Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _______________________ April 14, 2000 ________________________ GSBCA 15256-RELO In the Matter of LORI A. HAZENSTAB Lori A. Hazenstab, Washington, DC, Claimant. Dana A. Brown, Assistant Director, Office of Administration, United States Secret Service, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of the Treasury. PARKER, Board Judge. Lori A. Hazenstab, an employee of the United States Secret Service, has asked the Board to review the agency s refusal to reimburse her temporary quarters subsistence expenses (TQSE) under the lump sum, rather than the traditional, method. As explained below, the agency s actions were correct. In June 1999, Ms. Hazenstab was notified of her impending transfer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C. According to both the employee and the agency, Ms. Hazenstab was briefed prior to the transfer on various topics related to the transfer, including her option of receiving TQSE benefits under the lump sum method. Under the lump sum method, which is actually called the fixed amount method, the transferred employee who stays in temporary quarters is paid a fixed amount equal to seventy-five percent of the maximum per diem rate for the locality of the new duty station, for a period of up to thirty days. The employee is not required to document his or her expenses. 41 CFR 302-5.200, -5.201 (1999). Under the traditional method, which is also called the actual expense method, the employee who stays in temporary quarters is reimbursed for his or her actual expenses, up to the maximum daily amount, for a period of up to sixty days. 41 CFR 302- 5.100, -5.104. For a compelling reason, the agency may authorize up to an additional sixty-day period of actual expense reimbursement. 41 CFR 302-5.104. Employees receiving TQSE under the actual expense method are required to document their expenses. 41 CFR 302-5.12. Ms. Hazenstab told the Transportation Specialist who briefed her that she would probably go with the lump sum method of payment for both house hunting and temporary housing if needed. About a month before her transfer, Ms. Hazenstab requested in writing (following the format of a sample memorandum she found in the agency s permanent change of station manual) thirty days of TQSE, as she was purchasing a newly-constructed house scheduled to be completed on or about November 15, 1999. She also said in the memorandum: If additional time is needed, not to exceed 60 days, a separate memorandum will be submitted. The memorandum did not state whether Ms. Hazenstab was requesting the fixed amount or the far more commonly used actual expense method. However, because Ms. Hazenstab stated in the memorandum that she might request an additional period of TQSE, and payment under the fixed amount method is limited to a maximum of thirty days, the agency assumed that Ms. Hazenstab was requesting the actual expense method. Ms. Hazenstab did not object when the agency issued her travel orders authorizing TQSE reimbursement under the actual expense method. Ms. Hazenstab occupied temporary quarters from September 28 through October 29, 1999. In November, she submitted an advance of funds request for thirty days of TQSE under the fixed amount method. The agency denied the request and has asked Ms. Hazenstab to submit a voucher claiming reimbursement under the actual expense method. The agency was correct in requiring that Ms. Hazenstab be reimbursed in accordance with the method specified in her travel orders. As a general rule: Travel orders may not be revoked or modified retroactively so as to increase or decrease the rights which have become fixed after the travel has been performed, except where there are errors apparent on the face of the original orders or where all the facts and circumstances surrounding the issuance of the original orders clearly demonstrate that some provision which was previously determined and definitely intended had been inadvertently omitted in their preparation. Alex L. Rowe, GSBCA 14479-RELO, 98-2 BCA 29,919 (quoting William D. Hammers, B-234696 (Nov. 3, 1989)). Ms. Hazenstab s travel orders contained no errors, nor did they omit any provision that had previously been determined and definitely intended. At her briefing, Ms. Hazenstab told the Transportation Specialist that she would probably elect the fixed amount method of TQSE reimbursement. However, after receiving Ms. Hazenstab s memorandum requesting thirty days of TQSE, which stated that she might request an additional period because she was purchasing a newly-constructed house, the agency reasonably determined that Ms. Hazenstab was requesting TQSE reimbursement under the actual expense method. If this was not what Ms. Hazenstab intended, she could have brought the matter to the attention of the agency when she received her travel orders. At that point, the agency would have been free to amend the orders. See Zanjala T. Saunders, GSBCA 13772-RELO, 97-1 BCA 28,858. Once the travel was completed, however, the terms of Ms. Hazenstab s travel orders became fixed. Accordingly, she should file a voucher, along with the appropriate documentation, claiming reimbursement under the actual expense method. __________________________ ROBERT W. PARKER Board Judge