Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 __________________ June 5, 2000 __________________ GSBCA 15304-TRAV In the Matter of MANUEL F. CASIANO Manuel F. Casiano, Oklahoma City, OK, Claimant. Charles N. Stockwell, Travel Branch, Directorate of Travel and Vendor Pay, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Denver, CO, appearing for Department of Defense. DeGRAFF, Board Judge. Applicable regulations require a civilian employee of the Department of the Air Force to use a commercial travel office under contract with the Government, an in-house travel office, or a travel management center to make travel arrangements. Although there are exceptions to this requirement, if none of the exceptions applies the employee is responsible for the additional cost that results from using an unauthorized travel agent or travel management system. Background On December 10, 1999, the Department of the Air Force issued travel orders that authorized Manuel F. Casiano to travel from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma to South Bend, Indiana. The orders provided that Mr. Casiano was supposed to travel by commercial air carrier at an estimated cost of $209. The orders stated in Item B.9, Traveler is authorized to use their [privately owned conveyance (POC)] or to procure commercial transportation as not more advantageous to the government. The lowest round trip government transportation request (GTR) is $ ________. No dollar amount was inserted in the blank. Although there was no contract carrier providing airline service between Oklahoma City and South Bend, there was a commercial travel office (CTO), N&N Travel, with a contract to provide travel services to Government employees at Tinker Air Force Base. When Mr. Casiano contacted N&N Travel, they told him that a round trip airline ticket between Oklahoma City and South Bend would cost $307. Mr. Casiano had a voucher from American Airlines worth $68.95, but N&N Travel said that it could not accept the voucher. Mr. Casiano then contacted American Airlines, which quoted him a fare of $278.05. Mr. Casiano purchased a ticket directly from American Airlines for $209.10, the quoted fare less the value of his voucher. Mr. Casiano and the official who signed his travel orders state that they were trying to save the Government money by allowing him to purchase his ticket directly from the airline. According to Mr. Casiano, they believed that Item B.9 of his travel orders authorized him to purchase commercial transportation without using N&N Travel. Mr. Casiano used the ticket that he purchased from American Airlines to travel to Indiana on December 14, and back to Oklahoma on December 19, 1999. When he asked to be reimbursed for the cost of his trip, the Air Force decided not to reimburse him for the $209.10 that he spent for his airline ticket, because he purchased the ticket from American Airlines and not from N&N Travel. Mr. Casiano asks us to review the Air Force s decision. Discussion The Air Force based its decision upon Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) C2001-A2 (Aug. 1, 1999) and C2207 (Nov. 1, 1999), which apply to civilian employees of the Department of Defense. JTR C2001-A2 is not relevant to deciding Mr. Casiano's claim because it addresses the use of contract air carrier service and no contract air carrier service was available to Mr. Casiano. JTR C2207 states that when making travel arrangements, Mr. Casiano was required to use a contract CTO, an in-house travel office, or a General Services Administration Travel Management Center (TMC). Although the regulation sets out some exceptions to this requirement, none applies to Mr. Casiano's situation. If Mr. Casiano and the official who signed his travel orders believed that Item B.9 authorized him to purchase commercial transportation without using N&N Travel, they were mistaken. Even if Item B.9 had been written clearly, which it was not, it could not have exempted Mr. Casiano from the requirements of the regulation. Although JTR C2207 required Mr. Casiano to use the contract CTO to make his travel arrangements, it does not explain how his failure to do so should affect the amount that he is reimbursed. The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), which applies to all civilian employees, including Department of Defense employees, provides the guidance that we need in order to resolve Mr. Casiano's claim. The FTR does not make an employee liable for the entire cost of an airline ticket if the employee purchases the ticket from an unauthorized travel agent or travel management system. Instead, the FTR limits the employee's liability to "any additional costs" that result. 41 CFR 301-50.2 (1999). No additional costs resulted from Mr. Casiano's actions because the cost of the ticket that he purchased from American Airlines was $209.10 and the cost of a ticket from N&N Travel would have been $307. Because the FTR limits Mr. Casiano's liability to additional costs and there were no such costs, the Air Force should reimburse him for the $209.10 that he paid for his ticket. __________________________________ MARTHA H. DeGRAFF Board Judge