Board of Contract Appeals

                 General Services Administration

                      Washington, D.C. 20405









                         ________________



                          April 27, 2004

                         ________________





                         GSBCA 16331-TRAV





                 In the Matter of VICTORIA DAVIS





     Victoria Davis, Atlanta, GA, Claimant.



     Christopher P. Jensen, Chief, Division of Financial Management, Fish and Wildlife

Service, Department of the Interior, Arlington, VA, appearing for Department of the Interior.



GOODMAN, Board Judge.



     Claimant, Victoria Davis, is an employee of the Department of the Interior.  She has

requested that this Board review the agency's denial of reimbursement of certain costs

incurred during temporary duty (TDY) travel.



                       Factual Background



     Claimant was on TDY travel in June 2003 in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to initiating

travel, she requested and was denied authorization for a rental car.  She submitted a request

for reimbursement of travel costs for taxi and subway fares in the amount of $68.90. 

Claimant used these means of transportation to get to the restaurants where she obtained

meals.  Claimant states that she could eat in proximity to her TDY site only at fast food or

ethnic restaurants, neither of which provided her normal diet.  The agency denied

reimbursement, stating that claimant did not sufficiently justify that she could not obtain

meals in close proximity to the TDY site.



                            Discussion



     The governing Federal Travel Regulation provision in effect at the time of claimant's

travel stated: 



     When may I use a local transit system? . . . 



     To places where meals can be obtained.  Where the nature and location of the

     work at your TDY station are such that meals cannot be obtained there, travel

     to obtain meals at the nearest available place is an allowable expense.  You

     must, however, attach a statement to your travel voucher explaining why such

     travel was necessary.



41 CFR 301-10.190(b) (2002).

 

     The claimant's statement as to the availability of meals at her TDY site does not

demonstrate that "meals cannot be obtained there."  Rather, it showed that she preferred to

eat elsewhere.  Consequently, the necessary prerequisite for agency responsibility for the cost

of transportation to the "nearest available place" for meals has not been met.  David Wheeler,

GSBCA 14842-TRAV, 99-1 BCA   30,290.



                            Decision

 

     The claim is denied.









                                   __________________________________

                                   ALLAN H. GOODMAN

                                   Board Judge