Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
                          ___________________
 
                             March 29, 1999
                          ___________________
 
 
                            GSBCA 14858-RELO
 
 
                  In the Matter of BRUCE L. KILHEFNER
 
 
        Bruce L. Kilhefner, Beavercreek, OH, Claimant.
 
        R.  Michael  Imphong,   Chief,  Allowances  Unit,  Personnel
   Resources Compensation and Entitlements, Headquarters, Department
   of the Air Force, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of the
   Air Force.
 
   PARKER, Board Judge.
 
        In June 1998, Bruce L. Kilhefner, a civilian employee of the
   Department of  the Air Force,  was transferred from  Randolph Air
   Force  Base, Texas,  to Wright  Patterson Air  Force Base,  Ohio.
   Prior to the  transfer, the Air  Force had paid  for a seven  day
   house hunting trip, but Mr. Kilhefner was unable to find suitable
   permanent  housing.   Mr.  Kilhefner's  travel orders  authorized
   fifty-three days of temporary quarters subsistence expense (TQSE)
   (sixty days  minus the seven  days previously used for  the house
   hunting trip).  The TQSE period began on June 8, 1998.
 
        After  looking  at  more  than  100  houses  for  sale,  Mr.
   Kilhefner contracted to purchase one  on July 28, with settlement
   scheduled to occur  on August 21.   Since the period of  TQSE was
   scheduled  to  expire  prior  to  the  date  of  settlement,  Mr.
   Kilhefner immediately  requested an  extension of  the period  to
   August 23.   The request, which  was later amended to  request an
   extension through August 30, was denied.
 
        Shortly  before  the   scheduled  settlement,  the   sellers
   "reneged on the  their agreement and refused to  close the deal."
   Although  the  record  does not  indicate  whether  Mr. Kilhefner
   ultimately purchased the house, he  cites the delay caused by the
   seller  as an additional  argument as to  why his  request for an
   extension  of the  TQSE period  should  have been  granted.   Mr.
   Kilhefner also maintains that the request for extension should be
   granted because he  was not given a  copy of a letter  which sets
   forth Air Force policy relating to TQSE.
 
                               Discussion
 
        An agency may pay to or on behalf of an employee transferred
   in the interest of the Government  actual subsistence expenses of
   the employee and his immediate family for a period of up to sixty
   days   while  the  employee  or  family  is  occupying  temporary
   quarters.   5  U.S.C.    5724a(c)(1)(A)  (Supp. III  1997).   The
   sixty-day period may  be extended up to an  additional sixty days
   "if the head of the agency concerned . . . determines  that there
   are compelling reasons  for the continued occupancy  of temporary
   quarters."  5 U.S.C.   5724a(c)(2).  The Joint Travel Regulations
   (JTR), which (along with the Federal Travel Regulation) implement
   this statute for civilian employees of the Department of Defense,
   explain that  the compelling reasons  for the  extension must  be
   "due  to circumstances  beyond  the  employee's  control."    JTR
   C13115-B.1.   "[D]ecisions concerning extensions of TQSE are left
   to the agency's discretion and will not be overturned unless they
   are shown to be arbitrary, capricious or contrary to law."   Luis
   Flores, GSBCA 13977-RELO, 97-1 BCA   28,928.
 
        The  Air  Force's  decision not  to  extend  Mr. Kilhefner's
   period for  TQSE cannot  be said to  be arbitrary,  capricious or
   contrary to  law.  After  looking at  more than  100 houses,  Mr.
   Kilhefner contracted to purchase one only two days before the end
   of the TQSE period, with settlement scheduled to occur well after
   the  end of  the  period.   There  is nothing  in  the record  to
   indicate that  the delay in finding  a house was due  to anything
   other  than  personal  preference.    The  Air  Force  reasonably
   determined  that  Mr.   Kilhefner's  reason  for   requesting  an
   extension was not a circumstance beyond his control.
 
        Because  the  Air  Force  reasonably  determined   that  Mr.
   Kilhefner was not  entitled to an extension, the  period for TQSE
   ended as scheduled on July 30, 1998.  Accordingly,  the fact that
   the seller later  "refused to close the deal"  did not affect the
   correctness  of   the  Air   Force's  decision.     Although   an
   unanticipated  delay  in settlement  can, in  certain situations,
   justify an extension of  the TQSE period, see JTR  C13115-B.1.b.,
   here,  at the time  of the seller's  actions in  late August, the
   period for TQSE had been over for  almost a month.  Mr. Kilhefner
   was thus already on his own time.
 
        Finally, although unfortunate,  the fact that  Mr. Kilhefner
   did  not  receive  a  copy  of  the  Air  Force's  policy  letter
   concerning TQSE  does not, in  and of itself,  entitle him  to an
   extension.   Jerry Landers, GSBCA 14446-RELO, 98-1  BCA   29,666.
   Regardless  of the  state of  Mr. Kilhefner's knowledge,  the Air
   Force was  bound to  apply the  applicable rules  and regulations
   which, in this case, required it  to determine whether compelling
   reasons  beyond  Mr.  Kilhefner's control  caused  him  to occupy
   temporary quarters beyond the initial  sixty-day period.  Id.  As
   discussed above, the Air Force reasonably determined that no such
   reasons existed.
 
                                Decision
 
        For the reasons discussed above, the claim is denied.
 
                                      __________________________
                                      ROBERT W. PARKER
                                      Board Judge