Claim for Temporary Quarters Subsistence Expenses

An authorized certifying officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs requested an opinion on the claim of an employee for temporary quarters expenses in connection with an official transfer. The employee had sold his residence at the old official duty station, but made provisions in the contract of sale that he be allowed to rent back his former residence. The record showed that the employee's supervisor advised him that such an arrangement would be acceptable to the agency so that the employee would not have to move his children until the end of the school year. The employee claimed expenses for 30 days for himself and his dependents, who occupied their former residence on a rental basis during that period. The agency questioned whether the employee's family had ever vacated the former residence within the meaning of Federal Travel Regulations. The employee stated that he moved his furniture into storage overnight and moved it back into the residence the next morning to satisfy regulations that the former residence had been vacated. The question here is whether the employee and his family may be considered to have vacated the residence quarters in which they were residing at the time the transfer was authorized. Here, arrangements were made in advance for continued occupancy of the employee's former residence despite the availability of temporary quarters, although such quarters may have been less convenient. GAO viewed this evidence as supporting a conclusion contrary to that required to establish the entitlement to reimbursement. The employee's contentions regarding his alleged moving activities were not sufficient by themselves to establish entitlement to a temporary quarters allowance, and the record here did not provide the objective evidence necessary to support an inference of the requisite intent. In addition, the supervisor's approval of the employee's continued occupancy plan was not determinative of the temporary quarters entitlement. Such advice, while unfortunate, does not bind the Government. In the circumstances presented, GAO could not authorize the reimbursement to the employee of the temporary quarters expenses claimed.