Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _______________________________________________ January 11, 2000 _______________________________________________ GSBCA 15128-RELO In the Matter of ELIZABETH LYNN TAYLOR Elizabeth Lynn Taylor, Fort Worth, TX, Claimant. Thomas J. Stewart, Director, Travel Management Division, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of Housing and Urban Development. BORWICK, Board Judge. Ms. Elizabeth Lynn Taylor, claimant, a civilian employee with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, agency, challenges the agency s determination of the amount of claimant s allowable temporary quarters subsistence expense (TQSE) reimbursement arising from claimant s permanent change of station (PCS) transfer from Tampa, Florida, to Fort Worth, Texas. The agency, applying the maximum daily rate specified in the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) to all of claimant s incurred expenses, determined that claimant was entitled to $3060 of the claimed $3943.13. Claimant disagreed with the agency determination and filed a claim at this Board. Claimant maintains that she interpreted erroneous or ambiguous statements in the agency s handbook describing TQSE entitlements to mean that the maximum daily amount applied only to lodging expenses and not to other incidental expenses, such as meals and laundry, incurred during the TQSE period. Claimant argues that if she had known that the maximum daily amount applied to all incurred TQSE, she would have chosen the fixed expense method of reimbursement prescribed in the FTR. We conclude that the agency correctly applied the FTR, since the maximum daily amount applies to expenses, and not just to lodging expenses. The FTR explains that the per diem rate includes payment for lodging and meals and incidental expenses. Any contrary conclusion claimant might have drawn from erroneous or ambiguous statements in the agency s handbook does not enlarge claimant s rights. The facts are as follows. The agency authorized claimant a PCS transfer from Tampa, Florida, to Fort Worth, Texas. Block nine of the authorization, entitled Allowances for Subsistence Expenses While Occupying Temporary Quarters indicated that the entitlement for TQSE was thirty days' allowance at a total daily rate of $80 and thirty additional days at a total daily rate of $60. Before the move, claimant decided whether to use the actual TQSE method of reimbursement set forth in FTR 302-5.100 or the fixed amount reimbursement set forth in FTR 302-5.200. In making her choice as to the method of reimbursement for TQSE, claimant relied on the following quoted passages from the agency handbook explaining TQSE: The term temporary quarters , or TQSE, refers to lodging obtained from private or commercial sources for the purpose of temporary occupancy after vacating the residence occupied when the transfer was authorized. . . . . As a general rule, the location of temporary quarters must be within reasonable proximity of the old and/or official new station[.] . . . . Reimbursement is made only for actual subsistence expenses incurred incident to the occupancy of temporary quarters that are reasonable as to amount. Reimbursement is based on the actual expenses incurred, not to exceed the maximum for the 30-day (or less) period of temporary quarters. The relocatee may go over the maximum one day and under another as long as the total claimed does not exceed the total authorized for the period of temporary quarters. Claimant interpreted those passages to mean that the maximum allowable expense applied to lodging alone, not to lodging, meals, and incidental expenses. Claimant transferred to Fort Worth and selected temporary lodgings which cost her $81 per day. Claimant stayed in temporary quarters from May 30 through July 8, 1999, and submitted a voucher to the agency requesting reimbursement of $3943.13 for TQSE. The agency determined that claimant was entitled to reimbursement for the initial thirty days at $80 per day and eleven additional days at $60 per day for a total gross entitlement of $3060. The version of the FTR in effect during claimant s PCS provides, in question and answer format: What am I paid under the actual TQSE reimbursement method? Your agency will pay your actual TQSE incurred, provided the expenses are reasonable in amount and do not exceed the maximum allowable amount. The maximum allowable amount is the maximum daily amount multiplied by the number of days you incur TQSE not to exceed the number of days authorized, taking into account that the rates change after 30 days in temporary quarters. The maximum daily amount is determined by adding the rates in the following table for you and each member of your immediate family authorized to occupy temporary quarters. (Emphasis supplied). 41 CFR 302-5.100 (1999). The table following states that an employee is entitled to the applicable per diem rate for the first thirty days of temporary quarters and .75 of the applicable per diem rate for any additional days of temporary quarters. Id. For the continental United States (CONUS), the applicable per diem rate is the standard CONUS rate. 41 CFR 302-5.102. The standard CONUS rate at the time claimant transferred was $80, composed of $50 for lodging and $30 for meals and incidental expenses. 41 CFR Chapter 301, Appendix A. Claimant argues: I was not aware that [the maximum reimbursement] included meals and other allowable expenses. Several conversations took place with the [agency s] staff that was supposed to advise me, [and] I was never informed that by choosing the actual expenses incurred that Temporary Quarters included all expenses incurred by me. In reading the SUBSISTENCE WHILE IN TEMPORARY QUARTERS, I feel that the information is very misleading. At one point, it states that actual subsistence expenses incurred incident to the occupancy of temporary quarters that are reasonable as to amount. It goes on to state that Reimbursement for temporary quarters is based on actual expense incurred, not to exceed the following maximum daily allowances. In my opinion they are talking about two different expenses; one, my temporary quarters (where I sleep) and the other is my daily expenses, i.e., food, phone, laundry, etc. Claimant is entitled only to the reimbursement granted by statute and as implemented by regulation. Claimant is charged with knowledge of the FTR. Joseph Viggiano, GSBCA 14976-RELO (Sept. 22, 1999). The FTR is clear that under the actual TQSE reimbursement method, the maximum daily amount applies to expenses and is not limited to lodging expenses. The FTR, moreover, explains in some detail that the per diem rate includes amounts for both lodging and meals and incidental expenses. Claimant s travel authorization was to the same effect; the authorization stated that the total daily rate was $80 for the first thirty days of TQSE and $60 for days after the initial thirty day period. The agency handbook is not inconsistent with the plain meaning of the FTR. The claimant correctly notes that, at one point (the first paragraph of the handbook that we quote above), the handbook uses the terms TQSE and temporary quarters interchangeably. The handbook also states, however, that reimbursement is based on the actual expenses incurred, not to exceed the maximum for the 30-day (or less) period of temporary quarters. In adding the phrase for temporary quarters between reimbursement" and is based, claimant misquotes that portion of the handbook so that it seemingly advises that the maximum rate applies to temporary quarters only instead of to lodging and meals and incidental expenses. Of course, if the text is considered without the phrase claimant inserts, the advice in the handbook is consistent with the language of the FTR. Even if the agency had provided erroneous advice as to the maximum reimbursement available for TQSE, the agency would not be bound by that advice. Cheryl A. Korman, GSBCA 14916-RELO, 99-2 BCA 30,419. It follows that claimant s misinterpretation of statements in the agency s handbook does not enlarge her entitlement granted by the FTR. The agency properly applied the FTR in determining claimant s TQSE entitlement. The Board denies the claim. ______________________________ ANTHONY S. BORWICK Board Judge