[Transportation of Privately Owned Vehicles From Overseas]

The Per Diem, Travel and Transportation Allowance Committee requested a decision as to whether the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) could be revised to authorize employees to ship their privately owned vehicles (POV) from overseas duty posts at government expense, even though they did not ship POV to the overseas station initially. In addition, the General Services Administration (GSA) requested GAO views on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) proposal to authorize POV transportation for employees hired in Hawaii or Puerto Rico to a continental U.S. (CONUS) duty post. GSA believed that both proposed revisions were allowable. GAO held that FTR could be revised to authorize the transportation of employees' POV from overseas at government expense, even though employees did not transport POV overseas initially, provided: (1) employees were assigned or transferred to an overseas duty post for other than temporary duty; (2) POV use at the overseas post was in the government's interest; and (3) employees actually used their POV at the overseas station. GAO also found that FTR could not be revised to authorize POV transportation for employees hired in Hawaii or Puerto Rico to their first permanent duty station in CONUS, since the relevant statute applied only where POV were needed at a duty post outside CONUS. Accordingly, the first proposal's revisions were not prohibited by the relevant statute, but implementation of the FBI proposal would require additional legislation.