[Letter]

B-270196 Mar 22, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Where a notice of selection for a position involving a transfer is issued contingent upon availability of permanent change-of-station (PCS) funding. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) includes a statement in the notice of selection that relocation expenses incurred prior to date travel orders are issued will not be reimbursed. The statement would be sufficient to preclude reimbursement of such expenses when the selection is cancelled prior to issuance of the travel order. Not when a travel order is actually issued. The FAA is advised to amend the statement to provide that. If the selection is cancelled prior to issuance of travel orders. PCS expenses will not be reimbursed. You seek an opinion regarding the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) authority to limit the relocation expense reimbursement eligibility of employees whose selection for a position is contingent upon the availability of permanent change-of-station (PCS) funding. View Decision B-270196 March 22, 1996 Where a notice of selection for a position involving a transfer is issued contingent upon availability of permanent change-of-station (PCS) funding, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) includes a statement in the notice of selection that relocation expenses incurred prior to date travel orders are issued will not be reimbursed. The statement would be sufficient to preclude reimbursement of such expenses when the selection is cancelled prior to issuance of the travel order, but not when a travel order is actually issued. The FAA is advised to amend the statement to provide that, if the selection is cancelled prior to issuance of travel orders, PCS expenses will not be reimbursed. Ms. Deborah A. Osipchak Manager, Financial Services Branch Federal Aviation Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 800 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20591 Dear Ms. Osipchak: We refer further to your letter dated October 5, 1995, with enclosures. You seek an opinion regarding the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) authority to limit the relocation expense reimbursement eligibility of employees whose selection for a position is contingent upon the availability of permanent change-of-station (PCS) funding. The facts, as briefly described in a memorandum dated September 21, 1995, from your Manager, Accounting Branch, ASW-42, to the Manager, Financial Review Division, ABA-100, are that employees of the FAA, upon selection for positions involving a permanent change of station, receive an ASW Form 3330-3 "Notice of Selection." If that selection is contingent on the availability of PCS funding, the Notice of Selection contains the following statement: "Selection and EOD [Entry on Duty] contingent upon availability of PCS funds; therefore, employee is not to incur PCS expenses until travel order is issued. Expenses incurred prior to date travel order is signed will not be reimbursed by the Government." The memorandum also states that this Office has ruled that relocation expenses incurred by an employee in anticipation of transfer may be reimbursed when the travel authorization subsequently issued authorizes those expenses based on a previously existing administrative intent to transfer at the time the expenses were incurred. Therefore, the question asked is whether the above-quoted statement on the Notice of Selection is sufficient to preclude reimbursement of any expenses incurred by a selected employee prior to issuance of a travel order or notification of cancellation of the selection. We have been advised by FAA officials that FAA has encountered cases where employees who received a Notice of Selection had been orally assured by their supervisors that they could prepare for their transfer, even though their travel authorization had not been issued. As a result, they proceeded to incur relocation expenses in anticipation of that transfer and some of them have sought reimbursement for those expenses even before funding was available and their travel authorization is issued. Others have similarly incurred relocation expenses in anticipation of transfer, but because there was no PCS funding, their selection and transfer had to be cancelled before travel orders were issued. The authority to reimburse relocation expenses of employees and their dependents who are transferred from one station to another for permanent duty in the interest of the government is contained in 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5724 and 5724a (1994), and implementing regulations found in chapter 302 of the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR). [1] Under the provisions of the FTR, administrative authorization or approval of a transfer is a necessary condition to the government assuming the relocation expenses of a transferred employee.