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                             February 7, 1997
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                             GSBCA 13717-RELO


                 In the Matter of LIONEL W. LARIVIERE, JR.


     Lionel W. Lariviere, Jr., Newport, NC, Claimant.

     Jason L. Hull, Military Entitlements Analyst, Defense Finance
and Accounting Service, Kansas City, MO, appearing for Department
of Defense.

BORWICK, Board Judge. 

     Mr. Lionel W. Lariviere, Jr. is an employee of the Naval
Aviation Depot, Cherry Point, North Carolina.  He received
permanent change of station (PCS) orders transferring him from
Pensacola, Florida to Cherry Point, North Carolina, on June 27,
1994.  His sixty-day temporary quarters subsistence expense (TQSE)
allowance period ended on August 26.  He sought an extension of
this period.  The Department of Defense disallowed the request, and
Mr. Lariviere appealed to the General Accounting Office.  For the
reasons below, we conclude that the agency correctly denied
claimant the extension of the TQSE allowance period.   

     On his arrival at Cherry Point, Mr. Lariviere and his family
entered temporary quarters; on July 14, claimant entered into a
contract to purchase his home in the vicinity of the Naval Aviation
Depot at Cherry Point.  According to that contract, the closing and
possession date of his home was "on or before" August 31.

     Mr. Lariviere argues that he is entitled to an extension of
the TQSE allowance period because of the unavailability of suitable
housing in the area of Cherry Point, North Carolina.  He also
argues that inclement weather delayed the closing.  

     The Federal Travel Regulation provides that extensions of the
TQSE period may be authorized only in situations "where there is a
demonstrated need for additional time due to circumstances which
have occurred during the initial [sixty]-day period of occupancy
and which are determined to be beyond the employee's control and
acceptable to the agency."  31 CFR 302-5.2(a)(2) (1994).  Although
couched in slightly different language, the Joint Travel Regula-
tions are to the same effect.  See JTR C13004-A2.  The events which
prevented occupancy must have arisen during the initial sixty-day
allowance period.  Jimmy L. Betts, GSBCA 13840-RELO (Jan. 23,
1997). 

     Claimant has not established that he was unable to secure
adequate housing during his sixty-day period of TQSE allowance; he
entered into a contract for the purchase of his house on July 14,
well before the end of his original sixty-day period.  The argument
that bad weather was a contributing factor to the delay in closing
is not convincing.  The contract established August 31 as the
latest closing date; claimant has not shown that all parties were
prepared to close at an earlier date, but that the closing was
actually delayed by inclement weather.

          

                              _________________________
                              ANTHONY S. BORWICK
                              Board Judge