Request for Reconsideration Concerning Deduction Assessment

An employee of the Agency for International Development (AID) requested reconsideration of a Claims Group settlement which sustained a penalty deduction under the International Air Transportation Fair Competitive Practices Act assessed by AID in connection with his air travel. Enroute to his designation, the employee undertook indirect travel for his own convenience. The employee paid the small additional cost for the side trips from his own funds and used certificated U.S. air carrier service for the round-trip travel. The remainder of the travel was performed on foreign air carriers. Certificated carrier service was not available, and AID does not question the employee's travel on foreign air carriers for that portion of the trip. The issues presented relate only to the employee's use of foreign air carrier service in connection with the indirect travel performed for his own convenience enroute to his designation for which AID assessed him a penalty. The employee contended that he had been improperly penalized the entire amount. In support of his actions, the employee asserted that the Fly America Act does not apply to travel paid for by trust funds. He also contended that to penalize him was contrary to the intent of Congress. GAO found that: trust funded travel was not automatically exempt from the Fly America Act; the 1978 amendment to the Act was not relevant to the consideration of this claim; and the penalty was proper under the provisions of the Act. Accordingly, GAO affirmed the Claims Group's previous disposition of the claim.