April 25, 1997
                                                  


                             GSBCA 13910-RELO


                    In the Matter of CARL NICHOLS, JR.


     Carl Nichols, Jr., Belcamp, MD, Claimant.

     T. J. Heavyside, Director, Finance and Accounting Systems
Transition, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Indianapolis,
IN, appearing for Department of Defense.

DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).

     When an employee is transferred in the interest of the
Government from one permanent duty station to another, he may, in
accordance with regulation, be reimbursed for various expenses of
the relocation.  5 U.S.C.  5724a (1994).  Among these are
subsistence expenses the employee and his immediate family incur
while occupying temporary quarters.  Id.  5724a(a)(3).

     As permitted by statute, the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR)
places constraints on the availability of temporary quarters
subsistence expenses (TQSE).  Of specific importance to this claim,
with an exception not relevant here,

     An employee or members of his/her immediate family shall
     not be eligible for temporary quarters expenses when the
     distance between the new official station and old
     residence is not more than 40 miles greater than the
     distance between the old residence and the old official
     station.

41 CFR 302-5.2(h) (1996); see also Joint Travel Regulations (JTR)
C13006.A (pertaining to Department of Defense civilian employees).

     Carl Nichols, Jr., an intelligence operations specialist with
the Department of the Army, was transferred in February 1996, in
the interest of the Government, from Fort Meade, Maryland, to
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.  He was authorized sixty days of
TQSE (later increased to 120 days) for himself, his wife, and his
dependent father in conjunction with this move.

     The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) rejected Mr.
Nichols' claim for TQSE on the ground that the distance between his
new official station and his old residence is less than forty miles
greater than the distance between his old residence and his old
official station.  In support of its decision, DFAS has supplied
what it calls "print-outs from our automated mileage system that we
use to determine official mileages when disputes arise."  The
print-outs show that using "practical routes," the difference
between the two distances is thirty-nine miles.

     Mr. Nichols actually drove the two routes and found that the
difference between the two distances is forty-eight miles.  The
difference between the two, traveling by most direct routes, he
says, is forty-two miles.  Mr. Nichols explains that while DFAS's
print-outs measure distances from unspecified locations at Fort
Meade, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and his former home town of Upper
Marlboro, Maryland, he measured distances from the exact locations
of his employment and residence.  The bulk of the variation between
DFAS's numbers and the claimant's results from the fact that Mr.
Nichols' old residence was at the far southern end of Upper
Marlboro; both places of employment are north of that city.

     The positions expressed by the agency and the claimant are
each correct in part.  The agency is following the FTR and the JTR
by measuring distances by reference to a map, rather than odometer
readings.  41 CFR 302-5.2(h); JTR 13006.A.  The claimant is right
in a matter which is more critical to this case, however.  As
required by both regulations, he has made measurements from his
duty stations and old residence, not the areas or cities in which
those places are located.  Id.

     Taking measurements from the duty stations and Mr. Nichols'
old residence, we find that because the new station is more than
forty miles further from the house than is the old station, Mr.
Nichols is entitled to reimbursement of TQSE incurred by himself
and his family.  We direct DFAS to examine the particulars of his
claim and to allow so much of the claim as is appropriate in
accordance with the dictates of 41 CFR pt. 302-5 and JTR C13000-
C13009.





                                   _________________________
                                   STEPHEN M. DANIELS
                                   Board Judge