[Question Concerning Employees' Entitlement to Per Diem]

An advance decision was requested as to whether the National Park Service may pay two employees per diem for travel within a federal reservation which took place prior to the subdivision of the reservation into three districts establishing three official duty stations at the reservation instead of one. The agency initially denied the employees' per diem claims, because federal regulations prohibit the payment of per diem at an employee's duty station, but questioned the action because of the commuting distance involved. GAO found that: (1) the reservation was not formally subdivided until after the employees' travel; and (2) prior to that date, per diem was not payable for travel within the official duty station. Accordingly, the claims were disallowed.