Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _________________________ January 11, 2000 _________________________ GSBCA 15039-RELO In the Matter of LORRAINE M. KUMMERFELDT Lorraine M. Kummerfeldt, Colorado Springs, CO, Claimant. Charles N. Stockwell, Travel Branch, Directorate of Travel and Vendor Pay, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Denver, CO, appearing for Department of the Air Force. WILLIAMS, Board Judge. Claimant seeks to recover a lease termination cost incurred when she departed her temporary quarters earlier than anticipated due to the premature arrival of her household goods and her move into permanent quarters. The agency denied this expense as an element of temporary quarters subsistence expenses (TQSE) reasoning that TQSE benefits terminated on the day claimant moved into permanent quarters. Although the agency is correct that it may not reimburse TQSE benefits once an employee has moved into permanent quarters, it may nonetheless recalculate claimant's lodging cost to include the lease termination cost as a lodging cost and prorate this cost over the period of occupancy of temporary quarters. However, under this recalculation, claimant's TQSE payments may not exceed the maximum daily amounts authorized by regulation, 41 CFR 302-5.100 (1999). Glenn Baker, GSBCA 14221-RELO, 98-2 BCA 29,856; Kevin Gjertsen, GSBCA 14298-RELO, 98-1 BCA 29,607; Tita D. Corpuz, B-256576 (Jan. 17, 1996); Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) C13007. Background Claimant, a civilian employee of the Department of Defense, was transferred from Germany to Colorado in December 1998. She was authorized TQSE not to exceed sixty days. Claimant's TQSE in Colorado Springs began on December 28, 1998, and she and her family obtained lodging from a corporate housing provider that required a thirty-day lease termination notice. Claimant's household goods were shipped from Germany on December 16, 1998, with a scheduled delivery date in Colorado Springs of February 24, 1999. Claimant's initial lease was for thirty days, but at the end of this period with no additional information available from the agency's transportation office, she extended the lease until February 24, the expected delivery date of her household goods. However, her household goods arrived almost a month early on January 28, and claimant accepted the first available delivery date of February 5, as she was closing on her new home on January 29. The household goods were delivered on February 5 as scheduled, and claimant moved into the new home on that date. Claimant filed a TQSE claim for lodging and meals from December 28 through February 4 and lodging only from February 5 through February 24. Although claimant vacated the temporary quarters on February 4, she sought the additional TQSE through February 24 to cover the lease termination expense incurred because she could not honor the thirty-day lease termination notice requirement. Claimant believed that she acted in the Government's best interest by incurring only a lodging expense when she could have incurred both lodging and food expenses had she remained as authorized in the temporary quarters. Discussion The agency correctly notes that both the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) and the JTR provide that temporary quarters occupancy ends when the employee or any dependent occupies permanent quarters or when the authorized period of time expires, whichever occurs first. FTR 302-5.108; JTR C13110.B.2. These regulations prohibit reimbursement of lodging expenses as part of TQSE once an employee moves into permanent quarters. However, both this Board and the Comptroller General have recognized that a lease termination fee prudently incurred in conjunction with occupancy of temporary quarters may be added to lodging cost and prorated over the period of temporary occupancy. Glenn Baker, GSBCA 14221-RELO, 98-2 BCA 29,856; Kevin Gjertsen, GSBCA 14298-RELO, 98-1 BCA 29,607; Tita D. Corpuz, B-256576 (Jan. 17, 1996). JTR C13007 permits reimbursement of "actual subsistence expenses incurred provided these are incident to occupancy of temporary quarters and are reasonable as to amount." In Kevin Gjertsen, GSBCA 14298-RELO, the Board ruled that a lease termination cost incurred during the TQSE period was reimbursable, citing with approval the Comptroller General's decision in Tita D. Corpuz, B-256576 (Jan. 17, 1996). The Board in Gjertsen reasoned: The [Corpuz decision] takes a commonsense approach to the reimbursement of costs which may not qualify as costs incident to occupancy of temporary quarters as defined through earlier decisions, but nonetheless were reasonable, prudent, and resulted in a cost advantage for the Government. The decision concludes that a lease termination fee can, under these circumstances, be deemed to be an actual lodging expense whether paid through forfeiture of a deposit or otherwise. 98-1 BCA at 114,006-07. Following this rationale, we conclude that claimant's termination of her lease prior to the expiration of her authorized TQSE period and her move into permanent quarters as soon as her household goods arrived was reasonable, prudent, and resulted in a cost advantage for the Government. As we recognized in Gjertsen and Baker, the termination fee must be equitably spread over the actual duration of temporary occupancy as a lodging cost. Such additional amounts when added to the daily amounts already paid may not exceed the maximum daily reimbursement authorized under FTR 302-5.100. The record does not provide sufficient detail for us to make this determination. We, therefore, leave this matter for the agency to resolve. Decision The claim is, therefore, granted in accordance with the guidance provided in this decision. ________________________________ MARY ELLEN COSTER WILLIAMS Board Judge