Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 March 20, 1998 GSBCA 14433-TRAV, 14434-TRAV, 14435-TRAV In the Matters of CAROLYN R. FRANZ, FONG CHAO, and DEBORAH JOHNSON Carolyn R. Franz, Virginia Beach, VA, Claimant in GSBCA 14433-TRAV. Fong Chao, Virginia Beach, VA, Claimant in GSBCA 14434-TRAV. Deborah Johnson, Chesapeake, VA, Claimant in GSBCA 14435- TRAV. Dale M. Thompson, Personnel Support Activity Detachment, Little Creek, Norfolk, VA, appearing for Department of the Navy. GOODMAN, Board Judge. Claimants are civilian employees of the Department of the Navy. They secured lodging while on temporary duty (TDY) at the Hale Koa Recreation Center Hotel located at Fort Derussy in Hawaii. The facility is on a Government installation but is run as a commercial establishment. Claimants were reimbursed the amount allowable for local incidental expenses in Government quarters, but claim entitlement to the amount which would be reimbursed if lodging in a commercial establishment. Joint Travel Regulation C4557, which applies to Department of Defense civilian employees, reads, in relevant part: GOVERNMENT QUARTERS AVAILABLE AT AN OCONUS* LOCATION When Government quarters are available with or without charge to the traveler on a post, camp, station, base, or depot owned or operated by the United States, the incidental portion of per diem for OCONUS areas is $3.50 instead of the amount prescribed in appendix B for the locality concerned. The amount specified in Appendix B of the JTR for local incidental expenses at Fort Derussy is $12 per day. Claimants claim the difference between $12 and the amount which was reimbursed, $3.50 per day. ____________________ *"OCONUS" means "outside the Continental United States." Because Hawaii is not one of the forty-eight contiguous states, it is "OCONUS." See JTR Appendix A. ___ 2 The agency supports its determination to award the claimants only $3.50 per day rather than the $12 allowed in Appendix B as follows: [T]he traveler[]s were originally given commercial lodging. However, once the claims are liquidated they are then turned over to be audited . . . . At this time the auditor brought it to my attention that if travelers stay on a government installation they must be paid at the government quarters rate. The . . . Hale Koa hotel . . . is on a government installation. The issue was (in paying these claims) not that the hotel was considered government quarters on a government installation, but the hotel is operating on a government installation. Claimants interpretation is correct. The regulation speaks in terms of whether Government quarters are available on the Government installation. The Hale Koa Hotel is not Government quarters. The miscellaneous expenses should therefore be paid in accordance with Appendix B; the fact that the hotel is on a Government installation is immaterial. The claims are granted. __________________________ ALLAN H. GOODMAN Board Judge