Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _____________________________ July 25, 2000 _____________________________ GSBCA 15347-TRAV In the Matter of CAROLINE S. JACKMAN Caroline S. Jackman, Antelope, CA, Claimant. Ray E. York, Chief, Finance Systems and Procedures Division, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Indianapolis, IN, appearing for Department of Defense. DeGRAFF, Board Judge. Caroline S. Jackman is the primary next of kin of a serviceman who was either a prisoner of war or missing in action in Southeast Asia. In June 1998, Ms. Jackman and her daughter traveled from California to Virginia in order to attend the 29th Annual National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia conference. Two April 1998 memoranda signed by the Secretary of Defense and the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense explained that the Department of Defense (DoD) would provide two family members of each missing American serviceman with round-trip commercial air transportation to attend the conference.[foot #] 1 The Secretary s memorandum explained the importance of the briefings given to family members at the conference, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary s memorandum explained the procedures that the family members were supposed to use to obtain their airline tickets. Ms. Jackman purchased her tickets in March 1998, one month before the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary issued their memoranda, and she did not utilize the procedures set out in the Deputy Assistant Secretary s memorandum. ----------- FOOTNOTE BEGINS --------- [foot #] 1 These memoranda were issued in accordance with legislation which authorizes DoD to provide transportation for the next of kin of individuals who have been prisoners of war or who are missing in action from the Vietnam era, to an annual meeting in the United States. Pub. L. No. 105-56, 8018, 111 Stat. 1203, 1224 (1997). ----------- FOOTNOTE ENDS ----------- In March 1999, Ms. Jackman asked the Department of Defense (DoD) to reimburse her for her airfare. In June 2000, DoD asked us whether we would agree that the claim should not be paid. DoD believes that the claim should not be paid because Ms. Jackman did not follow the procedures contained in the Deputy Assistant Secretary s April 1998 memorandum when she obtained her tickets in March 1998. DoD also points out that certain provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations might also support its decision to deny Ms. Jackman s request for reimbursement. We lack the authority to resolve Ms. Jackman s claim. By statute, we can only resolve claims involving expenses incurred by federal civilian employees for official travel and transportation, and for relocation expenses incident to transfers of official duty stations. 31 U.S.C. 3702(a)(3) (Supp. IV 1998). Ms. Jackman s request for reimbursement is not such a claim, and so we cannot resolve it. We would like to point out, however, that because Ms. Jackman s claim is not one for an expense incurred by a federal civilian employee for official travel, the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations have no bearing upon her claim for reimbursement. Instead, whatever procedures are in place for reimbursing those who attend the annual conference should be used in order to resolve the claim. Within DoD, there is a Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, and that office is responsible for coordinating the transportation of families to the annual conference that Ms. Jackman and her daughter attended. We will send a copy of our file to that office, in the hope that it can help Ms. Jackman obtain whatever reimbursement is due. __________________________________ MARTHA H. DeGRAFF Board Judge