[Applicability of Statutory Limitation on Per Diem]

An advance decision was requested on behalf of a Department of the Interior employee as to whether the statutory limitation on per diem was applicable when he occupied temporary quarters in a high-rate geographic area at the time of his relocation. The employee submitted a voucher seeking reimbursement for temporary quarters subsistence expenses based on the high-cost, geographic-area rate applicable to the locality. The agency disallowed a portion of this claim on the basis that reimbursement for temporary quarters subsistence expenses is limited to a statutory per diem maximum. The employee argued that Federal Travel Regulations permit the use of high-cost, geographic-area rates in such a computation. However, the agency believed that such rates are applicable for only the first 10 days during which temporary quarters are occupied. GAO held that per diem is limited to $50 per day, and reimbursement of subsistence expenses while occupying temporary quarters is limited to that rate. Accordingly, the claim was properly denied.