________________________________________ April 15, 1997 ________________________________________ GSBCA 13949-RELO In the Matter of REBECCA FELDE Rebecca Felde, Gahanna, OH, Claimant. J.A. Hughes, Chief, Travel Policy Branch, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Columbus, OH, appearing for Department of Defense. BORWICK, Board Judge. Claimant, Rebecca Felde, a retired civilian employee of the Department of Defense, claims entitlement to Government reimbursement for the shipment of household goods (HHG) incident to a permanent change of station (PCS) transfer from Wuerzburg, Germany to Columbus, Ohio. Due to financial difficulties, claimant was not in a position to ship her HHG within the two year limitation period after effective date of the transfer prescribed by the Department of Defense Civilian Personnel Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) for entitlement to the allowance for shipment of HHG. Because she did not meet the two-year limit, the agency correctly denied her claim. The facts, as we glean them from the record before us, are as follows. In November of 1990, claimant--then a civilian employee with the Third Infantry Division, Department of the Army (Army)-- was involved in an automobile accident that left her seriously injured. In November of 1991, her office relocated from Stuttgart, Germany to Wuerzburg, Germany; claimant put her HHG in storage pending location of a residence in Wuerzburg. Claimant did not find suitable quarters there, and claimant's medical problems continued, which required treatment in the United States. In October 1992, claimant received an offer of employment with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in Columbus, Ohio. On December 2, 1992, the Army issued permanent change of station (PCS) orders for claimant's relocation to Columbus. The orders authorized ninety days temporary storage of household goods for the move to Columbus. Meanwhile, the HHG claimant had put in storage in November 1991 remained there, while unpaid storage charges-- beyond the three months the Government had granted for the move to Wuerzburg and the three months the Government had granted for the move to Columbus--mounted. In December 1993, claimant wrote a letter to a colonel with the Army European Command and requested hardship assistance; she explained she was on unpaid medical leave and her financial condition did not permit her to pay the delinquent storage charges. The record does not reflect the Army European Command's response to this request. On or about January 27, 1993, claimant started her job with DISA in Columbus. In March 1993, the colonel with the Army European Command advised claimant of past due storage charges of 1900 deutschmarks (DM) for fourteen months of storage. In August 1993, the Army's Dayton transportation office advised claimant that the storage company would not release claimant's HHG for shipment to Columbus until the past-due storage charges had been paid. Her HHG remained in storage with the charges continuing to mount. By January of 1994, storage charges amounted to 6500 DM. On April 6, 1993, the Army issued an amendment to claimant's PCS orders for Columbus, authorizing sixty days of temporary quarters subsistence expense (TQSE). On May 4, 1993, the Army authorized an additional sixty day period of TQSE. On June 28, 1996, claimant submitted a claim to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and the General Accounting Office. Claimant stated that she had the money to pay the past due storage charges and she requested that the Government now pay for the shipment of her HHG from Wuerzburg, Germany to Columbus, Ohio. She also advised that she had been approved for disability retirement in March 1995, and that she had been told both by DFAS and the Army personnel office in Wuerzburg that since her PCS orders had expired, her HHG could not be returned at Government expense. On July 19, in response to the claim, DFAS explained that it had not issued claimant's PCS orders and that it lacked authority to process an amendment to those orders for an extension of time of shipment of HHG. DFAS forwarded her claim to this Board, and maintained it was unable to pay for claimant's shipment of HHG since more than three years had lapsed since her transfer to Columbus, Ohio. The claim in this matter does not involve the claimant's December 1993 hardship request to the Government to pay her delinquent storage charges. Claimant, rather, maintains that she is entitled to Government payment of her shipment of HHG from Wuerzburg to Columbus now that she has been able to secure release of goods from storage in Wuerzburg by paying the delinquent storage charges herself. The JTR, in pertinent part, provide that movement of HHG to the United States may be authorized when an employee stationed in an overseas area is authorized travel and transportation expenses incident to a PCS. JTR C8003-A. HHG, however, will not be moved at Government expense when authorized transportation does not begin within the time limits prescribed in this chapter (referencing JTR C8002-H). JTR C8003-A.3. JTR C8002-H provides that the time limitations for movement of HHG are the same as those prescribed for transportation of dependents, referencing JTR paragraph C7002- G. That paragraph provides a two year limitation period after the effective date of the employee's transfer. The two year period is exclusive of any time during which shipping restrictions or administrative embargos make travel and transportation impossible. JTR C7002-G. For example, lack of family housing in an area which precludes the transportation of dependents constitutes an administrative embargo. Id. The two year limitation is also echoed in JTR C8003-I.2, the time limitation for movement of HHG incident to reassignment to a new duty station. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties caused by severe illness, claimant was unable to secure the release of her HHG by payment of past due storage charges until about June 28, 1996, when she advised she had sufficient funds to pay the charges. Even if we give claimant the benefit of the doubt and pick the latest possible date--January 27, 1993--as the effective date for her transfer from Wuerzburg to Columbus, the JTR required claimant to move her HHG by January 27, 1995. Claimant's personal financial difficulties do not constitute an administrative embargo or shipping restriction, which made it impossible for claimant to ship her household goods. Claimant has not shown entitlement to Government reimbursement of her HHG shipping costs resulting from her move from Wuerzburg, Germany to Columbus, Ohio. ________________________________ ANTHONY S. BORWICK Board Judge