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                            February 3, 1998
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                            GSBCA 14138-RELO
 
 
                     In the Matter of JEFFREY MEYER
 
 
        Jeffrey Meyer, Edmond, OK, Claimant.
 
        Bobby A. Derrick,  Director, Accounting Support Directorate,
   Defense  Finance  and  Accounting  Service, Indianapolis  Center,
   Indianapolis, IN, appearing for Department of Defense.
 
   PARKER, Board Judge.
 
        On April Fools' Day in 1995, Jeffrey Meyer, a GS-12 employee
   of the  Department of the  Army, was transferred from  Germany to
   Illinois to  take a  position with the  United States  Air Force.
   The transfer was pursuant to  the Department of Defense's (DoD's)
   Priority Placement  Program (PPP),  a program  which assists  DoD
   employees whose jobs  are being eliminated due to  a base closure
   in finding new positions within DoD.
 
        After  Mr. Meyer  and  his family  arrived  in Illinois  and
   rented temporary quarters,  the Air Force told Mr.  Meyer that he
   was  not qualified for the job to  which he had been transferred;
   Army personnel  in Germany  had made  a mistake.   Mr.  Meyer was
   placed on  administrative leave and  he and his family  stayed in
   temporary quarters during  the months of April and  May while the
   Army looked for another position  for him.  They eventually found
   Mr. Meyer a GS-9 position in Oklahoma, which he accepted.
 
        Mr. Meyer has asked the Board to  review DoD's denial of his
   claim for temporary quarters  subsistence expenses (TQSE)  during
   the two-month period in which he and his family were in  Illinois
   while the Army attempted to  find another position for him.   DoD
   denied  the  claim  because,  under  its  reading  of  applicable
   regulations, Mr. Meyer's  right to  receive TQSE  ended when  his
   transfer  was "canceled," on  the day he  found out  that the Air
   Force position was not available to him.  As discussed  below, we
   hold that Mr. Meyer was entitled to TQSE during that period.
 
        Pursuant to  statute, the  Government pays  certain expenses
   incurred by its employees who are "transferred in the interest of
   the government from one official station or agency to another for
   permanent duty."   These expenses include "[s]ubsistence expenses
   of the employee and  his immediate family for  a period of  sixty
   days while  occupying temporary  quarters when  the new  official
   station is located  within the United States [or  other specified
   locations]."  "The  period of residence in temporary quarters may
   be extended  for an  additional sixty  days  if the  head of  the
   agency  concerned or  his  designee  determines  that  there  are
   compelling  reasons for  the  continued  occupancy  of  temporary
   quarters."  5 U.S.C.   5724a(a) (1994).
 
 
        The Federal Travel Regulation, which implements this statute
   in part 302-5  (41 CFR 302-5), does  not discuss the effect  of a
   cancellation  on an  agency's  authority  to pay  TQSE.   As  DoD
   correctly  points  out,  however,  the  Comptroller  General  has
   decided  several cases involving the issue of canceled transfers,
   holding  generally that transferred  employees may  be reimbursed
   for expenses incurred before their transfer was canceled.   E.g.,
   Lee Charlton, B-189953 (Nov. 23, 1977).
 
        These are not the only  expenses that may be reimbursed when
   a transfer is  canceled, however.  In Mrs.  Jack Kimbrough, GSBCA
   13908-RELO,  97-2 BCA    29,041, the Board  denied the claimant's
   request for  reimbursement of  expenses incurred  in selling  her
   house after her husband had died and his transfer was canceled as
   a result.   Our analysis  followed a decision of  the Comptroller
   General, Guriqbal S. Nat, B-248698 (Sept. 18, 1992), which drew a
   distinction  between  expenses  incurred  in  connection  with  a
   transfer,  and those  incurred  in  connection  with  a  personal
   decision.  The  Board denied Mrs.  Kimbrough's claim because  the
   record showed  that the  sale of the  house, which  occurred well
   after  her husband's transfer had been canceled, was not incident
   to the transfer.
 
        In contrast,  the  expenses incurred  by Mr.  Meyer and  his
   family  clearly were  incident to  his  transfer.   Because of  a
   mistake by  the Army, Mr.  Meyer was transferred from  Germany to
   Illinois to work for the Air Force in a position for which he was
   not qualified.   Through no fault of  his own, Mr. Meyer  and his
   family  found  themselves  stranded in  Illinois  while  the Army
   attempted  to  find Mr.  Meyer  a  different  job.   Under  these
   circumstances, the expenses incurred by Mr. Meyer clearly did not
   result from a personal decision.   They were incurred incident to
   his transfer from  Germany which, in a sense,  was still ongoing.
   The Federal Travel Regulation does not, as DoD believes,  require
   the agency  to deny Mr. Meyer's  request for TQSE  while the Army
   attempted to correct its error.
 
                                Decision
 
        The claim is granted.
 
                                      _________________________
                                      ROBERT W. PARKER
                                      Board Judge