Drs. Michael H. Mattei and Loren T. Wilkenfeld Waiver

Drs. Michael H. Mattei and Loren T. Wilkenfeld Waiver BNUMBER: B-261483; B-265864.2 DATE: August 29, 1996 TITLE: Drs. Michael H. Mattei and Loren T. Wilkenfeld Waiver Requests ********************************************************************** Matter of:Drs. Michael H. Mattei and Loren T. Wilkenfeld Waiver Requests File: B-261483; B-265864.2 Date:August 29, 1996 DIGEST Two new employees moving from their homes in California to their first duty station in North Carolina were advised by an agency official responsible for arranging their household goods shipments that they could have their automobiles shipped via government bill of lading with their household goods to their duty station, but they would be required to reimburse the agency for the costs of shipping the automobiles. The official incorrectly advised them, however, that their costs would be a $113.50 bulky article charge, when in fact in addition to such charge, the carriers also charged rates applied to the weight of the automobiles, resulting in much greater total charges. The employees' requests for waiver of their resulting debts to the agency may be granted to the extent that in reliance on the erroneous advice, they incurred expenses for transporting the automobiles greater than they otherwise would have incurred. Dr. Loren T. Wilkenfeld, B-265864, Dec. 7, 1995, overruled in part. DECISION Dr. Michael H. Mattei requests reconsideration of our Claims Group's settlement Z-2942034-025, March 23, 1995, denying his request for waiver of his debt of $2,969.26 to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for excess costs incurred by the VA for the shipment of his two automobiles to his first duty station. Dr. Loren T. Wilkenfeld requests reconsideration of our decision B-265864, December 7, 1995, in which we affirmed the Claims Group's denial of her request for waiver of her debt of $1,794.99 to the VA which arose under the same circumstances as Dr. Mattei's. Upon further consideration, we now believe partial waiver of these debts is appropriate. Background In the summer of 1993, Dr. Mattei and Dr. Wilkenfeld, newly appointed VA employees, were issued travel orders authorizing them and their families to travel to their initial duty station, the VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina. Their travel orders also authorized the shipment of their household goods on government bills of lading (GBLs) from their homes in California to Salisbury. Both employees elected to travel by commercial airline to North Carolina. Each owned two automobiles which they requested be shipped with their household goods. VA authorized shipment of the automobiles with the household goods, subject to the employees reimbursing VA for the cost of shipping the automobiles since employees' automobiles are specifically excluded by the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) from items which may be shipped as household goods at government expense. FTR sec. 302-1.4(j)(1)(i).[1] Upon completion of the shipments, the VA paid the carriers for the total costs of the shipments and sought to recover from Dr. Mattei and Dr. Wilkenfeld the excess costs paid for the shipment of their vehicles. Both employees contended that the costs assessed them were much greater than the agency had led them to believe when they requested shipment of their vehicles, and they requested waiver of their resulting debts. The employees stated that the VA purchasing official who made the arrangements with the carriers and issued the GBLs told them at the time they requested shipment of the vehicles that they would be required to reimburse VA for a $113.50 bulky article charge applicable to each vehicle and no mention was made of any additional charges. They also point out that they were new employees not familiar with government procedures and they were not given complete counseling on their shipping entitlements prior to their moves. Thus, they believe they rightfully relied on the advice of the purchasing official, who was in charge of arranging the shipments, as to the costs of shipping their vehicles. Both employees indicate that they had other options available to move their vehicles to North Carolina which they would have pursued, such as by driving one and personally arranging for shipment of the other, had they known the true costs of shipping them by moving van. In this regard, Dr. Mattei states that he could have had one of his automobiles shipped by rail to North Carolina for about $600. The agency report on the waiver requests includes a VA accounting supervisor's statement that she advised both employees well in advance of shipment that the government would not pay the cost of shipping their automobiles.