Board of Contract Appeals

                 General Services Administration

                      Washington, D.C. 20405







                                                 



                          April 11, 2003

                                                 





                         GSBCA 16054-RELO





                   In the Matter of LARRY MONEY





     Larry Money, White Plains, MD, Claimant.



     Vickie Smith, Supervisor, Travel Team, Bureau of Land Management National

Business Center, Denver, CO, appearing for Department of the Interior.



DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).



     The claimant and the agency relocation coordinator disagree as to which agency

official may approve an extension of time in which a transferred employee may engage in

real estate transactions whose costs are reimbursed by the agency.  The claimant's reading

of the agency manual is correct, but his expectation of additional time in which to engage in

the transactions is not.



                            Background



     On March 21, 2000, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) authorized Larry

Money, a computer specialist, to transfer from Lakewood, Colorado, to Washington, D.C. 

Mr. Money began work in the Office of the Chief Information Officer in Washington on

April 23, 2000.



     As an employee transferred in the interest of the Government, Mr. Money was

entitled, subject to regulatory constraints, to reimbursement of the costs he might incur in

selling his residence in Colorado and buying a residence in the Washington area.  5 U.S.C. 

 5724a(d) (2000).  BLM also permitted him to use the services of a relocation services

contractor in making these real estate transactions, instead of selling and buying on his own. 

See id.   5724a(d)(8); 41 CFR 302-12.102 (2000).  Under the Federal Travel Regulation

(FTR), the Government is obligated to pay for the expenses of these transactions only if

settlement occurs "not later than 2 years after the date that the employee reported for duty at

the new official station."  41 CFR 302-6.1(e)(1).  The FTR also states, "Upon an employee's

written request, the 2-year time limitation for completion of the sale and purchase . . .

transactions may be extended by the head of the agency or his/her designee for an additional

period of time not to exceed 1 year."  Id. 302-6.1(e)(2).

 [Foot # 1 ] 

     

****************** Footnote Begin **********

[Foot # 1 ]       For employees who reported for duty at a new official station on or after

February 19, 2002, the agency may extend the two-year limitation for up to two additional

years.  41 CFR 302-11.22 (2002).

****************** Footnote End ************



 After Mr. Money moved to Washington, his wife required considerable medical attention. 

Mr. Money says that he spent much time he might otherwise have devoted to selling and

buying residences caring for his wife.  In February 2002, he asked BLM's relocation

coordinator which agency official had been designated to consider requests for an extension

of time in which to sell and buy residences and have transaction expenses paid by the

Government.  The coordinator informed him that the appropriate official was the Assistant

Director of Business and Fiscal Resources (WO-800), who was then Robert Doyle.  Mr.

Money asked Mr. Doyle for a one-year extension of time in which to use the services of a

relocation services contractor.  On April 3, 2002, Mr. Doyle granted a thirty-day extension.



     By the time the extension was granted, Mr. Money had soured on the help provided

by the relocation services contractor.  He wished to sell his old residence and buy a new one

on his own, and he wanted sufficient time in which to do so.  He also began to question

whether Mr. Doyle was really the appropriate official to pass on requests for extensions of

time, so he read for himself the Bureau of Land Management Change of Station Handbook:

A Guide for the Use of Transferees.  According to this handbook, as to residence

transactions, "The State Director of the gaining office may authorize an extension of time,

not to exceed one additional year."  BLM Manual Suppl. H-1382-1, ch. X,   A (July 1, 1998).



     After reading this provision, Mr. Money concluded that BLM's Chief Information

Officer (WO-500)   the man for whom Mr. Money worked   was the appropriate official for

authorizing an extension of time of eligibility for receipt of reimbursement of real estate

transaction expenses.  On April 25, 2002, Mr. Money asked the then-Chief Information

Officer, Hord Tipton, for a one-year extension.  On May 16, 2002, Mr. Tipton granted this

request.



     BLM's relocation coordinator, speaking for the agency, does not recognize Mr.

Tipton's approval as binding.  She believes that because Mr. Money's move was funded by

Bureau-wide funds, which are controlled by the Office of Business and Fiscal Resources, the

approving authority is held by the head of that office   then Mr. Doyle.



