Request for Reimbursement of Subsistence Expenses

An employee of the Defense Investigative Service requested reimbursement of subsistence expenses incurred while he was on temporary duty in New York City. The employee was authorized to obtain reimbursement for his actual subsistence expenses up to the maximum allowable rate of $50 per day. Upon review of his claim, the agency disallowed that part representing a dinner meal purchased for $23 and the entire amount of a breakfast purchased. The agency felt that these expenditures were not incurred with the same care and prudence that an individual on personal business would exercise. The employee contended that he incurred these expenditures with the same care ahd prudence as if he had been conducting his personal affairs. He contended that the dinner expense was not extravagant by New York standards, and the breakfast expense was incurred as a result of the delayed arrival of his train. An agency is authorized to reimburse employees for the actual and necessary expenses of official travel where the employee travels to a high cost geographical area. Reimbursable traveling expenses are limited to those expenses essential to the transacting of the employee's official business. Employees are entitled only to reasonable expenses for meals. The employing agency has the initial responsibility for determining the reasonableness of such expenses. Because no such determination had been made in this case, the dinner voucher was returned to the agency for a determiniation of reasonable expenses. When that determination is made, GAO will not substitute its judgment for that of the agency in the absence of evidence that the agency's determination is clearly erroneous, arbitrary, or capricious. The agency's determination to disallow the breakfast expense was proper. The meal occurred many hours prior to the time this meal is customarily consumed and at a time when the employee was approximately 1 hour away from his residence. It was based upon personal preference and not necessitated by the circumstances of his official travel. Therefore, that portion of the voucher may not be paid.