.

6

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)

Trip Report

(Traveller/ERD)

Report to AoP

(ERD)

Inform HR on

Travel

(ERD Director)

Presentation to

Relevant Officials

in IEC

(Traveler)

Travel Expenses

Clearance

(ERD/Finance)

7

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

8

9

Attachment #2 Pocket Money Rates for different International Destinations.

10

11

12