[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35097-35105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09429]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 3090-XXXX)


Docket No. 2024-0001; Sequence No. 2] Submission for OMB Review; 
Actual Place of Residence Determination (GSA Form 5047)

AGENCY: Office of Human Resource Management, Division of Human Capital 
Policy and Programs, General Services Administration (GSA).

ACTION: Notice of request for comments regarding a request for a new 
OMB clearance.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the 
Regulatory Secretariat Division will be submitting to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a new 
information collection requirement.

DATES: Submit comments on or before May 31, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for Public 
Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colin C. Bennett, Human Resources 
Specialist, Office of Human Resources Management, Division of Human 
Capital Policy and Programs, at telephone 240-418-6822 or via email to 
[email protected] for clarification of content.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    The General Services Administration (GSA) routinely hires, 
reassigns, promotes and transfers Federal employees to duty stations in 
foreign areas (i.e., locations outside of the United States, its 
territories and possessions). For this staffing activity, GSA pays for 
the cost of relocation, known as ``permanent change of station'' 
relocation benefits (see further 5 U.S.C. 5722(a) and 5724(d)). 
Relocation benefits include the cost of travel and transportation, as 
well as the cost of shipment of household goods to a new post outside 
of the Continental United States. In addition, most overseas employees 
are eligible for ``renewal agreement travel,'' a travel reimbursement 
authority that allows agency to leverage funds to pay for periodic 
travel back to the United States between overseas tours of duty for 
paid time off, known as ``home leave'' (see further, 5 U.S.C. 5728(a) 
and 5 U.S.C. 6305(a)).
    For an agency to calculate the costs of relocation as well as 
renewal agreement travel, both federal travel laws require that the 
employee (or appointee) designate an ``actual place of residence.'' 
When such residence cannot be easily determined by the job candidate, 
the agency must instead make an administrative residency determination 
on behalf of the employee. The new GSA Form 5047 will help agency 
representatives (i.e., human resources specialists) make a 
determination of the actual place of residence based upon documents and 
input provided by the job candidates, considered members of the public.
    Typically, agencies use the definition of ``residence'' from the 
Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, codified at 5 U.S.C. 
1101(33), which defines ``residence'' as a ``place of general abode'' 
or the ``principal, actual dwelling place in fact, without regard to 
intent.'' While for most employees (or appointees) the determination of 
an actual place of residence in the U.S. is typically straightforward, 
residency may be unclear if the appointee is already overseas and has 
been overseas for a long period of time. Long-term posts overseas are 
often characterized by the lease (or even sale) of the employee's 
primary U.S. dwelling, changes in the declared U.S. voting registration 
location, and/or changes in the state and local income or property tax 
jurisdictions.
    To more effectively administer permanent change of station 
relocation as well as renewal agreement travel, the General Services 
Administration (GSA) has created a new agency form, GSA Form 5047, 
Actual Place of Residence Determination. This form will allow 
employees, job candidates, and the agency's human resources 
specialists, to more easily determine the actual place of residence by 
working through a series of guided questions on the form's worksheet. 
Following completion of the form's worksheet, the employee, candidate, 
and human resources specialist can summarize the determination on the 
form's front cover sheet.
    The questions on the worksheet portion of the form are drawn from 
governing administrative law authorities, primary Comptroller General 
decisions such as: Rafael Arroyo, decision B-197205 (May 16, 1980), 
decision B-157548 (Sept. 13, 1965), 45 Comp. Gen. 136, and decision B-
140748 (Oct. 29, 1959), 39 Comp. Gen. 337. Under these administrative 
law authorities, the place of actual residence is established at the 
time of appointment or transfer (see also decision B-136029, June 24, 
1958, 37 Comp. Gen. 846). Use of this form is therefore recommended for 
all overseas appointments, transfers or reassignments and, in 
particular, those personnel selections of job candidates via agency 
transfer employed by a different U.S. Government agency and already 
present overseas.
    Use of this form will allow GSA to comply with the Federal Travel 
Regulations, which require the administrative determination and 
documentation of the actual place of residence for all overseas 
appointments or placements (see further 41 CFR 302-3.509). In addition, 
this form will also

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allow the agency to leverage the renewal agreement travel authority 
(i.e., the Home Leave Act of 1954, 68 Stat. 1008) only when appropriate 
and not in the rare cases of local foreign hires who have severed all 
jurisdictional nexuses with the U.S.
    Significantly, this residency determination form can also be used 
to determine eligibility for the following other overseas allowance and 
benefit authorities: (a) the 45-day annual leave accrual authority (5 
U.S.C. 6304(b)), (b) home leave (5 U.S.C. 6305(a)) and (c) living 
quarters allowance (5 U.S.C. 5923(a)(2)). Under each of these 
authorities, local hires who currently live in foreign areas are 
excluded from benefits eligibility unless they can demonstrate that 
foreign residence is temporary, is only pursuant to continuous 
employment overseas with the U.S. Government (or other U.S. interest), 
and finally, there exists a contractual transportation agreement that 
provides for the eventual return of the job candidate to a 
specifically-identified place of actual residence within the U.S.

B. Annual Reporting Burden

    Respondents: 25 per year.
    Responses per Respondent: 1.
    Total Annual Responses: 25.
    Hours per Response: 1.
    Total Burden Hours: 25.

C. Public Comments

    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register at 89 FR 
13341 on February 22, 2024. No comments were received.
    Obtaining copies of proposals: We have provided a copy of the 
proposed draft GSA Form 5047 at the end of this notice below the 
signature block. A copy of the proposed draft form can alternatively be 
obtained through GSA's Regulatory Secretariat Division by calling (202) 
501-4755 or emailing [email protected]. Please cite OMB Control No. 
3090-XXXX, Actual Place of Residency Determination (GSA Form 5047), in 
all correspondence.

Lois Mandell,
Director, Regulatory Secretariat Division, General Services 
Administration.
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[FR Doc. 2024-09429 Filed 4-30-24; 8:45 am]
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