Per Diem and Interrupted Travel

An agency certifying officer requested a decision concerning an employee's claim for per diem and temporary subsistence allowance incident to his change of permanent duty station. It was asked whether it was proper for the agency to (1) reduce per diem for the employee's family members because they interrupted travel for personal business and only traveled 140 miles on the first day of travel; and (2) deny temporary quarters' subsistence allowance for the period after the family occupied a rented house with an indefinite intent to purchase a home sometime in the future. In this case, the family submitted a voucher for the first day which showed only the time of departure and the time of arrival at the first overnight stopping place. Regulations require that per diem allowance during travel by a privately owned vehicle must be at the rate of at least 300 miles per day. It has been held that per diem must be suspended where the employee interrupted travel and failed to specify on the travel voucher the exact time of departure from, and return to, duty status. The agency reduced per diem for the first day of travel in proportion to the difference between the distance expected on that day and the miles actually driven. It was the opinion of GAO that such reduction was proper. When the family arrived at the new duty station, they occupied temporary commercial lodgings for 4 days and then moved to a rented house. The agency discontinued entitlement for temporary quarters' subsistence allowance for the period the family occupied the rented house. The employee claimed that this was temporary quarters because he intended to buy a house and had not been able to locate one. GAO held that the employee was not entitled to temporary subsistence allowance after moving from the commercial lodgings to the rented house, since the indefinite intent to purchase a house in the future did not change the character of the rented house as a permanent residence.