Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
            _______________________________________________
 
                           February 29, 2000
            _______________________________________________
 
 
                            GSBCA 15198-RELO
 
 
                     In the Matter of JON M. RUSSO
 
 
        Jon M. Russo, Burlington Township, NJ, Claimant.
 
        Capt.  Sloan  M.  Pye,   Assistant  Staff  Judge   Advocate,
   Department  of  the Air  Force,  McGuire AFB,  NJ,  appearing for
   Department of the Air Force.
 
   BORWICK, Board Judge.
 
        Claimant,  John M.  Russo,  a  civilian  employee  with  the
   Department  of  the  Air Force,  was  permanently  transferred to
   McGuire Air  Force Base  (AFB), New Jersey.   In  connection with
   that  transfer, he purchased  a house in  Burlington, New Jersey,
   and  sought reimbursement  of  real estate  transaction expenses.
   The  agency denied claimant reimbursement of the loan application
   fee and that part of the premium for the mortgage title insurance
   policy representing the owner's title  insurance, concluding that
   the  Joint Travel Regulations  (JTR) made reimbursement  of those
   expenses  unallowable.   Claimant  filed a  claim  at this  Board
   contesting the agency's  conclusion.  For  the reasons below,  we
   sustain the decision of the agency.  
 
        Claimant  sought reimbursement of the mortgage lender's loan
   application fee of $171.  The agency denied reimbursement because
   the  mortgage was not a Department  of Veterans Affairs (VA) or a
   Federal Housing  Administration  (FHA) mortgage.    Claimant  was
   reimbursed the mortgage lender's origination fee of $267.37.  
 
        Claimant  also sought  reimbursement  of  a title  insurance
   premium  of $1367.    The agency  investigated  this expense  and
   established  that  $699 of  that  amount  was  for owner's  title
   insurance  and $668  was for  lender's title  insurance.   In New
   Jersey,  the  two  premiums  are  separable.    As  explained  by
   claimant's mortgage lender,  the owner's title insurance  in this
   case was for a title insurance policy that protected the buyer of
   the  home from any prior liens  or judgments having been filed on
   the property.   Claimant's mortgage  lender did not require  as a
   condition of  the loan  that claimant  purchase owner's  mortgage
   insurance.  Instead, the mortgage lender required that the lender
   obtain  "lender's  title  insurance  to  confirm  that  the  loan
   property is free and clear of unacceptable unauthorized liens and
   encumbrances  and to  insure  the validity  and  priority of  our
   lien."
 
 
        The  JTR    provide that  the  term  "reimbursable expenses"
   includes "FHA  or VA fee  for a loan  application."   JTR C14002-
   A.4.a.(1).   Claimant  says  that  his mortgage  was  a "Cost  of
   Savings Index (COSI) loan" and  that "[t]his is a Federal lending
   program."  Claimant does not identify the federal agency involved
   in  administering what  seems on  its face  to be  a conventional
   adjustable  rate mortgage.    Regardless,  the  JTR  only  allows
   reimbursement  of   FHA  or   VA  loan   application  fees,   not
   reimbursement of application fees for other loans.
 
        The  cost  of the  owner's  title  insurance policy  may  be
   reimbursed provided it is a prerequisite to financing or the cost
   of the  owner's title insurance  is inseparable from the  cost of
   the other  insurance that  is a prerequisite  to financing.   JTR
   14002-A.4.a(9).    Here,  the agency  has  demonstrated  that the
   owner's mortgage insurance was not a prerequisite for financing--
   only  the lender's  title insurance  was.   The  premium for  the
   owner's mortgage insurance was separable from the premium for the
   lender's title  insurance.  That being the case, reimbursement of
   owner's  title insurance is specifically prohibited by JTR 14002-
   A.4.b(1).  The agency paid  that portion of the premium allocable
   to the lender's title insurance.  As the agency correctly applied
   the JTR in  this matter, the Board  sustains the decision of  the
   agency.  
 
 
 
                                      __________________________
                                      ANTHONY S. BORWICK
                                      Board Judge