Board of Contract Appeals
                 General Services Administration
                      Washington, D.C. 20405



                                              

                          August 7, 2003
                                              


                         GSBCA 16114-RELO


                 In the Matter of KATHY D. PETER


     Kathy D. Peter, Boise, ID, Claimant.

     Susan Rissler Sheely, Chief, Travel Management Branch, United States Geological
Survey, Reston, VA, appearing for Department of the Interior.

DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).

     The United States Geological Survey reimbursed Kathy D. Peter for most of the
expenses she incurred in buying a home in Idaho when the agency transferred her to that state
in June 2002.  Of the expenses for which reimbursement was denied, Ms. Peter challenges
the agency's determination as to two.  One is a $100 fee covering the cost of four
endorsements to the title insurance policy held by the bank which lent money to Ms. Peter
and her husband to enable them to buy the house.  The other is a $150 fee (called an
"accommodation signing fee") imposed by the title transfer company for additional work
necessary to allow settlement to occur before Ms. Peter and her husband actually moved to
Idaho.  We hold for the employee on both of these items.

     The agency denied reimbursement of $100 of the lender's title insurance premium due
to a misunderstanding.  Through the four endorsements to the policy, the title insurance
company insured the lender against loss or damage sustained by reason of various causes. 
Under one of the endorsements, the lender was insured against loss or damage resulting from
"[t]he priority of any lien for charges and assessments at Date of Policy in favor of any
association of homeowners which are provided for . . . over the lien of any insured mortgage
. . . ."  The agency noted that Ms. Peter and her husband had, as part of their agreement with
the lender, agreed to perform obligations imposed on them by the articles of incorporation
of a homeowners' association.  The agency, realizing that homeowners' association
assessments are the personal responsibility of a homeowner, thought that the $100 fee was
such an expense.

     In reaching this conclusion, the agency was misguided.  The fee in question was
clearly not a payment by Ms. Peter to the homeowners' association.  Rather, it was a premium
paid to insure the lender against an obligation to make payment to another party in the event
that any of various named events   one of which is the making of a class of homeowners'
association claims   ever occurred.  When a transferred employee who purchases a home at
his new duty station is required by his lender to buy a title insurance policy for the protection
of that lender, payment of the insurance premium is a reimbursable expense.  41 CFR
302-11.201(f)(8) (2002).  The agency has not suggested that the premium for the four
endorsements to the policy in question was excessive in cost.  The agency must reimburse
Ms. Peter for this expense.

     The agency denied reimbursement of the $150 "accommodation signing fee" Ms.
Peter paid to the title transfer company due to a belief that "[t]he choice to close on the
purchase of the new house prior to departure of the old duty station was a personal decision." 
The employee responds that because settlement occurred before she moved to Idaho, she was
able on arrival at her new duty station to move directly into her new home, without having
to stay in temporary quarters at Government expense.  In Ms. Peter's view, the early
settlement actually saved the Government money because reimbursement of the fee would
be less costly than payment of subsistence expenses for the days she and her husband would
otherwise have had to be in temporary quarters.

     Among the residence transaction expenses which are made reimbursable by the
Federal Travel Regulation are "expenses of sale and purchase made for required services that
are . . . customarily paid by the purchaser of a residence at the new official station."  41 CFR
302-11.201(f)(12).  Title transfer companies routinely include among their charges, when
persons going to settlement on the transfer of a residence are not able to be physically present
at the settlement, a fee for services such as courier delivery of documents and preparation of
powers of attorney.  We have consistently held that a fee paid for delivery of documents by
a courier is reimbursable if it meets two tests:  First, it must have been incurred for services
procured by the transferred employee or someone working with him (rather than the lender,
since fees paid to a lender are considered part of a non-reimbursable finance charge). 
Second, the services must have been necessary for the transfer of the residence (rather than
having been secured merely for reasons of personal preference).  Jack E. Hudson, GSBCA
16053-RELO (June 10, 2003); Sandra L. Wilks, GSBCA 15669-RELO,  02-2 BCA   31,962;
Larry W. Poole, GSBCA 15730-RELO, 02-1 BCA   31,776;  Daniel H. Coney, GSBCA
15506-RELO, 01-2 BCA   31,610.  In these cases and others, we have sanctioned
reimbursement for courier fees required for the completion of a residence transaction because
the transferred employee did not return to his old duty station for settlement on the sale of
his previous home.  We apply a similar standard to fees for preparation of powers of attorney
and other work necessary to allow transfers of residences by transferred employees who are
not able to be physically present at a settlement.  We think that Ms. Peter acted prudently by
settling on the purchase of her Idaho home before moving to her new duty station, and thus
avoiding any need for temporary quarters expenses.  The agency must reimburse her for the
accommodation signing fee.

                             Decision

     The agency shall reimburse the employee for both contested fees she paid at
settlement   a total of $250.





                              _________________________
                              STEPHEN M. DANIELS 
                              Board Judge