BNUMBER:  B-260580
DATE:  November 13, 1995
TITLE:  Ms. Blanch Brown-Relocation-Extension of Time in
Temporary Quarters

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Matter of:Ms. Blanch Brown-Relocation-Extension of Time in Temporary 
          Quarters

File:     B-260580

Date:     November 13, 1995

DIGEST

An agency asks whether difficulties in selling the residence at an 
employee's old duty station may justify an extension of the employee's 
period of eligibility for temporary quarters subsistence expenses at 
the employee's new duty station.  The answer is no.  The failure to 
sell a residence within the limited period of temporary quarters may 
not, by itself, justify an extension of temporary quarters.

DECISION

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health 
and Human Services, requests a decision whether the agency may grant 
Ms. Blanch Brown, an employee transferred from Columbia, South 
Carolina, to Atlanta, Georgia, an extension of in temporary quarters 
subsistence expenses (TQSE) beyond the initial 60 days authorized for 
her.[1]  The answer is no.

BACKGROUND   

Incident to her transfer, the agency authorized 60 days of TQSE for 
Ms. Brown, which began on March 6, 1994.  On March 29, Ms. Brown 
entered into a contract for the sale of her residence in Columbia, 
with a closing to take place on or before May 15, 1994.  However, on 
April 18, for reasons that are not explained in the record, that 
contract fell through.  Ms. Brown states that she will not be able to 
purchase a residence in Atlanta until she is able to sell her old one 
in Columbia.

The Associate Director recommends approval of Ms. Brown's request.  He 
states that because of the resale housing market in South Carolina and 
because one contract has fallen through, Ms. Brown does not wish to 
enter into a contingency contract on a house in Atlanta.  He also 
states that Ms. Brown has made a "strong effort" to sell her old 
residence and notes that the withdrawal of the first sales contract 
was beyond her control.

The agency's finance office Director questions whether a TQSE 
extension may be granted where the justification is related only to a 
delay in the sale of a residence at the old duty station.  He notes 
that the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) includes a number of examples 
of acceptable reasons for granting an extension, but that each of them 
involves delays in occupying permanent quarters at the new official 
duty station.  He says that his office relies on the general rule that 
TQSE is to be used only for as long as necessary to locate permanent 
quarters at the new duty station and the market conditions in the 
Atlanta vicinity are very favorable for buyers.  As to the contract 
that fell through on Ms. Brown's Columbia residence, the Director 
notes that settlement on it was scheduled for a date beyond the 
expiration of her initial 60 days of TQSE.

OPINION

The determination whether to authorize TQSE and for what period of 
time is largely a matter of agency discretion.  The applicable 
statute, which authorizes an initial period of TQSE of up to 60 days, 
authorizes an additional 60 days when the head of the agency or his 
designee "determines that there are compelling reasons for the 
continued occupancy of temporary quarters."  5 U.S.C.  5724a (1988).

This discretion is limited by requirements in the FTR, which provides, 
"Extensions of the temporary quarters period may be authorized only in 
situations where there is a demonstrated need for additional time due 
to circumstances which have occurred during the initial 60-day period 
of occupancy and which are determined to be beyond the employee's 
control and acceptable to the agency."  FTR  302-5.2(a)(2).

We have interpreted this requirement to preclude extensions based on 
generalized conditions existing at the time of transfer, at the old 
duty station, such as a poor housing market or high interest rates.  
Michael F. Locke, July 11, 1986.  In that case, we noted that the 
failure to sell a residence within the initial TQSE period, by itself, 
may not justify an extension of TQSE.  Id.

In this case, the Associate Director's request for an extension of Ms. 
Brown's TQSE is based largely on the poor resale housing market in 
Columbia.  Since this is not, as the FTR requires, a circumstance that 
occurred during the initial period of occupancy, the agency may not 
grant an extension of TQSE on this basis.  Accordingly, the claim may 
not be paid.

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

1. The request for decision was presented by the agency's Director, 
Financial Management Office, Atlanta, Georgia.