[Request for Reconsideration of Precedents on Recording Obligations for Employee Transfer Costs]

A Department of Transportation official requested that: (1) GAO reconsider its precedents holding that reimbursable expenses of transferred employees must be obligated against the appropriation current when the employee incurs the expense; and (2) the rule be changed so that the obligation may be recorded against the appropriation current when the employee receives his transfer orders. Under the present system, an agency must obligate sufficient funds for reimbursement of the maximum estimated relocation expenses for each employee and, at the end of the fiscal year, deobligate any funds in excess of the actual expenses incurred. In prior decisions, GAO had held that charging the expenses to the appropriation current when relocation was ordered would violate a statutory requirement which limits obligating appropriations to pay expenses incurred during the period of availability or to complete contracts made within that period. GAO found that: (1) the transfer of an employee is a bona fide need of the year in which the transfer is ordered and the expenses must be charged against funds current in that year; (2) the issuance of valid travel orders meets the statutory requirement for documentary evidence of the travel expenses; and (3) agencies should obligate realistic estimates of those relocation expenses. Accordingly, for all travel and transportation expenses of a transferred employee, an agency should record the obligation against the appropriation current when the travel orders are issued, and prior cases inconsistent with this ruling are overruled.