Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                        Washington, D.C. 20405
 
 
                           _________________
 
                             June 4, 1999
                           _________________
 
 
                           GSBCA 14950-TRAV
 
 
                    In the Matter of DEBRA VASQUEZ
 
 
       Debra Vasquez, Ozark, AL, Claimant.
 
       T. R. Love, Deputy Director for Finance, Defense Finance  and
  Accounting  Service, Rock Island  Operating Location, Rock Island,
  IL, appearing for Department of Defense.
 
  DeGRAFF, Board Judge.
 
       The  Department  of  Defense  (DoD)  authorized  one  of  its
  civilian  employees,  Debra Vasquez,  to  travel  from Alabama  to
  Arizona to  attend a meeting held  on September 14-16,  1998.  Ms.
  Vasquez traveled  to Phoenix,  Arizona  on  Friday, September  11,
  rented a car, and drove to a  hotel in Grand Canyon, Arizona where
  she stayed Friday and  Saturday nights.  On Sunday, September  13,
  Ms. Vasquez drove  back to Phoenix, Arizona  and stayed in a hotel
  there  from  September 13  through  16,  1998.   She  returned  to
  Alabama on September 17.
 
       Ms. Vasquez submitted her request  for reimbursement for  her
  travel expenses, including charges for two nights in  the hotel in
  Grand Canyon and four  nights in the  hotel in Phoenix.   Although
  it  is  not  entirely clear  from  the  material in  our  file, it
  appears that Ms. Vasquez  also asked  to be  reimbursed for  meals
  and incidental expenses for September 11 through  17.  DoD decided
  to approve her  reimbursement request for lodging for four  nights
  in  Phoenix,  and  meals   and  incidental  expenses  for  Sunday,
  September 13, through Thursday, September 17. 
 
       Ms. Vasquez  asks us  to review DoD's  decision, because  she
  understood  from speaking with  other DoD employees that she would
  be reimbursed  for her  two nights in  the Grand Canyon  hotel and
  her meals and incidental expenses  beginning on Friday,  September
  11.    When  Ms.  Vasquez  began  working  for  DoD  in  1997, her
  supervisor told her that if she had  to be at a travel destination
  on a Monday,  she could either travel  on Sunday and "receive  per
  diem but no pay," or  travel on Friday and "be  paid per diem  for
  Saturday  and Sunday  and  report as  necessary  on Monday."    In
  connection with her trip  to Arizona, Ms. Vasquez points out  that
  her travel orders and her request for an  actual expense allowance
  show that  she intended to begin  her travel on Friday,  September
  11.   She also made  three telephone calls to  the Defense Finance
  and  Accounting  Service  to  try  to  make  sure   that  she  was
  completing the  necessary paperwork to get  reimbursed for all  of
  her travel expenses.  Ms.  Vasquez says that no  one ever told her
  that she  would not be  reimbursed for her  weekend stay in  Grand
  Canyon,  even though  it  was apparent  that  she expected  to  be
  reimbursed.  
 
       As Ms.  Vasquez now realizes,  she received  erroneous advice
  from her  supervisor, and from anyone else who led  her to believe
  that she  would be  reimbursed for  her weekend in  Arizona.   The
  Joint  Travel  Regulations  (JTR)   in  effect  when  Ms.  Vasquez
  traveled provided  that if an  employee was  required to attend  a
  conference  beginning  on a  Monday  morning,  the employee  could
  depart on  Friday in order  to travel  during regular duty  hours,
  but the  employee would be  reimbursed as if  she had departed  on
  Sunday.   Any  additional days of  early travel were to  be at the
  employee's expense.  JTR C1058-B.4.  
 
       Ms. Vasquez's  claim must be denied.   The JTR addresses  her
  situation precisely and DoD reimbursed her in accordance  with the
  JTR's  provisions.  Inaccurate statements made by DoD employees do
  not  entitle her  to be repaid  for her Grand Canyon  hotel or for
  her  meals  and  incidental  expenses  for  two  additional  days,
  because  erroneous advice provided  by Government officials cannot
  provide a basis for reimbursement  where no independent  authority
  for  such   reimbursement  exists.     Masood  Badizadegan,  GSBCA
  14393-RELO, 98-2 BCA    29,789.   Unfortunately  for Ms.  Vasquez,
  even though she acted in good faith and in reliance upon  what she
  was told by  others in  DoD, the  regulations do  not provide  any
  independent authorization to grant her claim.
 
       The claim is denied.
  __________________________________
 
                                     MARTHA H. DeGRAFF
                                     Board Judge