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[Transportation Debt Waivers for Household Goods and Mobile Homes]

B-229337 Jun 21, 1988
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Highlights

The Air Force requested a decision concerning its authority to waive erroneous payments arising from: (1) the shipment of service members' household goods under government bills of lading; (2) members moving their own household goods under the do-it-yourself (DITY) program; and (3) the transportation of employees' or members' mobile homes. GAO held that the waiver statutes: (1) generally applied only to debt due to erroneous payment; (2) applied to erroneous transportation and travel payments made after the effective date of the legislation; (3) did not cover household goods shipped under government bills of lading, since employees' or members' debt for excess charges were not due to erroneous payments; (4) did not cover DITY program participants, since the need to repay part of an advance payment was not due to an error, but was the result of the program's normal operation; and (5) did not apply to the movement of mobile homes, since any debt incurred would be due to an employee or member exceeding his maximum entitlement. Accordingly, the Air Force should: (1) not grant waivers under these conditions; and (2) individually deal with exceptional cases arising from government error.

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