[Request for Advance Decision Concerning Real Estate Expenses for NPS Employee]

A National Park Service (NPS) employee claimed reimbursement for residence sale expenses he incurred incident to his transfer. NPS selected the claimant for a management development program and assigned him to extended temporary duty at another station with the understanding that, when he completed the program, it would attempt to transfer him to a duty station other than the one from which he entered the program. The claimant then sold his residence and moved his family to the temporary duty site. When he completed the program, NPS transferred him to a station near his old one. GAO held that: (1) at the time it assigned him to temporary duty, NPS left open the possibility that it might return the claimant to his old duty station; and (2) NPS could not reimburse the claimant for relocation expenses because, at the time it assigned him temporary duty, it did not clearly intend to transfer him. Accordingly, the claim was denied.