Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 55 / Friday, March 21, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 13763

(c) The circumstances under which

you will authorize an employee who is

eligible under this part for property

management services to elect the use of

property management services instead

of the sale of his/her residence at

Government expense under part 302–6

or 302–12 of this chapter;

(d) Who will determine whether

payment for property management

services is more advantageous and cost

effective than sale of an employee’s

residence at Government expense;

(e) If and when you will allow an

employee who was offered and accepted

payment for property management

services under subpart C of this part to

change his/her mind and elect instead

to sell his/her residence at Government

expense, and who will make that

determination; and

(f) How you will offset expenses you

have paid for property management

services against payable expenses for

sale of the employee’s residence when

an eligible employee who elected

payment for property management

services later changes his/her mind and

elects instead to sell his/her residence at

Government expense.

Dated: March 17, 1997.

Thurman M. Davis, Sr.,

Acting Administrator of General Services.

[FR Doc. 97–7184 Filed 3–20–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6820–34–P

41 CFR Part 302–14

[FTR Amendment 61]

RIN 3090–AG22

Federal Travel Regulation; Home

Marketing Incentive Payments

AGENCY: Office of Governmentwide

Policy, GSA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the

Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) to

allow an agency to pay a home

marketing incentive to a transferred

employee who uses the agency s

homesale program provided by a

relocation services company under

contract with the Government and who

independently and aggressively

markets, and finds a bona fide buyer for,

his/her residence resulting in

significantly lower fee/expense

payments the agency must make to the

relocation services company. This

amendment will save the Government

money through reduced payments to

relocation services companies and will

increase employee satisfaction with the

relocation process.

DATES: This final rule is effective March

22, 1997, and applies to an employee

whose effective date of transfer (date the

employee reports for duty at the new

official station) is on or after March 22,

1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert A. Clauson, Travel and

Transportation Management Policy

Division (MTT), Washington, DC 20405,

telephone 202–501–0299.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A multiagency travel reinvention task force was

organized in August 1994 under the

auspices of the Joint Financial

Management Improvement Program

(JFMIP) to reengineer Federal travel

rules and procedures. The task force

developed 25 recommended travel

management improvements published

in a JFMIP report entitled Improving

Travel Management Governmentwide,

dated December 1995. On September 23,

1996, the President signed into law the

Federal Employee Travel Reform Act of

1996 (Pub. L. No. 104–201), which

included 8 legislative changes

recommended by the JFMIP to improve

travel and the delivery of relocation

services.

This amendment implements section

1717 of the Act which provides the

General Services Administration (GSA)

authority to issue regulations which

authorize agencies to pay a home

marketing incentive to a transferred

employee to facilitate sale of the

employee s residence at the old official

station at lower overall cost to the

Government when the employee uses

the agency s homesale program

provided by a relocation services

company under contract with the

Government. This amendment is written

in the ‘‘plain English’’ style of

regulation writing as a continuation of

GSA s effort to make the FTR easier to

understand and to use.

What is a ‘‘homesale program’’?

A program under which a relocation

services company, under contract with

the agency, purchases a transferred

employee s residence at fair market

(appraised) value and then

independently markets and sells the

residence.

What is the ‘‘home marketing incentive

payment’’?

This is a payment an agency makes to

its transferred employee to encourage

the employee to independently and

aggressively market his/her residence

and find a bona fide buyer, thereby

reducing the fee/expenses the agency

must pay the relocation services

company. The amount of the incentive

payment may not exceed five percent of

the price the relocation services

company paid the employee for his/her

residence, or the savings the agency

realized from the reduced fee/expenses

it paid.

Why would an agency want to institute

a home marketing incentive payment

program?

With this type of program, the sum of

the incentive payment and the reduced

payment to the relocation services

company is less than the fee/expenses

the agency must pay the relocation

services company when the company

has to find a buyer for the residence.

What is the ‘‘plain English’’ style of

regulation writing?

The ‘‘plain English’’ style of

regulation writing is a new, simpler to

read and understand, question and

answer regulatory format. Questions are

in the first person and answers are in

the second person. GSA uses a ‘‘we’’

question when referring to an agency

and an ‘‘I’’ question when referring to

the employee.

How does the plain English style of

regulation writing affect employees?

A question and its answer combine to

establish a rule. The employee and the

agency must follow the language

contained in both the question and its

answer.

GSA has determined that this rule is

not a significant regulatory action for

the purposes of Executive Order 12866

of September 30, 1993. This final rule is

not required to be published in the

Federal Register for notice and

comment. Therefore, the Regulatory

Flexibility Act does not apply. This rule

also is exempt from Congressional

review prescribed under 5 U.S.C. 801

since it relates solely to agency

management and personnel.

List of Subjects in 41 CFR Part 302–14

Government employees, Travel and

transportation expenses.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 41 CFR part 302–14 is added

to read as follows:

PART 302–14—HOME MARKETING

INCENTIVE PAYMENTS

Subpart A—Payment of Incentive to

the Employee

Sec.

302–14.1 What is a ‘‘homesale program’’?

302–14.2 What is the purpose of a home

marketing incentive payment?

302–14.3 Am I eligible to receive a home

marketing incentive payment?
13764 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 55 / Friday, March 21, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

302–14.4 Must my agency pay me a home

marketing incentive?

302–14.5 Under what circumstances will I

receive a home marketing incentive

payment?

