Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _______________________ July 9, 1999 _______________________ GSBCA 15028-RELO In the Matter of CARRIE L. McWILLIAMS Carrie L. McWilliams, St. Thomas, VI, Claimant. Ronald L. Page, Manager, Management Programs Division, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of Transportation. DeGRAFF, Board Judge. In late 1996, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) transferred Carrie L. McWilliams from San Francisco, California to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. In connection with the transfer, the FAA authorized Ms. McWilliams to transport two privately owned vehicles to St. Thomas because her husband, Keith McWilliams, who was also employed by the FAA, was accompanying her to St. Thomas and they would need two vehicles because they would be working different shifts. The FAA pays to transport employees vehicles to St. Thomas because it has found that public transportation there is not dependable. According to Ms. McWilliams s travel authorization, she was supposed to leave for St. Thomas in early July 1997. In a memorandum dated February 23, 1999, the FAA states that her transfer was effective June 30, 1997. In her claims, Ms. McWilliams lists her period of travel as June 23, 1997. We conclude that Ms. McWilliams arrived in St. Thomas in late June or early July 1997. In December 1997, Ms. McWilliams submitted a claim to the FAA and asked to be reimbursed for the expense her husband incurred when he rented a car in St. Thomas from June 7 - 14, 1997. According to the explanation that Ms. McWilliams submitted in support of her claim, Mr. McWilliams rented the car to commute to work at the FAA facility. He needed to rent a car because a vehicle registered to him was supposed to arrive in St. Thomas on June 1, but was misplaced by the carrier and arrived on June 17, 1997. The FAA denied Ms. McWilliams s claim because it found no basis in either the Federal Travel Regulation or any FAA regulation for reimbursing her for the cost of the rental car. In January 1999, Ms. McWilliams resubmitted her claim for the expense of the rental car on June 7 - 14, 1997, and also submitted a new claim asking to be reimbursed for the expense that Mr. McWilliams incurred when he rented a car in St. Thomas on May 13 - 21, 1997. gMs. McWilliams s explanation as to why her husband rented the cars was the same as her earlier explanation, and the FAA denied these claims upon the same basis that it denied the earlier claim. Ms. McWilliams asks us to review the FAA s decision to deny her claims. It appears that Mr. McWilliams arrived in St. Thomas before Ms. McWilliams, and that he alone used the rental cars to commute to work. If this is the case, the FAA reached the correct result. Although agencies are permitted by statute and implementing regulations to reimburse transferred employees for relocation expenses, neither the statute nor the regulations permit an agency to reimburse an employee for commuting expenses incurred by a spouse at the employee s new duty station. 5 U.S.C. 5724, 5724a (Supp. II 1996); 41 CFR pt. 302 (1997). Even if Ms. McWilliams was in St. Thomas before June 14, 1997, and used the rental cars to commute to work, the FAA reached the correct result. Agencies cannot reimburse a relocated employee for local transportation expenses as part of the employee s temporary quarters subsistence expenses. 41 CFR 302-5.18; Ed Gonzalez, GSBCA 14602-RELO, 98-2 BCA 30,041; Thomas S. Ward, GSBCA 13825-RELO, 97-1 BCA 28,955. Although agencies can reimburse employees for transportation expenses if they perform official business travel, 41 CFR pt. 301, an employee s usual commute between work and home does not constitute official business travel. John P. DeLeo, GSBCA 14042- TRAV, 97-2 BCA 29,156; Freddie G. Fenton, GSBCA 13638-TRAV, 97- 1 BCA 28,712 (1996). As the General Accounting Office explained, [E]mployees are expected to get to and from their posts of duty on their own time and at their own expense. Guenther Moehrke, B-252142 (July 6, 1993). Although it is unfortunate that Mr. McWilliams s car arrived later than it should have, this does not provide any legal basis for reimbursing Ms. McWilliams for the expense of renting cars to commute to work. The FAA correctly decided to deny the claims. _________________________________ MARTHA H. DeGRAFF Board Judge