Claim for Temporary Quarters Subsistence Expenses

A certifying officer requested an advance decision in connection with a reclaim voucher filed by an employee following the agency's partial disallowance of his claim for subsistence expenses which he incurred while he was occupying temporary quarters. The employee and his dependents had occupied temporary quarters for a month because of a transfer. The agency suspended the claim for further clarification, stating that reimbursement could only be made for actual subsistence expenses incurred provided they are incident to occupancy of the temporary quarters and are reasonable as to amount. The claim was suspended because it appeared that it was based on estimates of expense rather than actual costs incurred. Upon receipt of an itemized reclaim voucher, and relying on statistical guidelines furnished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the agency stated that the amount claimed for groceries consumed during the period was unreasonable. Applying the BLS guidelines, the agency paid the employee the maximum allowable for food in their base region. The employee submitted a second reclaim voucher for the difference claiming that the cost of living at the temporary station was higher than that of the base region. This contention was supported by a memorandum from his project manager. The agency's actions in evaluating the employee's claim were not clearly erroneous, arbitrary, or capricious; thus GAO has no reason to substitute its judgment for that of the agency on the reasonableness of the claim. However, since statistics are based on averages, actual expenses for a family would vary. If the agency should find that the food prices were higher, the agency might take this into account in reaching a determination of reasonableness.