302–14.6 How much may my agency pay

me for a home marketing incentive?

302–14.7 Are there tax consequences when

I receive a home marketing incentive

payment?

Subpart B—Agency Responsibilities

302–14.100 How should we administer our

home marketing incentive payment

program?

302–14.101 What policies must we

establish to govern our home marketing

incentive payment program?

302–14.102 What factors should we

consider in determining whether to

establish a home marketing incentive

payment program?

302–14.103 What factors should we

consider in determining the amount of a

home marketing incentive payment?

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5756.

Subpart A—Payment of Incentive to

the Employee

Note to subpart A: Use of the pronouns ‘‘I’’

and ‘‘you’’ throughout this subpart refers to

the employee.

§ 302–14.1 What is a ‘‘homesale

program’’?

It is a program offered by an agency

through a contractual arrangement with

a relocation services company. The

relocation services company purchases

a transferred employee s residence at

fair market (appraised) value and then

independently markets and sells the

residence.

§ 302–14.2 What is the purpose of a home

marketing incentive payment?

To reduce the Government s

relocation costs by encouraging

transferred employees who participate

in their employing agency s homesale

program to independently and

aggressively market, and find a bona

fide buyer for, their residence. This

significantly reduces the fees/expenses

their agencies must pay to relocation

services companies and effectively

lowers the cost of such programs.

§ 302–14.3 Am I eligible to receive a home

marketing incentive payment?

Yes, if you are an employee who is

authorized to transfer and you otherwise

meet requirements for sale of your

residence at Government expense.

§ 302–14.4 Must my agency pay me a

home marketing incentive?

No. Your agency determines when it

is in the Government s interest to offer

you a home marketing incentive.

§ 302–14.5 Under what circumstances will

I receive a home marketing incentive

payment?

You will receive a home marketing

incentive payment when:

(a) You enter your residence in your

agency s homesale program;

(b) You independently and

aggressively market your residence;

(c) You find a bona fide buyer for your

residence as a result of your

independent marketing efforts;

(d) You transfer the residence to the

relocation services company;

(e) Your agency pays a reduced fee/

expenses to the relocation services

company as a result of your

independent marketing efforts; and

(f) You meet any additional

conditions your agency has established,

including but not limited to, mandatory

marketing periods, list price guidelines,

closing requirements, and residence

value caps.

§ 302–14.6 How much may my agency pay

me for a home marketing incentive?

Your agency determines the amount

of your home marketing incentive

payment. The incentive payment,

however, may not exceed the lesser of:

(a) Five percent of the price the

relocation services company paid when

it purchased the residence from you; or

(b) The savings your agency realized

from the reduced fee/expenses it paid as

a result of your finding a bona fide

buyer.

§ 302–14.7 Are there tax consequences

when I receive a home marketing incentive

payment?

Yes, the home marketing incentive

payment is considered income.

Consequently, you will be taxed, and

your agency will withhold income and

employment taxes, on the home

marketing incentive payment. You will

not, however, receive a withholding tax

allowance (WTA) to offset the

withholding on your home marketing

incentive payment, nor will you receive

a relocation income tax (RIT) allowance

payment for substantially all of your

Federal, state and local income taxes on

the incentive payment.

Subpart B—Agency Responsibilities

Note to subpart B: Use of the pronouns

‘‘we’’ and ‘‘you’’ throughout this subpart

refers to the agency.

§ 302–14.100 How should we administer

our home marketing incentive payment

program?

Your goal in using an incentive

payment program is to reduce your

overall relocation costs. You must not

make a home marketing incentive

payment that exceeds the savings you

realize from the reduced fees/expenses

you pay the relocation services

company.

§ 302–14.101 What policies must we

establish to govern our home marketing

incentive payment program?

You must establish policies to govern:

(a) The conditions under which you

will authorize a home marketing

incentive payment for an employee;

(b) The amount of the home marketing

incentive payment(s) you will offer (or

the method you will use to compute

your home marketing incentive

payments); and

(c) Who will determine in each case

whether a home marketing incentive

payment is authorized.

§ 302–14.102 What factors should we

consider in determining whether to

establish a home marketing incentive

payment program?

You should consider:

(a) Whether the program will increase

the percentage of residences sold for

which employees find a bona fide

buyer. You should establish a

benchmark for the percentage of

residences for which you expect

employees to find a bona fide buyer

resulting in lower homesale costs to

you. If your historical percentage of

employee-generated sales is below your

benchmark, a home marketing incentive

payment program may benefit you.

(b) The expected net savings from a

home marketing incentive payment

program.

§ 302–14.103 What factors should we

consider in determining the amount of a

home marketing incentive payment?

You should consider:

(a) Amount of savings from reduced

fee/expenses paid to the relocation

services company. The home marketing

incentive payment program is intended

to reduce your relocation costs. The

amount of each home marketing

incentive payment you make, therefore,

must not exceed the savings you realize

from the reduced fee you pay to the

relocation services company.

(b) Employee’s efforts in marketing

the residence. The purpose of a home

marketing incentive payment program is

to encourage a transferred employee

who participates in a homesale program

to independently and aggressively

market his/her residence and find a

bona fide buyer.

Dated: March 17, 1997.

Thurman M. Davis, Sr.,

Acting Administrator of General Services.

[FR Doc. 97–7185 Filed 3–20–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6820–34–P