Board of Contract Appeals

                    General Services Administration

                         Washington, D.C. 20405

 

 

            _______________________________________________

 

                             June 23, 2000

            _______________________________________________

 

 

                            GSBCA 15258-RELO

 

 

                    In the Matter of ANNA M. WHARTON

 

 

        Anna M. Wharton, Las Vegas, NV, Claimant.

 

        Victoria  Smith, Travel Team Lead, National Business Center,

   Bureau  of Land Management,  Department of the  Interior, Denver,

   CO, appearing for Department of the Interior.

 

   BORWICK, Board Judge.

 

        Ms. Anna M. Wharton, claimant, an employee of the Department

   of  the  Interior,  Bureau  of  Land  Management  (BLM),  agency,

   contests the  agency's denial  of reimbursement  of a  relocation

   expense  incurred  in  connection with  her  permanent  change of

   station  (PCS) from Hadley,  Massachusetts to Las  Vegas, Nevada.

   We  conclude that the agency correctly applied the Federal Travel

   Regulation (FTR) and deny the claim.  

 

        Claimant states that she incurred an expense  of $56.95 when

   she sent by  Federal Express the  original real estate  agreement

   and the  original deed  for the Hadley  residence to  her closing

   attorney in Amherst, Massachusetts.  Although claimant states she

   incurred expenses of $56.95, the only  Federal Express invoice in

   the record shows a bill for $19.95.  

        The agency denied  the request for reimbursement  because it

   considered the messenger service fee to be an overhead expense of

   the lender which,  when passed to the borrower,  is considered to

   be a non-reimbursable finance charge.    Claimant argues that the

   "charges for  mailing  required documentation  to facilitate  the

   sale of my former residence  was a necessary fee.   These charges

   were  also  paid  to  the  closing attorney  and  not  a  lending

   facility."

 

        The FTR authorizes  reimbursement of items of  miscellaneous

   expenses provided  they are customarily  paid by the seller  of a

   residence at  the old official  station and provided they  do not

   exceed  specifically  stated  limitations,   or  in  the  absence

   thereof,   amounts  customarily  paid  in  the  locality  of  the

   residence.  41 CFR 302-6.2(d) (1999).  Claimant has the burden of

   establishing  that a claimed item of reimbursement is customarily

   paid in the locality.  Sarah Blanding, GSBCA 14493-RELO, 98-2 BCA

     29,790.  

 

 

        The FTR also provides for reimbursement of other expenses of

   sale  of a  residence,  i.e.   incidental  charges for  "required

   services" in selling  a home "if they are customarily paid by the

   seller of the residence at the  old official station . . . to the

   extent they  do not  exceed amounts  customarily  charged in  the

   locality  of  the residence."    41  CFR 302-6.2(f).    "Required

   services"  are  those services  that  are required  by  a lending

   institution or  by state  and  local law  and  are imposed  as  a

   precondition to the purchase and sale of a residence.  Leonard L.

   Garofolo, 67 Comp. Gen. 449 (1988).  

 

        We have consistently  denied payment of courier  or delivery

   charges incurred in  house settlements because  the FTR does  not

   list  delivery charges  as  reimbursable items  of  miscellaneous

   expense under 41  CFR 302-6.2(d) and because  courier or delivery

   charges are not similar in nature to those items that are listed,

   such as  broker fees,  advertising expenses,  title searches,  or

   recording  fees.  Stanley  H. Levine, GSBCA  14909-RELO, 00-1 BCA

     30,809; Charles A. Peters, GSBCA 13643-RELO, 97-1 BCA   28,689.

    To  the extent that claimant relies upon  41 CFR 302-6.2(f) as a

   basis for reimbursement,  claimant has not demonstrated  that the

   courier  charges were  "required services"  or  that the  courier

   delivery expense  is customarily  paid by the  seller at  the old

   residence.  

 

        The agency correctly applied the FTR in denying  the request

   for reimbursement.  The claim is denied.

 

 

                                 __________________________

                                 ANTHONY S. BORWICK

                                 Board Judge