[Request for Decision Concerning Payment of Per Diem]

The Army requested an advance decision on 47 employees' claims for reimbursement for meals and incidental expenses incurred while they were on temporary duty. The Army had rented a block of hotel rooms during the period of the Summer Olympics to ensure that there would be reasonably priced accommodations for its employees and intended that the cost would be an administrative agency expense. GAO found that, although the cost of the rooms should have been treated as a lodging cost for determining the employees' actual entitlements, it would not object to the Army treating the room cost as an administrative expense. Accordingly, the employees may be reimbursed meal and incidental expenses in an amount not to exceed 46 percent of the authorized subsistence expense rate.