Dr. Jamshid Jamshidian-Waiver-Expenses of Extra Local Move

B-266251 May 13, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Debts based on excess costs incurred in the shipment of an employee's household goods are generally not subject to waiver since the costs are not erroneous. Such circumstances are not present in this case. Employee's waiver request is denied. The government's liability for the cost of transporting household goods incident to a permanent change of station is limited to the constructive cost of transporting the property in one lot by the most economical route from the last official station of the transferring employee to the new official station. The total cost of an extra local move is chargeable to the employee if the net weight of the goods shipped from old station to new station equaled or exceeded 18. View Decision Matter of: Dr. Jamshid Jamshidian-Waiver-Expenses of Extra Local Move Incident to a Permanent Change of Station File: B-266251 Date: May 13, 1996 Debts based on excess costs incurred in the shipment of an employee's household goods are generally not subject to waiver since the costs are not erroneous. Although waiver may be granted in some limited circumstances where employee can demonstrate that excess charges resulted from the erroneous authorization of agency officials, such circumstances are not present in this case. Employee's waiver request is denied. The government's liability for the cost of transporting household goods incident to a permanent change of station is limited to the constructive cost of transporting the property in one lot by the most economical route from the last official station of the transferring employee to the new official station, not to exceed 18,000 pounds, the authorized weight limit. Thus, the total cost of an extra local move is chargeable to the employee if the net weight of the goods shipped from old station to new station equaled or exceeded 18,000 pounds. If total weight of the goods, including weight of local move, did not equal or exceed the 18,000 pound limit, then employee is liable only for any excess costs above the constructive cost of transporting the property in one lot by most economical route from the employee's personal residence near his last official station to his residence near his new official station. DECISION Dr. Jamshid Jamshidian, an employee of the Veterans Administration, appeals our Claims settlement certificate [1] denying his claim for waiver of his debt to the United States in the amount of $704.75 arising from an extra local shipment of household goods, incident to a permanent change of station in September 1994. For the reasons stated below, waiver is denied. BACKGROUND In September 1994, Dr. Jamshid Jamshidian was transferred from the Veteran's Administration (VA) Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, to the VA Medical and Regional Office Center in Wichita, Kansas. In connection with his transfer, he shipped his household goods from his residence in Los Angeles, California, to his new residence near the VA Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas. On August 30, 1994, prior to his transfer, Dr. Jamshidian was briefed by the relocation coordinator for the VA Medical Center in Los Angeles concerning the agency's policy on movement of household goods. According to the coordinator, Dr. Jamshidian telephoned her prior to the move scheduled for Thursday, September 15, 1994, to ask if the moving company could drop off a couch and a couple of boxes belonging to his daughter at a nearby location in Westwood, California, prior to delivery of his remaining household goods to Wichita, Kansas. The coordinator called the moving company who responded that the transportation of a couch and a couple of boxes could be handled as an "extra drop at origin" without incurring any additional cost. In a memorandum dated October 21, 1994, the coordinator stated that she therefore had agreed to Dr. Jamshidian's request and then had telephoned him to relay this information. According to agency officials, [2] Dr. Jamshidian subsequently and unilaterally changed two elements of the understanding between himself and Ms. Jackson: (1) he changed the move date from Thursday, September 15, 1994, to Saturday, September 17, 1994, a nonworking day for agency relocation officials; and (2) he changed the number and types of goods to be transported locally from a previously authorized couch and a couple of boxes to include the following: two barrels (or dish packs or drums), five cartons less than 3 cubic feet, five 3-cubic foot cartons, three 4 cubic foot cartons, two mattresses, and one corrugated container. Since the change in the number of goods to be packed and transported involved more time and labor on the part of the movers, they changed the category from "extra drop at origin," a category causing no additional costs, to "local move," a category that resulted in additional charges of $704.75.