[Request for Reconsideration of Denial of Claim]

An individual requested reconsideration of the denial of his claim for payment for work performed under contract with the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia. GAO noted that: (1) the claimant recreated purchase order invoices after the alleged contract and related purchase orders were destroyed in 1975, but the invoices were insufficient to establish a claim against the United States; and (2) in his request for reconsideration, the claimant submitted correspondence which indicated that two other governments agreed to pay him for the same services performed under a similar contract. GAO found that: (1) the correspondence between the claimant and the two governments was of no value; (2) there were no documents to support the present claim since all official records for the period in question were destroyed; (3) the claimant had not met his burden of proving the existence and nonpayment of a claim against the government; (4) even if the claimant were to satisfactorily establish the existence of a contract, the reconstructed invoices indicated that the alleged agreement called for payment in Cambodian currency; and (5) the value of any judgment can only be based on the value of the foreign currency at that time and, since the Cambodian riel has no present value, any judgment obtained in an American court would have no monetary value. Accordingly, the prior decision was affirmed.