B-305864, United States Capitol Police--Employee Shuttle, January 5, 2006

B-305864 Jan 05, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The United States Capitol Police (USCP) may not use appropriated funds for a shuttle bus service from its parking lot to the Fairchild Building, or any other USCP building, where the purpose of the service is to facilitate the commutes of USCP employees. Commuting costs are personal expenses, and, absent statutory authority, appropriations are not available for personal expenses. Where, however, USCP establishes a legitimate operational need for a building-to-building shuttle, there is no objection to employees' incidental use of the service as part of the home-to-work commute, so long as such use does not result in additional expense to the government. View Decision B-305864, United States Capitol Police--Employee Shuttle, January 5, 2006 Decision Matter of: United States Capitol Police--Employee Shuttle File: B-305864 Date: January 5, 2006 DIGEST The United States Capitol Police (USCP) may not use appropriated funds for a shuttle bus service from its parking lot to the FairchildBuilding, or any other USCP building, where the purpose of the service is to facilitate the commutes of USCP employees. Commuting costs are personal expenses, and, absent statutory authority, appropriations are not available for personal expenses. Where, however, USCP establishes a legitimate operational need for a building-to-building shuttle, there is no objection to employees' incidental use of the service as part of the home-to-work commute, so long as such use does not result in additional expense to the government. DECISION The United States Capitol Police (USCP) asks whether it may use appropriated funds for a shuttle bus to transport USCP employees from USCP-provided parking to a new USCP facility, the FairchildBuilding. Letter from John T. Caulfield, General Counsel, USCP, to Anthony H. Gamboa, General Counsel, GAO, July 7, 2005 (Caulfield Letter). USCP also asks whether, in the event such use of funds is not proper, it may use appropriated funds for a shuttle to transport employees from the USCP headquarters building to the FairchildBuilding. Id. In our view, USCP may not use appropriated funds for shuttle bus service, whether from the parking lot to the FairchildBuilding or from headquarters to the FairchildBuilding, where the purpose of the shuttle is to enable employees to complete their commutes. USCP, however, may provide shuttle service from its headquarters to other USCP buildings, including the FairchildBuilding, so long as it establishes a legitimate operational need for such a service. USCP states that it is moving several component offices from its headquarters building on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol complex, near which employees are provided parking, to the FairchildBuilding on the House side, where adequate parking is not available. Caulfield Letter. Whereas in the past employees (primarily USCP officers) would walk from their cars to the headquarters building at the start of their shifts for their daily assignments, they now start their shifts by reporting to the Fairchild Building. Id. USCP states that until it is able to acquire parking facilities close to the FairchildBuilding, many employees who continue to use the USCP parking on the Senate side will need transportation to the FairchildBuilding. USCP asserts that the FairchildBuilding is not within a reasonable walking distance of either the current parking location or the headquarters building. The agency also indicates that it may be able to lease parking facilities near, but still not within walking distance of, the FairchildBuilding. USCP suggests that since it is proper to use appropriated funds to provide parking in the first instance, it should be proper to use appropriated funds to transport employees from the parking lots to the FairchildBuilding. USCP is concerned, however, that the trip from either the parking lot or USCP headquarters to the Fairchild Building might be viewed as part of an employee's commute so that any attendant expense would not payable from appropriated funds. Initially, we point out that the fact that USCP provides parking for its employees is not relevant to the issue here--the propriety of shuttling employees from the parking lot to USCP buildings. The propriety of the use of appropriated funds for a parking lot-to-workplace shuttle turns on the application of a longstanding rule regarding the nature of commuting costs. It is well-established that an employee's commute between home and work is a personal expense, and personal expenses are not payable from appropriated funds, absent specific statutory authority. 27 Comp. Gen. 1 (1947); 16 Comp. Gen. 64 (1936). For executive branch entities, the rule is codified at 31 U.S.C. sect.