specific provision therefor in the allocation letter, in the said act of October 10, 1940, or in the regulations. Comptroller General Warren to the Federal Works Administrator, April 8, 1942: I am in receipt of the following letter dated March 24, 1942, from the Commissioner of Public Buildings, Federal Works Agency: There is forwarded herewith for direct settlement, Bureau Schedule numbered 7077-C, dated March 23, 1942, covering Public Voucher for Transportation of Freight or Express, in favor of United Van Lines, Incorporated, carrier's bill numbered 87-399 H-378, in the amount of $434.97, the amount claimed by the corporation as per the itemization stated below. Transportation of the household goods and personal effects of Mr. Mar- Packing---- Total_____ $327.57 45.65 61.75 $434.97 The transportation services above enumerated are payable from funds allotted to this Administration by the President of the United States for the removal of certain Federal Agencies to locations outside the District of Columbia. These funds have been assigned the appropriation symbol and title "80-1120006 (10) .005-Emergency Fund for the President," National Defense (Allotment to Federal Works Agency, Public Buildings Administration), 1942. It will be noted that an administrative deduction of $29.97 has been made from the total amount claimed by the carrier. This amount represents the cost of handling 370 pounds of household goods and personal effects in excess of the weight set forth in the Act of October 10, 1940, and regulations promulgated thereunder. With the exception of the above deduction, the bill forwarded herewith has been administratively approved for payment in full for the purpose of settlement by your office. It will be appreciated if the settlement of this bill is expedited and if the Certificate of Settlement issued by you is so prepared as to give explicit details of the case at hand. This settlement will be used as the basis of making settlement by this office of similar cases involving moves under the Decentralization Program. In view of the last paragraph of the letter, I have deemed it advisable to consider the legality of the proposed expenditures in a formal decision for guidance in this as well as all other cases of decentralized employees. In addition to the facts stated in the quoted letter, the record shows that the household goods of Mr. Marquard H. Arndt, an employee of the Rural Electrification Administration, transferred from Washington, D. C., to St. Louis, Mo., were picked up in Washington, D. C., on March 1, 1942, delivered to Sloan's Moving & Storage Co. at St. Louis, Mo., for storage on March 7, 1942, and delivered to the employee's residence at 7280 Forsythe Avenue, St. Louis, on March 11, 1942. The Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1942, approved April 5, 1941, Public Law 28, 55 Stat. 94, under the heading "Emergency Funds for the President" provides as follows: To enable the President, through appropriate agencies of the Government, to provide for emergencies affecting the national security and defense and for each and every purpose connected therewith, and to make all necessary expenditures incident thereto for any purpose for which the Congress has previously made appropriation or authorization and without regard to the provisions of law regulating the expenditure of Government funds or the employment of persons in the Government service, such as section 3709 of the Revised Statutes and the civil service and classification laws; and any waiver hereunder of the provisions of any law regulating such expenditure or such employment shall not be exercised by any agency unless the allocation to such agency or subsequent action of the President in connection therewith permits any such waiver to be availed of; $100,000,000; and, in addition, the President is authorized, through such agencies, to enter into contracts during the fiscal year 1942 for the same purposes to an amount not exceeding $25,000,000: Provided, That an account shall be kept of all expenditures made or authorized hereunder, and a report thereon shall be submitted to the Congress on June 30, 1942. [Italics supplied.] The President's allotment letter of December 23, 1941, reads, in pertinent part, as follows: By virtue of the authority vested in me by the provisions of the appropriation entitled "Emergency Fund for the President" contained in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1942, approved April 5, 1941, I hereby allocate from the sum of $100,000,000 provided by said appropriation as follows: To Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency--- Amount $2, 000, 000 to be expended by said Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency, in connection with emergencies affecting the national security and defense, for the removal of certain Federal agencies to locations outside the District of Columbia. * * The funds hereby allocated shall be available (without regard to Section 3709 of the Revised Statutes, Sections 278a and 304c of Title 40 of the U. S. Code as amended, or any rules or regulations relating to forms of contract) for all expenses of the Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency, in carrying out the above-described functions, including transfer of household goods and personal effects of transferred employees as provided by the Act of October 10, 1940, and regulations promulgated thereunder; and the operation of a service to assist transferred employees in obtaining suitable housing accommodations, and in disposing of their real property interests in Washington, D. C. and environs. [Italics supplied.] The item for storage at St. Louis, the destination city, is proposed to be paid pursuant to