In prosecution of the work of the various Governmental Bureaus under the Smithsonian Institution, it is frequently necessary to ask experts to come to Washington for consultation and conference. As these experts are unaccustomed to Governmental methods, permission is asked for them to be reimbursed for their actual transportation expenses to and from Washington, and that a per diem of from $5 to $10 a day, in lieu of subsistence and other expenses, be allowed, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, during the time of travel and while in Washington.

The request for granting a larger per diem allowance is made for the reason that they are being asked to Washington for the benefit of the work under the Institution, and I feel that their per diem should approximate their hotel bills and meals while performing this service for the Government.

The appropriations under which these expenditures will be made are as follows: Independent Offices Appropriation Act 1942, approved April 5, 1941 (page 28) which reads as follows:

"SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

"For expenses of the general administrative office; for the system of international exchanges between the United States and foreign countries; for continuing ethnological researches among the American Indians and the natives of Hawaii and the excavation and preservation of archeologic remains; for maintenance of the Astrophysical Observatory, including assistants, and making necessary observations in high altitudes; for cases, furniture, fixtures, and appliances required for the exhibition and safekeeping of collections; and for administration of the National Collection of Fine Arts; including personal services, purchase of books of reference and periodicals, traveling expenses, including not exceeding $1,000 for expenses of attendance at meetings concerned with the work of the Institution when specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; uniforms for guards, supplies and equipment, preparation of manuscripts, drawings, and illustrations, supplying of heating, lighting, electrical, telegraphic, and telephone service, repairs and alterations of buildings, shops, sheds, and approaches, and other necessary expenses, $386,260.

"Preservation of collections: For continuing preservation, exhibition, and increase of collections from the surveying and exploring expeditions of the Government, and from other sources, including personal services, traveling expenses, including not exceeding $1,500 for expenses of attendance at meetings concerned with the work of the National Museum when specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, purchasing and supplying, repairing and cleaning of uniforms for guards and elevator conductors, postage stamps, and foreign postal cards, and all other necessary expenses and not exceeding $5,500 for preparation of manuscripts, drawings, and illustrations for publications, and not exceeding $4,000 for purchase of books, pamphlets, and periodicals, $626,720." Department of State Appropriation Act 1942, approved June 28, 1941 (page 14) which reads as follows:

"COOPERATION WITH THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS

"Salaries and expenses: For all expenses necessary to enable the Secretary of State to carry out the purposes of the Act entitled 'An Act to Authorize the President to render closer and more effective the relationship between the American Republics,' approved August 9, 1939, and to supplement appropriations available for carrying out other provisions of law authorizing related activities, including personal services in the District of Columbia; not to exceed $70,000 for printing and binding; stenographic reporting, translating and other services by contract, without regard to section 3709 of the Revised Statutes (41 U. S. C. 5); expenses of attendance at meetings or conventions of societies and associations concerned with the furtherance of the purposes hereof, tuition, compensation, and monthly allowances while not in travel status, all to be fixed by the Secretary of State, and traveling expenses in the United States and abroad in accordance with the Standardized Government Travel Regulations and the act of June 3, 1926, as amended, of educational, professional, and artistic leaders, and professors, students, and internes, who are citizens of the United States or the other American republics; traveling expenses of members of advisory committees in accordance with section 2 of said act of August 9, 1939 (22 U. S. C. 249a); hire, maintenance,

of the President, to transfer to other departments, agencies, and independent establishments of the Government for expenditure in the United States and in the other American republics not exceeding the following amounts, respectively: Smithsonian Institution, $56,500.”

The class of persons referred to in the second paragraph of your letter is understood to include only those persons who are not officers or employees of the United States but who are experts in private life who come to Washington upon the request of the Smithsonian Institution for consultation and conference.

In the absence of express statutory authority, either in the appropriation act or otherwise, appropriated funds may not be used for the payment of traveling expenses on a commutation basis, that is, a per diem in lieu of subsistence and other expenses, but such expenses must be reimbursed on an actual expense basis only. Compare 5 U. S. C. 73. In that connection it was held in decision of September 13, 1935, 15 Comp. Gen. 206, as follows (quoting from the syllabus):

A commutation of actual subsistence expenses while traveling is never allowable except when authorized by statute.

A person who performs travel for the purpose of consulting with the head of a department as to his qualifications, and who is later appointed, is not entitled to a per diem allowance either in lieu of subsistence or as salary, for the period from date of consultation to the date preceding the effective date of the appointment (3 Comp. Gen. 590 distinguished).

