[Request for Review of Claim for Refund of Set-Off Amounts]

A shipper requested review of the Claims Group's denial of a claim for refund of part of the amounts collected by set-off for damage in transit to six packaged items and two unpackaged bicycles. The Air Force had set off from the claimant's payment an amount to cover the damages; it computed the amount on the basis of actual damage to five items and on the basis of gross weight for the other. The claimant contended that, when items in cartons are individually identified, the weights set forth for each item in the weight table are mandatory. GAO could not say that the use of the gross weight of the containers for the determination of released valuation was unreasonable. In addition, the claimant failed to show that the weights set forth in the weight table were net weights. Since the claimant failed to sustain its burden of proof, the Claims Group's denial of the claim was sustained.