circular letter issued February 2, 1942, by the Decentralization Service of the Public Buildings Administration which contains the following: * Employees who have not obtained a residence in destination city and must vacate their present quarters will be permitted to store their household goods in a warehouse recommended to you by the transportation company, for a period not to exceed thirty days. Storage and delivery charges from storage to your residence at destination will be assumed by the Government. * * The only authority of law for the removal of the departmental services of Federal agencies and their personnel from Washington, D. C., is that contained in the appropriation under the title "Emergency Funds for the President" which is available only for "all necessary expenditures for any purpose for which the Congress has previously made appropriation or authorization." Also, under the terms of said appropriation, no statutory provision relative to the expenditure of appropriated moneys is to be regarded as waived by the President except such as may be specifically mentioned in the letter of allocation. The President has specifically directed in his letter of allocation here applicable that the "transfer of household goods and personal effects of transferred employees" subject to decentralization shall be "as provided by the Act of October 10, 1940, and regulations promulgated thereunder." The act of October 10, 1940, 54 Stat. 1105, provides 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 transferred from one official station to another for permanent duty shall hereafter be allowed and paid, when specifically authorized or approved by the head of the department or establishment concerned, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the President, which regulations shall prescribe, among other matters, the maximum weight of the property, not to exceed five thousand pounds gross or the equivalent thereof when transportation charges are based on cubic measurement, which may be packed, crated, hauled, transported, and unpacked at Government expense: 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: There is for noting that the statute is limited to "packing, crating, drayage, and transportation of household goods and personal effects." None of these items reasonably may be regarded as including storage either at the place from which or the place to which the property is transported. In decision of June 20, 1930, 9 Comp. Gen. 517, 518, wherein consideration was given to another statute authorizing the transportation of household goods, it was stated with regard to the item for "transportation" as follows: There is nothing to indicate that the term "transportation" is used in any extraordinary sense in the annual appropriation acts authorizing the transportation of the effects of officers and employees of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, and, of course, the meaning of that term as used in the statutes cannot be extended by administrative regulations. See 2 Comp. Gen. 598; 9 Comp. Gen. 434. While the storage of effects may be necessarily incidental to the transfer from one station to another of an officer or employee such storage is not directly incidental to the transportation of the effects. The statutes do not authorize payment of all expenses of the transfer of an officer or employee but only the transportation expenses of such transfer. Accordingly, I have to advise you that in the absence of more specific statutory authority than is now contained in the annual appropriation acts, the regula tions in question, in so far as they purport to provide for payment at Government expense of the costs of storage of effects of officers and employees at their old or new stations prior to or subsequent to the actual transportation of the effects are not authorized by law. The President's regulations issued under the act of October 10, 1940, Executive Order No. 8588, dated November 7, 1940, contain no authorization for the payment of storage costs for household goods incident to or in connection with their transportation. It will be noted that the letter of allocation makes no provision whatever for payment of the expenses of the personnel to be transferred other than for the transfer of household goods and personal effects and for the operation of a service to assist transferred employees in obtaining suitable housing accommodations and in dis posing of their real property interests in Washington, D. C., and environs. Hence, to the extent that the circular letter of February 2, 1942, purports to authorize any other expenditures incident to the transfer of such employees, it would appear to be of no force or effect. Accordingly, there is no alternative but to conclude that the item for "storage in transit" may not be paid either in the case presented or in any other case of a decentralized employee. See 21 Comp. Gen. 613, 617. If otherwise correct, the balance of the claim will be allowed by this office and the settlement certificate issued and transmitted for payment through the usual channels. (B-22442) COMPENSATION ADJUSTMENTS SUBSISTENCE IN KIND TEMPORARY ABSENCES ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS Where the deduction ordinarily made from an employee's gross salary for subsistence furnished in kind is to be adjusted by reason of the employee being required to purchase from personal funds the midday meal during a fractional day's absence from headquarters on official business, such adjustment may be effected by paying him for the meal on a voucher executed on Standard Form 1012 (Voucher for Per Diem and/or Reimbursement of Expenses Incident to Official Travel) rather than by an adjustment on the salary pay roll, but the payment must not exceed the proportionate cost of the meal based on the determined value of the entire subsistence furnished in kind, notwithstanding the meal may have cost the employee more than that amount. 