________________________________________ June 25, 1997 ________________________________________ GSBCA 13695-RELO In the Matter of LYLE VAN DYKE Lyle Van Dyke, Beale AFB, CA, Claimant. Charles N. Stockwell, Defense and Accounting Service, Denver, CO, appearing for Department of Defense. BORWICK, Board Judge. Mr. Lyle Van Dyke, claimant, pursuant to permanent change of station (PCS) orders, requested temporary quarters subsistence expenses (TQSE) that were denied by the Department of the Air Force as unreasonable. Claimant filed a claim with the General Accounting Office. For the following reasons, we determine that claimant is entitled to part of the expenses claimed. On May 2, 1994, claimant received PCS travel orders from Fort Ord, California, to Beale Air Force Base, California. He was authorized up to ninety days of miscellaneous travel expenses. In March 1995, claimant submitted to the agency an expense form requesting $7,511.80, for eighty-six days of TQSE from June 5 until August 30, 1994--principally meals for himself and his wife. Claimant had lost the contemporaneous expense record, so he reconstructed his expenses as best he could. A typical expenditure shown is June 21, 1994, where he claims $17.23 for breakfast, $14.53 for lunch, and $24.99 for dinner. In his reconstructed itemization, claimant also requested $98 for eight trips to the coin-operated laundry. Also included on the invoice were requests, supported by receipts, for telephone--$46.10, cable television for June and July--$47.11 (including an activation fee of $9.21), electricity-- $26.92, and apartment deposit--$400. Subtraction of the non-meal items results in the claim for meals of $6,991.67, or an average meal claim of $81.29 per day for claimant and his wife. Although the agency believes the amount of the claim is excessive, the agency is willing to pay claimant based on the average cost of restaurant meals in the Western United States as reflected in the Statistical Abstract of the United States. The Statistical Abstract shows that the average two-person family in the Western United States spends approximately $2,200 annually for food outside the home or $6.11 per person per meal. The Department of Defense Civilian Personnel Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) provide that TQSE reimbursement will be only for actual subsistence expenses incurred, provided they are "incident to occupancy of temporary quarters" and are reasonable as to amount. JTR C13007-A.1. Allowable subsistence expenses include only charges for meals, lodging, fees and tips incident to meals and lodging, laundry and dry cleaning expenses, and the cost of moving household goods to the temporary quarters for the sole purpose of furnishing the quarters and then the cost of moving the goods to a permanent residence. Id. Actual expenses will be itemized in a manner that will permit at least a review of amounts spent daily for lodging, meals, and other allowable items of subsistence expenses. JTR C13007-A.2. Receipts and supporting documentation must be furnished with a claim for reimbursement of allowable expenses for temporary quarters subsistence. Receipts are required for quarters costs paid, for laundry and cleaning expenses except for coin operated laundry, and for any single expense (including any meal expense for one or more individuals) of twenty-five dollars or more. JTR C13008-E.2.c. We have required reimbursement of meal expenses (including tips) where the claimant did not provide receipts, but submitted contemporaneous documentation of the incurrence and amount of the meal expense. Steven D. Winn, GSBCA 13703-RELO, 97-1 BCA  28,693 (1996). In the absence of receipts or credible supporting documentation, we have found the agency is not obligated to pay a claimant any amount for meal expenses, particularly when claimant could not establish that the expenses were either actually or reasonably incurred. Luther R. Dixon, GSBCA 13694-RELO (Apr. 4, 1997). Furthermore, in the absence of credible documentation, we will not assume that a constructive meal cost lower than the minimum amount for which a receipt is required was actually incurred by the employee and was reasonable. Michael L. Morgan, GSBCA 13646-RELO (May 1, 1997). Claimant's reconstructed, seven month old itemization is not credible proof for the Board to accept that the figures represent actually incurred costs. He submitted no substantive supporting documents validating the itemization. The agency, however, does not challenge claimant's assertion that he incurred eighty-six days of meal expenses, three meals per day, at restaurants for himself and his spouse. The agency may agree to reimbursement based on statistical data, such as the data this agency considers appropriate--United States Statistical Abstract. Jerry W. Blevins, B-231512 (Sept. 21, 1989). Based on the agency's agreement, and the abstract's cost of $6.11 per meal, the agency may reimbursement claimant $42.15 per day for the cost of three meals per day for himself and his spouse, plus a fifteen percent tip. The total reimbursable meal expense is $3,625.67. We deny the claim for coin-operated laundry expenses because the reconstructed itemization does not demonstrate that claimant actually incurred the expense. Claimant prepared his reconstructed itemization seven months after the end of his TQSE period, and we have no confidence that he accurately recollected how many trips he and his wife made to the coin-operated laundry during his temporary quarters subsistence period. We consider elements of his claim supported by receipts. Claimant seeks $71.98 for the cost of his cable television in his temporary quarters for June through August. A cable television fee is reimbursable as a cost incident to lodging if ordinarily included in the price of a hotel or motel room in the area, Patrick T. Schluck, B-192723 (Feb. 14, 1979), but a cable installation or activation fee is not, because that fee is a non- reimbursable one-time charge. Guy V. Padgett, B-244721 (Dec. 17, 1991). Claimant is entitled to the payment on the first cable bill minus the activation fee and payment on the second cable bill minus the late charge. The total reimbursable amount for cable television is $59.77. Claimant seeks $46.10 for telephone service during his temporary quarters occupancy of his apartment. That portion of the phone bill that relates to installation or to long distance phone charges may not be reimbursed as TQSE. The $.33, on his telephone bill for local calls may not be reimbursed. Here, claimant's measured rate residential service was $4.45. Addition of rate surcharge, universal lifeline telephone service surcharge, state regulatory fee, communication devices fund for deaf and disabled, and state and local taxes, results in a total reimbursable telephone cost of $5.65. The GAO held that the incurred costs of utilities are reimbursable as a cost incident to temporary quarters lodging under the Federal Travel Regulation since such costs have been allowed when an employee rents an apartment for extended temporary duty. Tita D. Corpuz, B-256576 (Jan. 17, 1996). We agree with this holding and apply it to the JTR as well. Claimant is entitled to the $26.92 claimed for the utilities. Claimant seeks $400 for forfeiture of a security deposit. A forfeited security deposit will be considered an allowable expense incident to lodging if payment of the deposit at the beginning of the rental period was necessary to secure a lower rental rate, thus saving both the employee and the Government money. Under this circumstance, the deposit is viewed as a reimbursable up-front cost necessary to secure the lower rate. Tita D. Corpuz. Otherwise, the security deposit protects the lessor against lease cancellation and is not considered an allowable expense. David E. Nowak, 65 Comp. Gen. 805 (1986). Here, there is no showing that claimant's paying the security deposit allowed him to secure a lower rental rate than he would have paid without the security deposit. His claim for the deposit is therefore denied. Claimant may be reimbursed $3,625.67 for meals, $5.65 for the phone, $59.77 for cable television, and $26.92 for the utilities, for a total of $3,718.01. __________________________ ANTHONY S. BORWICK Board Judge