Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
 
                            _______________
 
                             March 31, 1998
                            _______________
 
 
                            GSBCA 14392-RELO
 
 
                    In the Matter of NANCY J. SCHEID
 
 
        Nancy J. Scheid, Montrose, CO, Claimant.
 
        Roland  V. Erickson, Fiscal Accounting Manager, Western Area
   Power  Administration,  Golden, CO,  appearing for  Department of
   Energy.
 
   NEILL, Board Judge.
 
        Claimant, Ms. Nancy J. Scheid, an employee of the Department
   of Energy (DOE), has appealed a ruling by her agency  denying her
   temporary  quarters  subsistence  expenses  (TQSE).   The  agency
   contends that she  does not qualify for that benefit since it was
   clearly her  intention to  purchase, as  permanent quarters,  the
   quarters she rented upon  arrival at her new work station.   Upon
   examination of the  record presented to us, we  conclude that the
   determination of the agency was correct with regard to the period
   starting  from the  date Ms.  Scheid began  living in  her rented
   home.   She  is, however,  entitled to  TQSE for  the  very brief
   period she and  her spouse were in temporary quarters  at a local
   motel following their arrival  at the new duty station.    
 
                               Background
 
        Ms. Scheid was transferred from DOE's office for the Western
   Area  Power  Administration in  Loveland, Colorado,  to Montrose,
   Colorado,  effective February 16,  1997.   She was  authorized to
   travel to  her new duty  station commencing or about  February 18
   and was  to report  for duty  in Montrose  on February  19.   Her
   travel orders authorized TQSE for a maximum of sixty days.  
 
        On February  7, however, well  in advance  of the  effective
   date of travel orders, Ms. Scheid entered into a contract for the
   purchase  of a home in Montrose.  The contract specified that her
   purchase of the  home was contingent upon the sale of her home in
   Loveland.  The contract also specified that Ms. Scheid would rent
   the Montrose home from February 16, 1997, until she sold her home
   in Loveland  and completed the  purchase of the new  residence in
   Montrose. 
 
 
         On  February  20,  1997,  Ms.  Scheid  made  the trip  from
   Loveland to Montrose by privately owned vehicle.  Her spouse made
   the same trip in the same manner one day later.   They planned to
   take occupancy of the residence which was already under contract.
   On arrival, however, Ms. Scheid  discovered a propane leak in the
   house.   She  and,  later,  her husband  were  obliged  to   seek
   temporary lodging  in a  nearby motel until  the leak  was fixed.
   The record contains a receipt for $35.64 for a motel room for the
   night of February 20,  and a receipt for $54.15 for  a motel room
   for the night of February 21.  According to Ms. Scheid's voucher,
   she  and her  husband  occupied  their  rented  home  continually
   thereafter  from  February   22  until  the  home   was  actually
   purchased.
 
        On June 4, 1997, the agency returned Ms. Scheid's claims for
   the  first  and  second  thirty-day  periods  of  TQSE  with  the
   explanation that  they could not  be paid because  once occupancy
   has  begun  in  the  quarters  that will  become  the  employee's
   permanent  residence, reimbursement may not be  made.  Ms. Scheid
   has appealed this determination.  
 
                               Discussion
 
        The  Federal  Travel  Regulation   (FTR)  provides  that  an
   employee for whom a permanent  change of station is authorized or
   approved  in the  interest  of the  Government  shall be  allowed
   subsistence expenses for self and family for a period of not more
   than  sixty consecutive days when occupancy of temporary quarters
   is determined necessary.  Section 302-5.2(c) of the FTR in effect
   at the time of Ms. Scheid's transfer defined "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  agency's  determination  that  Ms.  Scheid  moved  into
   permanent quarters  when she  occupied the  home she  already had
   under contract is correct and in accordance with the above quoted
   provision  of the  FTR.   Her obvious  intent was  to make  these
   quarters her permanent quarters provided she was able to sell her
   residence at her former duty station.  The house in  Montrose was
   clearly  not intended for temporary  occupancy.    In a case with
   very similar facts, this Board  recently upheld an agency  denial
   of TQSE and  in so doing  expressly noted that  the fact that the
   claimant was forced to rent the home on a temporary basis pending
   sale of her home at the previous workstation did nothing to alter
   the  permanent character  of  the  new quarters.     Patricia  E.
   Gadbaw,  GSBCA 14116-RELO, 98-1 BCA   29,517 (1997). 
 
 
        The  facts  in this  case    indicate  that, on  arrival  at
   Montrose,  Ms. Scheid and  her spouse were briefly precluded from
   moving  into their  newly  rented  permanent  quarters  and  were
   required  instead to stay temporarily at a local motel.  For this
   period, therefore, they were in  temporary quarters status.   The
   TQSE covering this short period  should, therefore, be paid.  The
   TQSE claimed  for the period  after Ms. Scheid began  residing in
   her  rented home  were,  however, for  the reasons  stated above,
   correctly denied by the agency. 
 
 
 
                                      _____________________
                                      EDWIN B. NEILL
                                      Board Judge