21 Comp. Gen. 663, amplified. Comptroller General Warren to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, April 9, 1942: I have your letter of March 25, 1942, as follows: Reference is made to your letter dated January 15, 1942, replying to my letter of December 8, 1941, regarding a proposed instruction which would permit employees whose contracts of employment provide that subsistence will be furnished by the Government to be reimbursed the cost of meals necessarily secured away from the station to which they are assigned in those cases where they are directed to travel between the hours of 8:00 A. M. and 6:00 P. M. on the same day, and reimbursement of subsistence expenses would not be authorized by the Standardized Government Travel Regulations. The adjustment procedure outlined in your letter provides that an appropriate adjustment of the salary of an employee who secures a meal while absent from his official station under such circumstances shall be made by an adjustment on the applicable salary pay roll. It is believed that to follow such a procedure would be administratively expensive since pay rolls covering the salaries of Veterans' Administration employees are prepared by the Treasury through the use of the same addressograph equipment as is used by that department in connection with its disbursing functions, and in order to effect such a pay-roll adjustment it would be necessary to delete the name of the employee concerned from the regular pay roll and then prepare a supplemental pay roll. It will be thus seen that a great amount of what would appear to be unnecessary clerical work will result if the adjustment to which the employees concerned are entitled is effected through a salary pay-roll adjustment nor is it believed that such a settlement would be just and fair to the employees because it is well known that the purchase of single meals is much more expensive than the pro rata cost of a meal secured as a part of regular board. For this reason it is desirable that these adjustments be effected by reimbursing the employees on 470350m-42-60 vouchers executed on Standard Form No. 1012, as would appear to be permissible in accordance with 6 Comp. Gen. 417 and 18 Comp. Gen. 590. In the character of case here for consideration the execution of reimbursement vouchers will frequently be necessary since reimbursement of items pertaining to transportation will be in order and payment of the amount allowed for meals can be made on these vouchers without any appreciable additional clerical work. It is recognized that reimbursement without limitation is not practical therefore it is suggested that the same limit apply as is applicable to meals obtained by beneficiaries from outside sources which is $1.00 per meal. In view of the foregoing it is requested that this Administration be authorized to effect the necessary adjustments in these cases by reimbursing the employees on such basis, the reimbursements being made on vouchers executed on Standard Form No. 1012. In view of the decision of the Comptroller General dated January 10, 1942 (B-22756), these adjustments will also be permitted in those cases where employees assigned to duty during periods other than between 8:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. are required to perform travel during their duty periods. The decision of January 15, 1942, B-22442, 21 Comp. Gen. 663, held as follows (quoting from the syllabus): Where employees whose contracts of employment require that the reasonable value of Government quarters and subsistence furnished them be deducted in accordance with section 3 of the act of March 5, 1928, from their gross salary are prevented from receiving meals, ordinarily furnished in kind, by reason of absence from headquarters on official business, the salary deductions may be reduced in amounts equivalent to the determined value of the meals not received. Under the Classification Act, as amended, and the statute of 1928, 45 Stat. 193, cited in the decision, supra, the total compensation of a position is required to be fixed at a rate prescribed by the Classification Act and the value of subsistence furnished in kind by the Government is required to be determined, considered as a part of the total compensation, and deducted therefrom-the employee receiving only the balance in cash. When an employee is required to purchase a meal while away from headquarters on official business which he would otherwise receive in kind, it is proper to reduce the deduction from the total compensation by the cost of the individual meal representing the proportionate part of the value of the subsistence furnished in kind by the Government as a condition of the contract of employment. However, there would be no authority for the Veterans' Administration to pay the employee in cash in excess of the proportionate cost of the individual meal to the Government. Such an excess cost would constitute either (1) an increase in the total compensation fixed for the position or (2) a payment for subsistence as traveling expenses for the midday meal in contravention of the 8 to 6 rule. You are advised, therefore, that while there is no legal objection to the procedure proposed to effect payment to the employee on a voucher executed on Standard Form 1012 for the cost of the midday meal not furnished in kind, the amount of the payment must be limited to the proportionate cost of such meal based on the administratively determined value of the entire subsistence furnished in kind |