[NASA Employee's Entitlement to Reimbursement for Relocation Expenses]
Highlights
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) requested a decision regarding a transferred employee's claim for expenses he incurred in using two privately owned vehicles to transport household goods and personal effects. The claimant contended that NASA authorized use of the two vehicles. NASA contended that it authorized reimbursement for mileage only. GAO held that the claimant was: (1) not entitled to reimbursement for the mileage expenses for the second vehicle, since one vehicle could have transported his family and its personal belongings; and (2) entitled to reimbursement for the cost of transporting certain household goods in the second vehicle, not to exceed the maximum amount allowed under a government bill of lading. Accordingly, NASA should reimburse the claimant for his mileage costs for one vehicle and the the actual expense of moving his household goods.