Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _____________________ April 14, 1998 _____________________ GSBCA 14259-RELO In the Matter of CHRISTINE M. TURNER Christine M. Turner, Marina, CA, Claimant. Judy Hughes, Travel Policy, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Columbus Center, Columbus, OH, appearing for Department of Defense. PARKER, Board Judge. In June 1996, Ms. Christine Turner, a civilian employee of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) in Orlando, Florida, was recalled to active duty for eighty-four days in Monterey, California. While in Monterey, Ms. Turner applied for a one-year tour of active duty there to begin on October 1, 1996. She also applied for a civilian position in the Department of Defense in Monterey in case the request for a year of active duty was denied. On August 13, expecting her request for active duty to be approved, Ms. Turner signed a lease for a furnished house in Monterey. The lease was to begin on October 1 and continue until August 23, 1997, a term of almost eleven months. On September 30, at the completion of her temporary active duty assignment, Ms. Turner still had not heard anything concerning her request for active duty or the civilian job for which she had applied. She returned to her permanent duty station in Orlando, performing both civilian and military duties in connection with Operation Mongoose, including periods of temporary duty (TDY) in Monterey. In November, Ms. Turner was selected for the civilian position for which she had applied. Ms. Turner ended up occupying the leased house from the beginning of October (during her TDY) until April 1997, when she moved to a home in Marina, California and had her household goods brought from storage in Orlando. Ms. Turner's permanent change of station orders authorized temporary quarters and subsistence expenses (TQSE) for a period of 120 days. However, DFAS rejected Ms. Turner's claim for TQSE because it considered the house in Monterey to have been permanent, rather than temporary, quarters. Ms. Turner has appealed that decision to the Board. Discussion The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) provides that an employee for whom a permanent change of station is authorized or approved shall be allowed subsistence expenses for the employee and the employee's immediate family for a period of up to 120 days when occupancy of temporary quarters is determined to be necessary. Section 302-5.2(c) of the regulation defines "temporary quarters" as follows: Generally, the term temporary quarters refers to lodging obtained from private or commercial sources for the purpose of temporary occupancy after vacating the residence occupied when the transfer was authorized. However, the occupancy of temporary quarters that eventually become the employee's permanent residence shall not prevent payment of the temporary quarters allowance if, in the agency's judgment, the employee shows satisfactorily that the quarters occupied were intended initially to be only temporary. In making this determination, the agency should consider factors such as the duration of the lease, movement of household effects into the quarters, type of quarters, expressions of intent, attempts to secure a permanent dwelling, and the length of time the employee occupies the quarters. 41 CFR 302-5.2(c) (1996). The temporary quarters allowance is intended to ease the transition from one duty station to another by allowing an employee to rent temporary quarters while attempting to secure a permanent place to live. Janet L. Hughes, GSBCA 13731-RELO, 97-1 BCA 28,691. We agree with DFAS that, on balance, the record weighs in favor of a determination that Ms. Turner intended that the leased house in Monterey would serve as permanent, rather than temporary, quarters. At the time she signed the lease for the house, Ms. Turner was expecting a one-year assignment in Monterey, to begin on October 1, 1996. She signed a lease which would begin on October 1 and run through August 23, a period of almost eleven months. Certainly at this point in time Ms. Turner did not consider the house to be temporary quarters. When Ms. Turner's one-year assignment did not come through by October 1, she moved back to Orlando but continued to use the home for lodging on TDY assignments during October and November. In November, Ms. Turner was selected for a civilian position in Monterey. She continued to live in the house until April. None of these events indicates that Ms. Turner at any time considered the leased house to be temporary quarters. The fact that the leased house was furnished, and that Ms. Turner never moved her household goods into the house, although curious and somewhat inconsistent with the notion of permanent quarters, cannot outweigh Ms. Turner's otherwise clear intent to treat the house in Monterey as her permanent residence while working in California. Decision The claim is denied. ______________________ ROBERT W. PARKER Board Judge