United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao_comptroller_general legislative 2016-06-24 U.S. Government Publishing Office 1995-10-23 monographic deposited born digital 5 p. GA 1.13:B-260688 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-B-260688 P0b002ee18fd4d5bc f:260688 DGPO 2016-06-24 2016-06-24 GAOREPORTS-B-260688 machine generated eng fdlp COMPTROLLERDECISION GAOREPORTS-B-260688 B-260688 Comptroller General Decision

1. An agency authorized the shipment of a transferring employee's household goods (HHG) by the actual expense, or government bill-of-lading (GBL) method, under which the government assumes the responsibility of making the arrangements to ship the employee's HHG. However, the employee chose to ship his HHG himself and subsequently submitted a claim for reimbursement based on the commuted rate method, under which employees who ship their own HHG are reimbursed according to the commuted rate allowances prescribed in a schedule published by the General Services Administration. The applicable regulation provides that when an agency authorizes the shipment of an employee's HHG by the GBL method and the employee then chooses to make his own arrangements for the shipment of his HHG, the employee's reimbursement is limited to his out-of-pocket expenses. 41 C.F.R. 101-40.203-2 (1994). See also John S. Phillips, 62 Comp. Gen. 375 (1983).<p/>2. For the purpose of claiming relocation allowances incident to his transfer, an employee asserts that a woman and her three children are members of his immediate family by virtue of his common-law marriage to the woman. Issues of marital status are determined by state law. In this case, the applicable state law (Colorado) requires clear, consistent and convincing evidence of conduct that manifests the parties' intent to establish a marital relationship. The record in this case is insufficient to meet this test since the only evidence purporting to show the couple's marital relationship is a copy of a Federal income tax form they filed jointly as a married couple and two health insurance forms showing that the employee's insurance company paid a bill for the woman and a bill for one child under the employee's account. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-B-260688/html/GAOREPORTS-B-260688.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-B-260688/pdf/GAOREPORTS-B-260688.pdf GAO/B-260688 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-B-260688 Comptroller General Decision GAO/B-260688; Stephen P. Atkinson-Relocation Expenses-Household; Title 5 Section 5724a Title 5 Section 5724 5 U.S.C. 5724a 5 U.S.C. 5724