Claim for Additional Per Diem

The Fish and Wildlife Service requested an advance decision concerning an employee's claim for additional per diem expenses in connection with his relocation from North Dakota to Michigan. The employee traveled by car to his new duty station. While en route, he was unable to travel on 2 days due to severe snowstorms. The Fish and Wildlife Service denied his per diem expenses for those 2 days based on the fact that he did not meet the minimum daily miles traveled requirement of the Federal Travel Regulations. GAO held that delays due to weather or road conditions should be considered in determining per diem expense. Therefore, there was no objection to payment of per diem for the days that the employee did not travel. However, the record showed that the employee did not meet the minimum mileage requirement on the days that he did travel. Therefore, the mileage for those days should be calculated in accordance with the number of days it would have taken him to travel at the minimum daily rate.