BNUMBER: B-270403
DATE: September 11, 1996
TITLE: Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs
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Matter of:Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs
File: B-270403
Date:September 11, 1996
DIGEST
In reimbursing its employees for local travel mileage, Office of
Inspector General (OIG) did not deduct normal commuting expenses
contrary to departmental policy. GAO concludes that OIG is "employing
agency" for purposes of exercising administrative discretion over
local travel reimbursement. See 59 Comp. Gen. 605 (1980). Hence,
mileage payments made to OIG employees under its policy were proper
payments and need not be collected back.
DECISION
The Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs, has requested
our decision on whether certain local travel reimbursement payments
were proper. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the
payments were proper.
BACKGROUND
Pursuant to the Inspector General Act, the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has independent
personnel authority. Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, 5
U.S.C. App. 3, sec. 6(a)(7) (1994). OIG appropriations have also been
exempt from a specific limitation on travel expenses. See, e.g.,
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1995, sec. 501, Pub. L. No.
103-327, 108 Stat. 2298, 2332 (1994). These provisions are intended
to ensure the independence of OIG operations from controls which could
undermine the Inspector General's ability to exercise statutory
oversight of the Department.
From July 1987 through December 1994, OIG reimbursed its employees for
local travel mileage pursuant to a separate OIG policy which provided
in pertinent part:
"Reimbursable mileage for local travel will be based on the
lesser of mileage from official duty station to local work site
or residence to local work site."
OIG Policy and Procedures Manual, Part I, Chapter 9, Paragraph 21(b)
(July 1987) (emphasis added). During this same time, the VA had a
different policy. Its local travel mileage policy allowed
reimbursement for travel from residence to temporary duty site only
for those expenses in excess of the employee's normal daily commuting
costs to the permanent duty station. VA Manual MP-1, Part II Chapter
2, Paragraph 8(m) (February 28, 1995 reissuance of identical provision
in effect since November 1984).
Because the OIG policy did not deduct the normal commuting expenses of
the employee, OIG employees who requested full mileage reimbursement
on their travel voucher received reimbursement for local travel which
was equal to or less than their normal commuting expenses. Had these
employees not worked in the OIG, reimbursement would have been limited
under the VA policy to those expenses that exceeded the normal
commuting expenses. As an example, an OIG employee was paid $3 for
mileage from the temporary work site to the employee's residence.
Because the employee normally commuted 32 miles one-way from official
duty station to residence, the payment for the 12-mile trip from the
temporary duty station would not have been reimbursed under the VA
policy.
After OIG became aware of the different reimbursement standards in
1994, it amended its policy in December 1994 to conform to the VA
policy for the sake of consistency and administrative convenience.
In the absence of any Comptroller General decisions on point, the
Inspector General asks whether the payments for local travel made to
OIG employees before the change in policy in December 1994 were proper
since they were contrary to VA's travel policy. The Inspector General
submits that, because of its special independence within the
department, the OIG should be considered the "employing agency" for
purposes of exercising its discretion over reimbursement of local
travel mileage.
OPINION
The established rule is that an employee must travel between his
residence and his regular place of work at his own expense. 32 Comp.
Gen. 235 (1952). When an employee is assigned to a nearby temporary
duty post, it is within administrative discretion to allow mileage
without deduction for normal commuting expenses, but employing agency
officials may refuse to authorize reimbursement for such expenses if
no additional travel costs are incurred or may limit reimbursement to
such additional costs. Brian E. Charnick, B-184175, June 8, 1979.
Thus, in Howard M. Feuer, 59 Comp. Gen. 605 (1980), we stated that the
determination to limit reimbursement for travel to a temporary duty
station is within the discretion of the employing agency and that we
would not question an agency's decision to limit such reimbursement.
See 36 Comp. Gen. 795 (1957).
The question posed by the Inspector General is whether his office may
be considered to "employing agency" for the purpose of exercising
administrative discretion over local travel reimbursement.
We believe that the Office of Inspector General is the employing
agency for purposes of the rule stated above. The evident purpose of
the Congress in enacting the Inspector General Act of 1978 was to
establish independent and objective units within each department to
conduct audits and investigations of its programs and operations and
to prevent and detect fraud and abuse therein. Public Law 95-452, sec.
2, Oct. 12, 1978, 92 Stat. 1101. Each Inspector General was given
independent personnel authority. Id. sec. 6(a)(7). As pointed out by
the VA Inspector General, his office is exempt from a specific
limitation on travel expenses. Public Law 103-327, sec. 501.
For these reasons, we conclude that the Office of Inspector General is
the "employing agency" for the purpose of exercising administrative
discretion over travel reimbursement policy within the limits
authorized by the government-wide Federal Travel Regulations issued by
the General Services Administration.
Accordingly, the payments made to OIG employees under its separate
policy for local travel mileage prior to December 1994 were proper
payments and need not be collected back.
/s/Seymour Efros
for Robert P. Murphy
General Counsel