[Request for Decision on Entitlement of SSA Employee to Reimbursement of Travel and Relocation Expenses]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested a decision regarding a transferred employee's claim for reimbursement for temporary quarters and subsistence expenses and the cost of shipping her privately-owned vehicle. HHS denied: (1) the transportation claim because the employee used one privately-owned vehicle to travel to her new duty station and shipped the other; and (2) a portion of the expense claim because that portion exceeded the agency's guidelines for subsistence expenses. GAO held that: (1) the employee had separate statutory entitlements to reimbursement for the expenses of transporting herself and her dependents, and her vehicle; (2) HHS improperly summarily denied the claim for subsistence expenses without considering the merits of the case; and (3) HHS should reconsider the denied portion of the subsistence claim based on the unusual circumstances of the case. Accordingly, the claim for shipment of the privately-owned vehicle was allowed and GAO recommended that HHS reconsider the denied portion of the subsistence claim.