Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
 
                            _______________
 
                              June 3, 1999
                            _______________
 
 
                            GSBCA 14916-RELO
 
 
                   In the Matter of CHERYL A. KORMAN
 
 
        Cheryl A. Korman, Milford, CT, Claimant.
 
        Jeanette Bushner, Chief, Audit and Travel Section, Financial
   Services  Center,  Department of  Veterans  Affairs,  Austin, TX,
   appearing for Department of Veterans Affairs.
 
   DeGRAFF, Board Judge.
 
        Mistakes  made  by  Government employees  do  not  authorize
   agencies to expend public  funds in excess of amounts  authorized
   by regulation.  Therefore, an agency cannot reimburse an employee
   for  temporary quarters  subsistence expenses  in  excess of  the
   maximum  amount permitted by  regulation, even though  the agency
   provided  erroneous   information  to  the   employee  concerning
   reimbursement.
 
                               Background
 
        In  late  1997,  the Department  of  Veterans  Affairs (DVA)
   transferred Cheryl A.  Korman from New Hampshire  to Connecticut.
   Ms.  Korman s  travel  authorization stated  that  the  DVA would
   reimburse her for up to  sixty days of subsistence expenses while
   she  occupied temporary  quarters.   The authorization  estimated
   that  the  cost  of  reimbursing  Ms. Korman  for  her  temporary
   quarters subsistence  expenses (TQSE)  would be  $6300, which  is
   $105 per day for sixty days.  
 
        Ms. Korman thought that the estimated cost of her TQSE might
   be too large  an amount, and so  she called the travel  office at
   her new duty  station and asked whether the  amount was accurate.
   The travel  office told Ms.  Korman that the amount  was correct.
   Ms. Korman called the  travel office a few days  later to double-
   check this  information and  was again told  that the  amount was
   correct.   Ms. Korman s travel  office in New Hampshire  told her
   that the maximum reimbursable amount  was $50 per day for lodging
   and $30 per day  for meals, and that the travel office at her new
   duty station must  have made some sort of  special arrangement if
   it  was  going  to reimburse  her  at  a rate  of  $105  per day.
   Ms. Korman again  spoke with  the travel office  at her  new duty
   station and verified that the $105 per day rate was correct. 
 
 
        Ms.   Korman  began   staying  in   temporary  quarters   in
   Connecticut  in mid-January  1998.   She  subsequently asked  the
   travel office whether she would be reimbursed the same amount for
   her second thirty  days of TQSE as  for her first thirty  days of
   TQSE.  The travel  office told Ms. Korman that her  travel orders
   were accurate  and that she  would be reimbursed for  expenses of
   $105 per day.  
 
        Ms. Korman stayed  in temporary quarters for sixty  days and
   incurred lodging  expenses of more  than $50 per day  during that
   time.   When  she asked to  be reimbursed  for her TQSE,  the DVA
   realized that  the  applicable regulation  limited  Ms.  Korman s
   reimbursement  to $50  per day  for lodging and  $30 per  day for
   meals for her first thirty days  of TQSE, and $37.50 per day  for
   lodging and $22.50  per day for meals for her  second thirty days
   of TQSE.  The  DVA decided to reimburse Ms. Korman  in accordance
   with  the  regulation,  and  she  received  $1950  less than  she
   claimed.  Ms. Korman asks us to review the DVA s decision.
 
                               Discussion
 
        Understandably, some DVA officials in Connecticut would like
   to  reimburse  Ms. Korman  for the  $1950,  because  their travel
   office provided  her with incorrect  advice.  The Chief  of DVA s
   Audit and Travel  Section, however, takes  the position that  the
   regrettably  erroneous advice that was repeatedly provided by the
   travel office in Connecticut cannot override the regulations that
   provide for reimbursing Ms. Korman for her TQSE. 
 
        The  Chief of  DVA s  Audit  and  Travel  Section  correctly
   concluded  that the  mistakes made  by the  DVA travel  office in
   Connecticut do  not entitle Ms. Korman to reimbursement in excess
   of  the maximum  amount allowed  by regulation.   Similarly,  the
   mistaken cost estimate set  out in her travel  authorization does
   not  entitle  her  to  reimbursement  in  excess  of the  maximum
   allowable amount.   Mistakes made by Government employees  do not
   authorize agencies to  expend public funds  in excess of  amounts
   authorized by regulation.  Masood  Badizadegan, GSBCA 14393-RELO,
   98-2  BCA    29,789.    The  regulation  that authorized  DVA  to
   reimburse Ms. Korman provided that the maximum TQSE reimbursement
   for the first thirty days  in temporary quarters was the standard
   continental United  States per diem  rate, which was $50  per day
   for lodging and $30 per day  for meals and incidental expenses in
   early  1998.    41 CFR  ch.  301,  app. A  (1997).    The maximum
   reimbursement  for the second  thirty days in  temporary quarters
   was 75% of  these amounts.   41 CFR 302-5.100,  -5.102.  The  DVA
   correctly decided that it is  required to reimburse Ms. Korman in
   accordance with the regulation, and is not bound by the erroneous
   statements made by its travel office in Connecticut. 
 
        The claim is denied.
   __________________________________
 
                                      MARTHA H. DeGRAFF
                                      Board Judge