Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
 
 
                                                  
 
                            January 29, 1999
                                                  
 
 
                            GSBCA 14843-RELO
 
 
                     In the Matter of ROBERT D. LEE
 
 
        Robert D. Lee, Dubois, WY, Claimant.
 
        Sandra S. Williams, Authorized Certifying Officer,  National
   Finance  Center, New  Orleans, LA,  appearing  for Department  of
   Agriculture.
 
   DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).
 
        After  the Department  of  Agriculture transferred  employee
   Robert D. Lee to Dubois, Wyoming, in August 1996, Mr. Lee decided
   to have a  new residence  built for  him.  He  purchased land  on
   which the home  would be situated, took out  a construction loan,
   and later  took out  a conventional mortgage  loan with  which to
   repay  the prior debt.  In  making each of these transactions, he
   incurred expenses.  He then asked the agency to reimburse him for
   those expenses.   The agency  paid all transaction costs  Mr. Lee
   incurred in connection with the  mortgage loan, but none of those
   associated with  the purchase  of the  land  or the  construction
   loan.
 
        The  employee   has  asked   us  to   review  the   agency's
   determination  with   respect  to   five  specific   expenses  --
   settlement and  recording fees  incurred in  connection with  the
   land  purchase, and  loan origination  and recording  fees and  a
   title  insurance premium paid  at the time  the construction loan
   was made.  He  states, "The costs I incurred were  all related to
   real  estate transactions  for my  new residence  here in  my new
   official   station.    The   expenses  were  all   necessary  and
   unavoidable   costs  related  to   the  purchase  of   the  land,
   construction of  the house and  final purchase  of the  completed
   home with a conventional home loan."
 
        Although Mr. Lee's statement of facts is correct, his thesis
   that the law  requires his agency to reimburse him  for the costs
   is not.  Statute does  authorize federal agencies to pay expenses
   transferred  employees incur  in purchasing  a home at  their new
   duty stations.  5 U.S.C.   5724a(a)(4)(A) (1994) (now codified in
   revised  form  at  5 U.S.C.     5724a(d)  (Supp. II  1996)).   In
   implementing the statute, however,  the Federal Travel Regulation
   (FTR) details  which particular  expenses are  reimbursable.   It
   provides  that a transferred employee  who chooses to construct a
   new  home  at  his  new  duty station  may  recover  real  estate
   transaction expenses  to the  same extent as  he would if  he had
   bought an existing home.  41 CFR 302-6.1, -6.2(d)(1)(x) (1996).
 
 
        We have explained, in interpreting  this portion of the FTR,
   that where each  stage of the building process  involves a number
   of expenses which would appropriately be reimbursed in connection
   with the purchase  of an existing residence, the  employee may be
   reimbursed only once  for each type of expense  that is allowable
   under  the  regulations.    The  expenses  incurred  incident  to
   securing  permanent financing  on the  completed  house are  most
   representative  of  expenses  that would  have  been  incurred to
   purchase  an existing  residence.   Because no other  costs would
   have been  incurred if an  employee had  bought such a  home, the
   agency is not responsible for reimbursement of those other costs.
   Thomas S. Cushing, GSBCA 13867-RELO, 97-2 BCA   29,022;  see also
   Brent  T. Wahlquist, GSBCA 14163-RELO, 97-2 BCA   29,094; Michael
   J.  Spann, GSBCA  13685-RELO, 97-2  BCA   29,019.    Any contrary
   interpretation of  the regulation,  such as  the one  advanced by
   this  claimant, would provide reimbursement to home-builders to a
   greater   extent  than   home-buyers  and   would  therefore   be
   impermissible.
 
        The Department  of Agriculture's determination was in accord
   with these precepts.   The agency has already paid as much of Mr.
   Lee's real  estate transactions expenses  as it would have  if he
   had purchased an existing home.  The  FTR dictates that it pay no
   more.
 
                                 _________________________
                                 STEPHEN M. DANIELS 
                                 Board Judge