Board of Contract Appeals
                 General Services Administration
                      Washington, D.C. 20405




                          ______________

                          June 15, 2005
                          ______________


                   GSBCA 16571-TRAV, 16579-TRAV


     In the Matters of DOUGLAS E. HICKEY and RONALD A. BELICA


     Douglas E. Hickey, Havre de Grace, MD, Claimant in GSBCA 16571-TRAV.

     Lawrence Berger, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Garden City, NY,
appearing for Claimant in GSBCA 16579-TRAV.

     G. Thomas Carter, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland
Security, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of Homeland Security.

GOODMAN, Board Judge.

     Claimants are Federal Air Marshals (FAM) employed by the Federal Air Marshal 
Service (FAMS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  They have
asked this Board to review the agency's denial of reimbursement of mileage charges incurred
while on duty. 
                                 
     The official duty station of both claimants is the FAM Washington Field Office in
Fairfax County, Virginia.  They regularly travel from their residences directly to three
airports - Washington Dulles International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, and
Baltimore Washington International (the three airports) - to fly missions.  The driving
distances between claimants' residences and the three airports are less than the driving
distances between their residences and their field office.

     Both cases involve only the issue of reimbursement of mileage charges when the
claimants travel from their residences directly to the three airports for missions scheduled for
less than twelve hours.  Claimants submitted vouchers for reimbursement for mileage and
DHS initially reimbursed the amounts requested as local travel expenses.  DHS subsequently
determined that reimbursement under these circumstances was not authorized by regulation,
and now seeks to collect from claimants the reimbursed amounts as a debt owed.  Claimants
ask this Board to review the agency's determination.
 [Foot # 1 ] 
                                
          ****************** Footnote Begin **********
[Foot # 1 ]         Claimant in GSBCA 16571 requests the Board to also decide whether he
is entitled to reimbursement of per diem expenses.  The only agency determination in the
record is the Government's demand for repayment of mileage charges in a specific dollar
amount.  No amounts for denial of per diem expenses are included, nor has any
information been submitted as to the circumstances under which per diem expenses were
allegedly denied.  We consequently do not consider this matter.
          ****************** Footnote End ************
                                
                           Discussion 
                                
     Claimants are subject to travel regulations contained in Transportation Security
Agency (TSA) Financial Management Policy Letter No. FM-108, "Interim Policy and
Procedures on Reimbursement for Local Travel and Expenditures on Official Business"
(TSA FM-108), and its implementing guidance, ADM 1510, "Federal Air Marshal Service
Local Travel and Temporary Travel Rules." 
 [Foot # 2 ] 

****************** Footnote Begin **********
[Foot # 2 ]         These regulations were issued when the FAMS was a component of the
TSA. In January 2003, TSA was transferred from the Department of Transportation to the
DHS.   In November 2003, the Secretary of DHS issued Delegation of Authority No. 7060.2
to the TSA Administrator which separated FAMS from TSA and stated that any "regulations
and policies issued before November 2, 2003 pertaining to the FAM program [shall]
continue in effect until superceded, rescinded, or amended by competent authority."
****************** Footnote End ************

     TSA employees are not entitled to reimbursement for any local travel or miscellaneous
expenses.  Employees may be authorized reimbursement for local travel, but any
reimbursement of these expenses is at the discretion of management and the employee must
have pre-approval before incurring the expense.  TSA FM-108   2.  Local travel is defined
as "as travel to conduct official government business within a 50-mile radius of an
employee's official duty station, and/or within 50 miles of the employee's residence."  Local
travel reimbursement is intended to cover the employee's out of pocket costs in excess of
normal commuting expenses.  Id.   3.
      
     ADM 1510 defines a FAM's field office as the official duty station and also states that
"airports or other sites located within 50-mile radius of the field office are considered within
the FAM's official duty station, and are normally covered under local travel rules."  Local
travel is defined as "authorized travel within a 50-mile radius of the physical location of the
field office.  This includes FAM missions originating at any airport within the 50-mile radius
with less than 12 hours of travel time."  Temporary duty travel is "authorized travel outside
the 50-mile radius of the field office.  This includes FAM missions originating at an airport
outside of the 50-mile radius or for FAM missions originating at an airport within the 50-mile
radius involving overnight travel or travel longer than 12 hours."  A list of field offices and
airports within and outside a fifty-mile radius of each is included.  The three airports are
specified as within a fifty-mile radius of the Washington Field Office.

     ADM 1510 states further that:

     [u]nder certain circumstances, mileage, tolls and parking costs for the use of
     a personal owned vehicle (POV) can be claimed for authorized local travel. 
     For local travel starting and ending at the FAM's field office, the actual
     mileage and tolls can be claimed.  For local travel starting and ending at the
     FAM's residence, mileage must be prorated to back out the normal cost of
     travel between the FAM's residence and the field office.

     ADM 1510 also contains a section entitled "Frequently Asked Questions" which
illustrates hypothetical examples of FAMs traveling between their residences and airports
located within and outside a fifty-mile radius of their field offices.  Each example contains
an explanation as to whether rules for local travel or temporary duty travel apply and whether
the specific expenses are reimbursed.  The facts of examples 1 and 7 are directly applicable
to the instant cases.  In both examples, a FAM travels from his residence to an airport within
a fifty-mile radius of his field office, the driving distance from his residence to the airport is
less than the driving distance from his residence to his field office, and the mission scheduled
is for less than twelve hours of flight time.  According to these examples, local travel rules
apply, and the FAM is not entitled to mileage.
 [Foot # 3 ] 

****************** Footnote Begin **********
[Foot # 3 ]         Claimant in GSBCA 16579-TRAV asserts that whenever a FAM travels to
an airport and flies a mission, he is obviously on temporary duty travel and is therefore
entitled to mileage reimbursement.  This assertion is contrary to the definition of local travel
in TSA FM-108 and ADM 1510 and inconsistent with examples 1 and 7 of ADM 1510.
****************** Footnote End ************

     We find that claimants are not entitled to reimbursement for mileage charges that they
submitted.  It is clear from the applicable regulations that claimants are performing local
travel when they travel directly from their residences to the three airports for missions
scheduled for twelve hours or less.  They are therefore only entitled to out-of-pocket costs
which exceed their normal commuting expenses.  For local travel starting and ending at a
FAM's residence, excess costs are those which exceed the normal cost of travel between the
FAM's residence and the field office.  Because the driving distances between the claimants'
residences and any of the three airports is less than the driving distances between their
residences and their field office, claimants do not incur any mileage costs in excess of their
normal commuting mileage expenses when driving from their residences to the three airports.
They therefore are not entitled to reimbursement of mileage charges incurred under these
circumstances.

                             Decision

     The claims are denied.



                                   __________________________________
                                   ALLAN H. GOODMAN
                                   Board Judge