July 18, 1997
                                                  


                             GSBCA 14092-RELO


                   In the Matter of MICHAEL D. ADDINGTON


     Michael D. Addington, APO Area Europe, Claimant.

     Gloria A. Rumsey, Chief-FYCC, Directorate of Debt & Claims
Management, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Denver, CO,
appearing for Department of Defense.

DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).

     On May 3, 1995, Michael D. Addington received orders
transferring him on or about July 5, 1995, from the Red River
Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas, to a Defense Department facility
in Kaiserslautern, Germany.  He entered into a contract with a
Texarkana realtor under which the realtor would find a tenant to
rent the Addington home for a one-year period.  The realtor found
a tenant, with whom Mr. Addington signed a lease; Mr. Addington
paid the realtor an agreed-upon commission of $695 for this
service.  He also sold his washing machine and dryer, and his
automobile, in anticipation of the move.

     One week before the transfer was to occur, the agency
canceled Mr. Addington's orders.  According to the claimant, his
commanding officer told him that he would be reimbursed for
expenses he incurred due to the cancellation.  Mr. Addington then
terminated the lease of his home and rented a washer and dryer
and a car.  Within a month, the claimant received new orders
transferring him to Germany on August 8, 1995.

     Mr. Addington asked the Department of Defense to reimburse
him  for three expenses he had incurred as a result of the change
in orders: the realtor's commission ($695), the charge for
renting the washer and dryer ($82.97), and the charge for renting
the car.  The agency paid only the last of these charges.  Mr.
Addington claims that he is entitled to payment for the first two
as well.

     The law is clear that when an agency orders an employee to
change permanent duty stations in the interest of the Government,
and the employee then incurs relocation expenses of a kind for
which reimbursement is authorized, the employee should be
reimbursed for those expenses.  JTR C4102.  Even if the orders
are later rescinded, expenses which were incurred while they were
in effect are reimbursable.  JTR C3054.

     Payments of realtor's commissions for renting an employee's
house, and for rental of household appliances, are not among
those relocation expenses for which reimbursement is authorized
by statute or regulation, however.  In other words, if Mr.
Addington had moved to Germany in accordance with his original
orders, these costs would not have been reimbursable.  Thus, even
though we recognize that Mr. Addington would not have incurred
the costs but for the Defense Department's issuance and
rescission of his original orders, we cannot find authority
within the laws governing relocation of federal employees for
directing the agency to pay the expenses.  Joseph A. Curtis,
GSBCA 13823-RELO, 97-1 BCA  28,935.  This conclusion must hold
even if the employee's commanding officer promised repayment,
since a Government official may not obligate the Government to
spend money in violation of statute or regulation.  Kevin S.
Foster, GSBCA 13639-RELO, 97-1 BCA  28,688 (1996) (citing Office
of Personnel Management v. Richmond, 496 U.S. 414 (1990), and
Federal Crop Insurance Corp. v. Merrill, 332 U.S. 380 (1947)).

     In paying the costs that Mr. Addington incurred for rental
of an automobile, the Defense Department has apparently concluded
that another law provides authority for the agency to reimburse
costs which resulted from the agency's about-face regarding the
claimant's transfer to Germany.  Whether such a law exists, and
if it does, whether it differentiates among expenses in the way
reflected by the agency's decision to pay for the car rental
charges, but not the washer and dryer rental charges or the
realtor's commission, are questions which are beyond our purview
to answer.  Mary E. Plumb, GSBCA 14215-RELO (July 14, 1997).





                              _________________________ 
                              STEPHEN M. DANIELS 
                              Board Judge