B-307918, NOAA--Reimbursing Mileage for Commuting Expenses for On-Call Emergencies, December 20, 2006

B-307918 Dec 20, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may not use its appropriations to reimburse employees for the mileage traveled between their residences and the agency's warehouse when performing after-hours, on-call emergency services on behalf of the government because 31 U.S.C. sect. 1344(a)(1) specifically prohibits using appropriated funds to provide government employees with transportation between their homes and places of employment, unless otherwise authorized by law. View Decision B-307918, NOAA--Reimbursing Mileage for Commuting Expenses for On-Call Emergencies, December 20, 2006 Decision Matter of: NOAA—Reimbursing Mileage for Commuting Expenses for On-Call Emergencies File: B-307918 Date: December 20, 2006 DIGEST The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may not use its appropriations to reimburse employees for the mileage traveled between their residences and the agency's warehouse when performing after-hours, on-call emergency services on behalf of the government because 31 U.S.C. sect. 1344(a)(1) specifically prohibits using appropriated funds to provide government employees with transportation between their homes and places of employment, unless otherwise authorized by law. DECISION The Chief of the Central Finance Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who is also a certifying officer, has requested an advance decision under 31 U.S.C. sect. 3529. He asks whether appropriated funds are available to reimburse NOAA employees for the mileage they must travel between their homes and offices when performing official services during on-call emergencies outside of their normal office hours. Memorandum from Auke Hart, Chief of the Central Finance Office, NOAA, to David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, May 1, 2006 (Hart Memorandum). As is our usual practice when rendering a decision, we sought the views of the agency to establish a factual record and to elicit the agency's legal position on the subject matter of the request.[1] The Office of General Counsel of the Department of Commerce, who replied to us on behalf of both NOAA and the department, does not believe appropriated funds are available for this purpose. Letter from Barbara S. Fredericks, Assistant General Counsel for Administration, Department of Commerce, to Thomas H. Armstrong, Assistant General Counsel for Appropriations Law, GAO, Oct. 30, 2006 (Fredericks Letter). For the reasons given below, we agree. BACKGROUND NOAA, through the National Weather Service, operates and maintains a system of weather forecasting stations across the United States and around the world. These stations function 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Hart Memorandum, at 1. NOAA states that Congress has mandated it to –provide weather forecasting for protecting life and property for the Nation. When severe weather hits in the form of hurricanes, tornados and snow blizzards, [NOAA] has to have equipment functioning . . . so [it] can perform [its] congressional mandate to protect the public from impending severe weather.— Fredericks Letter, Enclosure 1, at 1--2. To help the National Weather Service minimize interruptions of this service, NOAA created the National Logistic Support Center (NLSC) to stockpile in its warehouse and ship replacement parts and equipment crucial to weather forecasting operations. Id., Enclosure 1, at 1. In the past, NLSC has received between 200 and 400 requests each year for emergency service outside of NLSC's normal office hours. Id. NLSC schedules employees to attend to these emergency, after-hours service requests on an –on-call— basis. Id. For each day of the year, including Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays, NLSC places two staff members on-call. Id. at 1. On weekdays, the employees assigned to on-call duty work their normal day at NLSC and then go home for the evening. When NLSC receives a request for after-hours emergency service, it notifies the on-call employees who return from their homes to the NLSC offices, where the warehouse is also located. Id., Enclosure 1, at 1. The assigned on-call employees find the required parts or equipment, prepare them for shipment to the affected weather station, deliver them to a shipping vendor, and return home. Id. at 1. Some days, NLSC receives multiple after-hours emergency service requests. When this happens, the on-call employees must respond to each call. Hart Memorandum, at 1--2. NLSC follows the same basic on-call process on weekends and federal holidays. Id., Enclosure 1, at 1. Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between the NLSC and American Federation of Government Employees Local No. 29, employees volunteer for on-call duty. Id., Enclosure 1, at 5.