Also see 8 Comp. Gen. 465; 10 id. 475; 18 id. 680. Compare 21 Comp. Gen. 29.

Since, as understood, the persons here involved are not officers or employees of the United States, they would not come within the terms of the Subsistence Expense Act of 1926, 44 Stat. 688, as amended by the act of June 30, 1932, 47 Stat. 405, which subsistence act is limited to "civilian officers and employees of the departments and establishments," or within the provisions of the Standardized Government Travel Regulations, which are limited to "civilian officials and employees of the several executive departments and independent establishments." See the answer to question 6, decision of October 27, 1941, B-21014, 21 Comp. Gen. 377. The decision of November 3, 1941, B-21165, 21 Comp. Gen. 409, to which you call attention, has no application to the instant matter for the reason that said decision gave consideration to an item in the appropriation act approved June 13, 1940, 54 Stat. 350, specifically made "available for the payment of actual transportation expenses and not to exceed $10 per diem in lieu of subsistence and other expenses of persons serving while away from their home, without other compensation, in an advisory capacity to the Secretary of War." No like provision is contained in either of the appropriation acts quoted in your letter.

Referring to the appropriation item appearing in the Department of State appropriation act under the heading "Cooperation with the

American Republics," last quoted in your letter, which authorizes the transfer of $56,500 to the Smithsonian Institution for carrying out the purposes of the act approved August 9, 1939, 53 Stat. 1290, it is provided in section 2 thereof (Title 22, section 249a, U. S. Code), as follows:

The President is authorized to create such advisory committees as in his judgment may be of assistance in carrying out the undertakings of the Government under the treaties, resolutions, declarations, and recommendations referred to, but no committee or member thereof shall be allowed any salary or other compensation for services: Provided, however, That they may, within the limits of appropriations made available therefor by the Congress, which appropriations are hereby authorized, be paid their actual transportation expenses and not to exceed $10 per diem in lieu of subsistence and other expenses while away from their homes in attendance upon meetings within the United States under instructions from the Secretary of State.

The authority in that act for payment of a per diem in lieu of subsistence and other expenses not to exceed $10 is specifically made applicable to members of the advisory committees created by the President under the authority of the said act of August 9, 1939, but there is nothing in your letter to indicate that the referred-to experts are members of any advisory committee created by the President under the authority of said statute.

Accordingly, in the absence of any express statutory authority, either in the appropriation acts or in any other statute, you are not authorized to pay a per diem in lieu of subsistence and other expenses in any amount to such experts in private life who are called to Washington by the Smithsonian Institution for consultation and conference. In such situations their traveling expenses would be reimbursable only upon an actual expense basis.

(B-22606)

OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES-TRANSFERS BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENTS-EXPENSES OF TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION OF HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS

The authority in the act of May 31, 1941, to pay the traveling expenses of employees upon transfer from one official station to another may not be applied to authorize reimbursement of the traveling expenses of an employee on transfer from one department or agency to another, even though the transfer (separation and reappointment) was "in the nature of an involuntary transfer," and the same rule is applicable in applying the act of October 10, 1940, and the President's regulations issued pursuant thereto, with respect to payment of the expenses of transporting the household effects of an employee upon change of official station.

Comptroller General Warren to the Coordinator of Information, Executive Office of the President, December 26, 1941:

There has been considered your letter of November 25, 1941, as follows:

Request is made for ruling from the General Accounting Office as to whether

tation of household goods of Duane B. Wilson may be properly paid by this office. The following facts are deemed pertinent in connection with this submittal:

(a) Duane B. Wilson was appointed Special Assistant to the Liaison Officer, Captain James Roosevelt, Office of the Coordinator of Information, effective September 22, 1941. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Wilson was from July 1938 until September 21, 1941, in the employ of the Farm Security Administration in the position of Regional Information Specialist with headquarters in Denver, Colorado.

(b) Negotiations for the transfer of Mr. Wilson from the Farm Security Administration to the Office of Coordinator of Information were begun about September 8, 1941. In view of the very great urgency of the situation and the need of this office for his services at the earliest practicable date, the Farm Security Administration arranged for him to terminate his work and to report to Washington on September 22. The transfer, despite the fact that it involved an increase in salary, was not made at Mr. Wilson's request but was rather in the nature of an involuntary transfer, or to speak broadly, a drafting of Mr. Wilson's services in the interest of utilizing his qualifications in a technical capacity affecting national defense.

