Board of Contract Appeals

                 General Services Administration

                      Washington, D.C. 20405









                     _______________________



                         October 4, 2002

                     _______________________





                         GSBCA 15922-RELO





               In the Matter of WILLIAM S. ZEIGLER     





     William S. Zeigler, Seoul, Korea, Claimant.



     Walter Folger, Attorney-Advisor, Area II Civilian Personnel Advisory Center,

Department of the Army, Seoul, Korea, appearing for Department of Defense.



WILLIAMS, Board Judge.



     William S. Zeigler, a personnel management specialist with the Department of the

Army, has filed a claim with this Board seeking an additional payment for a living quarters

allowance (LQA).  The agency denied Mr. Zeigler a full LQA entitlement because the

amount of his lease agreement in Seoul, Korea, exceeded the prices required by the agency's

Fair Market Value (FMV) program. 



     On September 8, 2001, claimant signed a two-year lease for an apartment in Seoul,

Korea, in the amount of Won 84,000,000, of which the entire amount had to be paid to the

landlord in advance.  The agency's housing office, based on its FMV program, allowed only

Won 81,600,000, a difference of Won 2,400,000 that claimant had to pay out of his personal

funds.  Claimant seeks Won 2,400,000 and asks that the Board direct the agency's housing

office to discontinue its FMV Program until it implements proper procedures which are fair,

equitable, and in accordance with the Department of State requirements.



     The agency has requested that the Board dismiss this case since it concerns a claim

for LQA, which is outside the Board's jurisdiction and within the jurisdiction of the Office

of Personnel Management (OPM).  The agency is correct.  As this Board has consistently

recognized, "LQA is not an expense of travel, transportation, or relocation; since it is an

allowance which accrues to an employee after he has traveled to a place and relocated there,

it is more properly viewed as a species of compensation."  Donald Guenther,

GSBCA 14032-RELO, 97-1 BCA   28,795, at 143,640; accord Wilma F. Sexton,

GSBCA 13790-RELO, 97-1 BCA   29,855; Carmon L. Woodley, GSBCA 13706-RELO,

97-1 BCA   28,861.  Claims regarding LQA for civilian employees are not heard by this

Board, but are referred, as are claims for compensation, to OPM.  Id.



     Accordingly, this claim is dismissed and is transferred to OPM for resolution.







                              ______________________________________

                              MARY ELLEN COSTER WILLIAMS

                              Board Judge