[Claim for Survivor Benefit Plan Annuity]

An individual requested reconsideration of the denial of her claim for a Survivor Benefit Plan annuity as the divorced widow of a deceased Navy officer. The Navy had held that the officer was not eligible to elect coverage for his former wife before he died. GAO held that the Navy properly denied the claim, since the officer died prior to the effective date of a statutory provision allowing election of annuity coverage for former spouses. Accordingly, the claim was denied.