[Claim for Forfeited Real Estate Expenses]

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) requested an advance decision as to whether a DLA employee was entitled to the deposit on an option to purchase a leased house. A DLA employee signed a lease agreement and paid for an option to purchase the residence. Since the employee was subsequently transferred to a new duty station, she did not exercise the option and maintained that she was entitled to reimbursement of the deposit. The employing office declined reimbursement because the employee had never signed a binding contract to purchase the residence. Federal travel regulations state that expenses brought about by circumstances, factors, or actions in which the move to the new duty station is not the proximate cause may not be reimbursed. GAO held that the record did not establish that the employee's transfer was the proximate cause of the forfeiture. Further, there was no indication that the employee would have exercised the option to buy had she not been transferred. GAO also noted that forfeited deposits are not among the kinds of costs authorized as real estate sale expenses. Accordingly, the deposit may not be reimbursed as a real estate sale expense.