Request for Review of GSA Settlement Action

A carrier firm requested a review of a settlement action taken by the General Services Administration (GSA) on shipments of Government property that the firm transported. In an audit of the firm's transportation bills, GSA determined that the firm had overcharged for the shipments. Disagreement arose over the interpretation of the meaning and placement of the terms of the tariff; the carrier's interpretation called for higher rates than those determined to be correct by GSA. GAO believed that well-established principles of tariff construction controlled disposition of this case. In the interpretation of a tariff, its terms must be taken in the sense in which they are generally used and accepted, and it must be construed in accordance with the meaning of the words used. GAO found that GSA correctly interpreted the lower rates according to the applicable principles. Accordingly, the GSA settlement action was sustained.