(c) Under the terms of the act, approved October 10, 1940, Public, 839, Seventy-sixth Congress, "expenses which now or hereafter may be authorized by law to be paid from Government funds for the packing, crating, drayage, and transportation of household goods and personal effects of civilian officers and employees of any of the executive departments or establishments of the United States when transferred from one official station to another for permanent duty shall hereafter be allowed and paid, when specifically authorized and approved by the head of the department or establishment concerned, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the President provided that no part of such expenses shall be paid from Government funds where the transfer is made at the request and primarily for the convenience or benefit of the officer or employee

(d) The funds available to the Coordinator of Information are made by allotment from the Emergency Fund for the President, contained in the Military Appropriation Act, 1941, and in accordance with the President's letter of allocation are available for expenditure by the Coordinator of Information for general administrative expenses, etc. A copy of Allocation Letter No. 104. dated October 31, 1941, is attached. Likewise, the Emergency Fund for the President contained in the above referred to Appropriation Act is made available for expenditure for any purpose authorized in the said Appropriation Act, which includes, among other things, an authorization for the payment of expenses for transportation of household goods.

(e) The attached voucher has been prepared in accordance with the regulations issued by the President under the provisions of the Act of October 10, 1940, referred to above (Executive Order 8588).

(f) No decision of the Comptroller General has been found which bears directly upon the points herein raised.

In connection with the foregoing submission, it must be pointed out that the time element involved in Mr. Wilson's transfer was such as to cause him considerable inconvenience, and that his services were sought by this office on the basis of his qualifications.

While your letter refers only to one voucher proposing reimbursement of expenses incurred incident to the transportation of household goods, that and another related voucher were transmitted for preaudit consideration on schedule No. 265 dated November 26, 1941. The one, No. 1030, proposes payment to Mr. Wilson of $77.75, including $56.50 for mileage for use of his privately owned automobile for 1,695 miles at the rate of $0.033 per mile, from Denver, Colo., to Washington, D. C., and $21.25 per diem in lieu of subsistence for 414 days' travel time at the rate of $5 per day. The other voucher, No. 1031, proposes payment to Mr. Wilson of $511.91 as reimbursement of expenses in

curred incident to the transportation of his household goods from Denver, Colo., to Silver Spring, Md., a suburb of Washington, D. C. The facts presented in this case clearly show that on September 21, 1941, Duane B. Wilson was separated from the service of the Farm Security Administration, with headquarters at Denver, Colo., and was reappointed, effective September 22, 1941, as an employee in the Office of the Coordinator of Information, with headquarters at Washington, D. C., at an initial salary rate of $5,600 per annum. It is stated the employee received an increase in compensation upon his reappointment. This personnel action was not a transfer from one official station. to another within the same department or establishment of the Government, within the meaning of the laws controlling the reimbursement of traveling expenses and for transportation of household goods upon permanent change of station.

Section 301 of the Treasury Department Appropriation Act, 1942, approved May 31, 1941, 55 Stat. 234, Public Law 88, provides as follows:

Appropriations for the fiscal year 1942 available for expenses of travel of civilian officers and employees of the executive departments and establishments shall be available, also, for expenses of travel performed by them on transfer from one official station to another when authorized by the head of the department or establishment concerned in the order directing such transfer: Provided, That such expenses shall not be allowed for any transfer effected for the convenience of any officer or employee.

This statutory provision is in identical terms with provisions appearing in appropriation acts for prior fiscal years. The statute requires as a condition precedent to the payment of the travel expenses on transfer that the transfer of the employee be authorized by the head (singular) of the department or establishment concerned (singular). It is clear that this statutory authority is limited in its application to transfers from one official station to another within the same department or establishment of the Government, and may not be applied to authorize reimbursement of the traveling expenses of an employee on transfer from one department or agency of the Government to another, regardless of the fact that the transfer (separation and reappointment) "was not made at Mr. Wilson's request, but was rather in the nature of an involuntary transfer" (quoting from your letter). See 13 Comp. Gen. 390; 17 id. 874. In other words, the Congress has not authorized reimbursement of the traveling expenses of an employee incurred incident (1) to a transfer between different departments or agencies of the Government, or (2) to a separation from one departinent and a concomitant reappointment in another department or agency.

The act of October 10, 1940, 54 Stat. 1105, provides, in part, as follows:

That expenses which now or hereafter may be authorized by law to be paid from Government funds for the packing, crating, drayage, and transportation of household goods and personal effects of civilian officers and employees of any of the executive departments or establishments of the United States when trans

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