________________________________________

                             January 23, 1997
                 ________________________________________


                             GSBCA 13840-RELO


                      In the Matter of JIMMY L. BETTS


     Jimmy L. Betts, Jacksonville, FL, Claimant.

     Douglas M. Battle, Chief, Travel Division, Defense Finance and
Accounting Service, Columbus, OH, appearing for the Department of
Defense.

BORWICK, Board Judge. 

     Mr. Jimmy L. Betts, claimant, is a civilian employee of the
Department of the Navy.  Effective December 16, 1990, claimant
permanently changed station from Charleston Naval Shipyard, South 
Carolina to the Trident Refit Facility, Kings Bay, Georgia.  His
travel orders authorized sixty days of temporary quarters
subsistence expense (TQSE) allowance.  

     Claimant entered temporary quarters on January 20, 1991.  On
January 22, 1991, the shipyard production superintendent requested
approval of an additional sixty days of TQSE allowance for claimant
because "house is being built."  On January 25, 1991, the
administrative services division approved the request for an
additional TQSE allowance.  Construction of claimant's home was not
completed until December 10, 1993.  The agency's disbursing
officer, upon further review, disallowed the extension of the sixty
day period.  The disbursing officer concluded that claimant had not
met the requirement of the regulation because there was no short
delay in construction of claimant's house arising from
circumstances that occurred during the original sixty day period of
TQSE occupancy.  Claimant appealed the disallowance to the General
Accounting Office (GAO).  In settlement certificate Z-2869713
(March 1, 1996), GAO disallowed the claim, in part because claimant
had not established that delays beyond claimant's control had
arisen during the original TQSE period.      

     The Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) in effect at the relevant
time provided that extensions to the TQSE period may be authorized
due to circumstances "which have occurred during the initial sixty
day period of temporary quarters occupancy," and which were beyond
the employee's control and acceptable to the Department of Defense
(DOD) component concerned, such as a "short term delay in
construction of a new residence."  JTR 13004-1b (1990).  In order
for an employee to receive an extension of the TQSE allowance
period under the analogous Federal Travel Regulation, the events
over which claimant has no control must have arisen during the
initial sixty day period and prevented him from occupying permanent
quarters during that time.  Daniel G. Colley, B-254120 (Dec. 14,
1993) (agency did not abuse discretion in denying claim for an
extension of TQSE period for bad weather when house not scheduled
for settlement until after the end of the original period).    

     Here, the agency concluded that the circumstances causing
delay to claimant did not arise during the original period for TQSE
allowance.  Claimant has not demonstrated that the agency's
conclusion was incorrect.  The early request for a second sixty-day
period of TQSE allowance, together with the relatively late
completion date of December 10, 1993, of claimant's house, support
the agency's conclusion that claimant had not met the regulatory
requirements for extension of the TQSE allowance period.  Claimant
has not provided contrary evidence and we will not, therefore,
disturb the agency's determination.    


                              _________________________
                              ANTHONY S. BORWICK
                              Board Judge