MILWAUKEE -- A travel consultant testified on Tuesday that he objected to a Wisconsin purchasing official's plan to add an extra step to the process used to award a major travel contract.

On the second day of Georgia Thompson's federal trial on fraud charges, travel consultant Ian Thomas testified that he told Thompson in an e-mail that he disagreed with the decision to pit Virginia-based Omega World Travel and Adelman Travel Group against each other in a tiebreaker. An initial evaluation showed Omega leading Adelman.

Thomas testified that step would essentially eliminate all the evaluators' work if it went to bid. Thomas was hired by the state to help cut its travel costs by consolidating the number of travel agencies used by state employees

Prosecutors said that Thompson manipulated the bidding process to ensure the contract worth an estimated $750,000 went to Adelman, a Glendale firm with political ties to Gov. Jim Doyle.

Prosecutors have said that Adelman executives donated to Doyle's re-election campaign. CEO Craig Adelman donated $3,000 to Doyle's campaign before and $7,000 after his firm landed the contract. Adelman board member Mitchell Fromstein gave another $10,000 shortly after the contract was awarded.

On Monday, Thomas testified that he was ready to declare Omega World Travel the winner of the contract, but Georgia Thompson told him it needed to go to Adelman Travel of Milwaukee because she was under pressure from her bosses.

Thomas also testified Thompson tried to pressure other members of a selection committee to change their scores but they refused.

The contract would have involved booking up to 40 percent of state travel.

The 56-year-old Thompson, a Department of Administration purchasing supervisor, pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. If convicted, she faces 20 years in prison.

Her trial is being held in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee.