BNUMBER:  B-260471
DATE:  February 29, 1996
TITLE:  [Letter]

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B-260471

February 29, 1996

Mr. Craig Keller 
Comptroller
National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC  20594

Dear Mr. Keller:

This further replies to your letter of February 10, 1995, inquiring 
whether the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has the 
authority to pay the expenses for temporary quarters of Robert T. 
Francis II, appointed Vice Chairman of NTSB on January 1, 1995.

You report that Mr. Francis was an employee of the Federal Aviation 
Administration whose duty station was in Paris, France, when he was 
appointed by the President to the NTSB.  The Administration paid the 
travel and transportation expenses to return Mr. Francis's family to 
the United States from Paris, as required by the service agreement Mr. 
Francis had with the Administration.  However, the Administration has 
declined to pay any additional relocation expenses, such as expenses 
for temporary quarters.  You inquire whether NTSB may pay the expenses 
for temporary quarters Mr. Francis and his family necessarily incurred 
during January and February 1995 when they returned from Paris and he 
reported to his new duty station in Washington, DC, incident to his 
appointment to NTSB.

A change of duty station from one department or branch of government 
to another which involves a presidential appointment may be regarded 
as a transfer, as long as the usual statutory and regulatory 
requirements of a transfer are observed.  34 Comp. Gen. 204 (1954).  
These requirements include, for example, that the transfer was 
effected without a break in service, that a 12-month service agreement 
was executed (or 12 months of service with NTSB have been completed), 
and that an official determination was made of the necessity for 
occupancy of temporary quarters.  Thus, assuming that NTSB observed 
the usual statutory and regulatory requirements of transferring Mr. 
Francis, it does have authority to pay his expenses for temporary 
quarters, as provided for by 5 U.S.C.  sec.  5724a(a)(3), and the Federal 
Travel Regulation, 41 C.F.R. Part 302-5.  See Thomas D. Mulder, 65 
Comp. Gen. 900 (1986), copy enclosed.
  
Sincerely yours,

/s/Seymour Efros
for Robert P. Murphy
General Counsel

Enclosure
B-260471
February 29, 1996
DIGEST

As long as an agency observes the usual statutory and regulatory 
requirements for a transfer, it may pay the expenses for temporary 
quarters authorized under 5 U.S.C.  sec.  5724a(a)(3) and 41 C.F.R. Part 
302-5 incident to a change of duty station from one department or 
branch of government to another which involves a presidential 
appointment.