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