     Mr. Money originally believed that because Mr. Doyle granted a one-month extension

of the two-year period of eligibility for reimbursement, and Mr. Tipton granted a one-year

extension, he might sell and buy residences until three years and one month after his arrival

in Washington   until May 24, 2003.  Mr. Money now says that because determining whether

Mr. Tipton's approval was valid has consumed so much time, the Board should extend the

deadline for eligibility for reimbursement until one year after the date of our decision.  The

relocation coordinator believes that because Mr. Doyle's action was the only valid approval,

Mr. Money's eligibility for reimbursement expired on the date two years and one month after

his arrival in Washington   on May 23, 2002.



                            Discussion



     The relocation coordinator believes that the BLM official who controls relocation

funds also has the authority to approve requests for extensions of time in which a transferred

employee may be eligible for reimbursement of real estate transaction expenses.  This

assignment of responsibility is perfectly reasonable, so it is one which BLM could sensibly

have made.  There is only one problem with the coordinator's insistence that the official with

the funds also has the authority to approve these extensions: it is not the assignment which

the agency has made.



     The FTR leaves to the head of each agency the right to designate which official will

have the power to extend the eligibility period.  The BLM Change of Station Handbook   the

only agency document which either the claimant or the agency has cited to us   clearly states

that this authority has been designated to "[t]he State Director of the gaining office." 

Because Mr. Money works in a part of the agency which has no State Director, it is necessary

to determine which official is analogous to a State Director for the purpose of exercising this

authority.  



     As to Mr. Money, that official cannot be anyone, such as Mr. Doyle, associated with

the Office of Business and Fiscal Resources (WO-800), for Mr. Money does not work in that

office.  As the claimant points out, the Change of Station Handbook specifically gives the

"Deputy Director (WO-800)" the power to consider and approve requests for extensions of

time for another purpose   eligibility for temporary quarters subsistence expenses in excess

of sixty days.  BLM Manual Suppl. H-1382-1, ch. V,    F, G.  If an individual within WO-800

were to be given the power to consider and approve requests for extensions of time for

eligibility for reimbursement of real estate transaction expenses, that could have been done,

too   but it was not.  Further, in issuing Instruction Memorandum No. 2001-046 on

December 7, 2000, to "clarif[y] which organization grants approvals for relocation extensions

and expenses," BLM did not specify that WO-800 had any responsibility as to real estate

transaction expenses.  Also as Mr. Money observes, the fact that Bureau-wide funds were

used for his relocation is unremarkable: these funds are used for the relocation of all BLM

employees who are, like him, above a certain pay grade.  This fact cannot serve to amend the

designations reflected in the Change of Station Handbook.



     We agree with Mr. Money that the only reasonable interpretation of the Handbook's

statement of designation of which official may extend the period of eligibility for

reimbursement of real estate transaction expenses is that where a gaining office has no State

Director, the designated official is the head of the gaining office itself.  That person, as to

Mr. Money, was the Chief Information Officer, Mr. Tipton.  Thus, Mr. Tipton's grant of an

extension of time of eligibility was valid.  Contrary to the relocation coordinator's belief, Mr.

Doyle's grant was not valid because he did not have any authority to approve the request of

Mr. Money, who did not work in his office.



     Although the claimant has correctly understood who may extend the period of his

eligibility, he is unduly optimistic as to the duration of that period, as extended.  The FTR

does not allow an extension to last longer than one year from the date two years after the

employee reported for duty at the new official station.  Thus, if an employee wishes to be

reimbursed for expenses he incurs in selling his residence at his old station and/or buying a

home at his new station, he must complete those transactions within three years of reporting

for duty at the new station, even if the maximum extension is allowed by the agency.  The

Board has no authority to violate this rule by tolling the running of time while approval of

a request for an extension is in dispute.  Stephanie P. Riddle, GSBCA 15027-RELO, 99-2

BCA   30,533.  Mr. Money's period of eligibility, as extended by Mr. Tipton, expires on April

23, 2003.











                              _________________________

                              STEPHEN M. DANIELS 

                              Board Judge