Board of Contract Appeals
                 General Services Administration
                      Washington, D.C. 20405
         ________________________________________________

          DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE: November 3, 1999
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                       GSBCA 15132-C(14057)


                          TRAVEL CENTRE,

                                        Applicant,

                                v.

                 GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,

                                        Respondent.

     Fred Morahan, President of Travel Centre, Danvers, MA, appearing for Applicant.

     Michael D. Tully, Office of General Counsel, General Services Administration,
Washington, DC, counsel for Respondent.

Before Board Judges DANIELS (Chairman), PARKER, and HYATT.

PARKER, Board Judge.

     The General Services Administration (GSA) moves to dismiss as premature Travel
Centre's application for fees and expenses incurred in connection with Travel Centre's
appeal of GSA's decision to deny Travel Centre's claim for breach of a contract to provide
travel management services.  The Board granted the appeal in part, holding that GSA had
breached the contract, but awarded only a small portion of Travel Centre's claimed damages. 
Travel Centre v. General Services Administration, GSBCA 14057 (Aug. 18, 1999).  Travel
Centre's application, pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 5 U.S.C.  504
(1994 & Supp. IV 1998), was filed on October 5, 1999.  On November 1, Travel Centre
appealed the Board's decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 
Travel Centre v. General Services Administration, No. 00-1054 (Fed. Cir. filed Nov. 1,
1999).
               
     We grant GSA's motion to dismiss the application.  EAJA requires that an application
for fees and expenses be filed "within 30 days of a final disposition in the adversary
adjudication."  5 U.S.C.  504(a)(2).  The thirty-day period for filing such applications,
however, does not begin to run until after the disposition has become final.  J.M.T. Machine
Co. v. United States, 826 F.2d 1042, 1048 (Fed. Cir. 1987).  Until the Board's disposition
of a matter has become final, an application for fees and expenses is premature because the
appellant cannot show that it has prevailed, a prerequisite for an award under EAJA.  5
U.S.C.  504(a)(2); Moustafa A. Mohamed, GSBCA 9547, 89-2 BCA  21,885, aff'd, 925
F.2d 1478 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (table).

     For purposes of filing an EAJA application, final disposition of an appeal occurs
when the Board's decision is not appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit within the time permitted for appeal or, if the decision is appealed, when the
time for petitioning the Supreme Court for certiorari has expired.  Board Rule 135(b) (48
CFR 6101.35 (1998)).  Here, disposition of the appeal is not final because Travel Centre's
appeal of the Board's decision is pending.  Travel Centre's application for costs is thus
premature and not properly before the Board.

                             Decision

     GSA's motion is granted .  Travel Centre's application is DISMISSED WITHOUT
PREJUDICE.  The application may be refiled within thirty days of the date on which final
disposition of the appeal has occurred.



                                   _______________________
                                   ROBERT W. PARKER
                                   Board Judge
We concur:




_______________________            _______________________
STEPHEN M. DANIELS                 CATHERINE B. HYATT
Board Judge                             Board Judge