United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Fire and Aviation

3833 S Development Ave

Boise, Idaho 83705-5354

http://www.nifc.gov

April 15, 2016

In Reply Refer To:

1340 (FA400) I

EMS Transmission 04/20/2016

Instruction Memorandum No. FA IM-2016-027

Expires: 9/30/2019

To: State Directors

From: Assistant Director, Fire and Aviation

Subject: Paying Casual Travel on the Optional Form (OF)-288

Program Area: Incident Business Management

Purpose: The purpose of this Instruction Memorandum (IM) is to authorize and provide 

direction for payment of casual travel via the OF-288, Incident Timekeeping Report, rather than 

through the ConcurGov travel system. 

Policy/Action: A Secretarial waiver of E-Gov Travel Service (ETS) requirements for casual 

hires was signed on November 20, 2015. The Office of Wildland Fire (OWF) then issued OWF 

Policy Memorandum 2016-04 on February 17, 2016 laying out the policy provided by the 

Secretarial waiver. See attachments 1 and 2. 

Under the terms of the waiver, casual employees may claim the following travel expenses on the 

OF-288 form:

• privately owned vehicle (POV) mileage;

• incidental expenses; and

• a maximum of 15 meals per emergency incident.

Refer to the OWF policy memo for detailed guidance.

The BLM Specific Guidance:

The batch memo template (attachment 3) has now been modified to include an incidental 

expenses (IE) box that indicates that all casuals submitted in the batch should be reimbursed for 

incidental expenses. Starting and ending dates will be completed by the approving official. The 
2

Casual Payment Center (CPC) will then add dates and totals for the incident expenses to each 

OF-288 in the batch and process the reimbursement.

If casual employees have more than just incidental expenses, an optional spreadsheet (attachment 

4) has been created to assist in calculating the casual’s reimbursement. If this spreadsheet or a 

similar one is used, transfer totals from spreadsheet to the lower left section of the OF-288 before 

sending to the CPC. 

If the casual employee incurs a travel expense other than those listed above (e.g., luggage costs, 

lodging, rental vehicle, fuel, etc.), the claim for all travel expenses must be filed in the ETS, 

currently ConcurGov. 

Timeframe: The Financial Business Management System (FBMS) and Federal Personnel 

Processing System (FPPS) have been modified and the Casual Payment Center has begun 

implementing the new process.

Budget Impact: This change should reduce the workload associated with processing casual 

travel and this reduces administrative expenses of the casual hire program.

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: The BLM Standards for Fire Business Management 

will be updated to reflect this new policy and guidance.

Coordination: This has been coordinated with the Department of the Interior (DOI) Casual 

Payment Center, the DOI Travel Office and the BLM National Travel Office.

Contact: Policy questions on the payment of minor travel for casuals on the OF-288 should be 

addressed to David Burley, Incident Business Management Specialist, at 208-387-5420. 

Signed by: Authenticated by:

Ron Dunton Yesenia Ramirez-Gil

Assistant Director, Fire and Aviation Office Automation Clerk 

5 Attachments:

 1 - Secretary Waiver (3 pp)

 2- OWF Policy Memo 2016-010 (3 pp)

 3- Updated Batch Memo (1 p)

 4 - Optional Travel Spreadsheet (1 p)

 5 - CPC Procedure Sample Document (2 pp)

Distribution:

BLM_FA_AD_Staff

BLM_ADs

BLM_Library

David Burley (FA400)