Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 September 7, 2000 GSBCA 15355-RELO In the Matter of CHARLES P. COOLURIS Charles P. Cooluris, FPO Area Pacific, Claimant. C. Sablan, Director, Outbound Division, Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, San Diego, CA, appearing for Department of the Navy. DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman). During the fall of 1998, the Department of the Navy transferred Charles P. Cooluris from California to Japan. The Navy told Mr. Cooluris that it would pay the costs he might incur in storing his privately-owned vehicle in a commercial facility while he was overseas. The employee put his vehicle in such a facility, but when he asked the agency to reimburse him for storage expenses, payment was refused. Agency officials realized that no legal authority allowed them to reimburse the employee for the costs. To remedy their error, they asked this Board to settle Mr. Cooluris's claim in his favor. Only last spring, we decided a case virtually identical to this one -- also involving a Department of the Navy Fleet and Industrial Supply Center. We denied the claim, explaining that repayment of the vehicle storage costs is not authorized by statute or regulation. We also held that the agency's having misled the employee into believing that payment would be forthcoming cannot affect the outcome of the case. We refer the reader to that decision, Teresa M. Erickson, GSBCA 15210-RELO, 00-1 BCA 30,900, for a full exposition of our reasoning. We deny this claim. We also recommend to the Navy that it provide better guidance to Fleet and Industrial Supply Center officials as to the relocation benefits which may be provided to transferring employees, so that in the future, employees will not be misled as Mr. Cooluris and Ms. Erickson were. _________________________ STEPHEN M. DANIELS Board Judge