[Transportation of Privately Owned Vehicle]

Pursuant to a request from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, GAO rendered a decision concerning a claim for reimbursement of expenses incurred by an employee of a U.S. territorial court in shipping his privately owned motor vehicle (POV) from the territory to Hawaii. When he was appointed to his overseas position, he was not informed that he was eligible to transport his POV at Government expense from the United States to his overseas duty station. To perform his official duties, he purchased a foreign-manufactured automobile overseas. GAO held that, since he neither transported this POV at Government expense to his duty station nor replaced a vehicle which had been so transported, he was not entitled to reimbursement for the shipping cost of transporting his POV from his duty station to Hawaii. Further, GAO stated that the Government's failure to advise the employee of the eligibility to transport his POV at Government expense did not provide a basis for the payment of the employee's claim. In response to the argument that the Government would realize monetary savings by reimbursing the employee for one-way transportation of his vehicle, GAO stated that this consideration was irrelevant because Federal Travel Regulations have the force and effect of law, and GAO is without authority to waive or modify them absent a clear showing of inconsistency with the parent statute. Accordingly, the claim was denied.