Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 ___________________ June 30, 1998 ____________________ GSBCA 14304-TRAV In the Matter of PATRICK T. KLEVER Patrick T. Klever, Grand Haven, MI, Claimant. Col. Otis Williams, Corps of Engineers, Chief of Staff, Department of the Army, United States Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of Defense. PARKER, Board Judge. In June 1996, Patrick Klever, a civilian employee of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, combined some personal travel with his temporary duty (TDY) travel. Mr. Klever was ordered to travel from Grand Haven, Michigan, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Port Hueneme, California, and, finally, back to Fort Wayne before returning home to Grand Haven.[foot #] 1 Mr. Klever accomplished this travel by a combination of air and car travel, going through such places as Indianapolis, Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Klever had obtained an inexpensive airline ticket from Indianapolis to Las Vegas and he stayed in Las Vegas for several days during the combined trip. The Corps and Mr. Klever cannot agree on how the reimbursement for Mr. Klever's TDY should be calculated. Although the record before us does not contain all of the information necessary to calculate the amount due Mr. Klever, it is clear that the Corps did not calculate the amount correctly. We thus provide the following guidance for the Corps' re- calculation of the amount of Mr. Klever's reimbursement. The Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), which implement the Federal Travel Regulation for civilian employees of the ----------- FOOTNOTE BEGINS --------- [foot #] 1 Mr. Klever's travel orders were actually made up of three separate orders. The record, however, makes it clear that all of the travel in question was to be performed without going home in between destinations. The fact that the destinations were detailed on separate pieces of paper makes no difference in calculating the amount due Mr. Klever. ----------- FOOTNOTE ENDS ----------- Department of Defense, permit employees on TDY to travel for personal convenience by an indirect route. However, "the extra expense is borne by the person, with reimbursement based only on such charges as would have been incurred by a usually traveled route." JTR C2000. Calculating reimbursement for the transportation portion of Mr. Klever's temporary duty travel is thus simple: Mr. Klever should be reimbursed the amount he spent on transportation, by whatever means, up to the amount that the Corps would have spent to send him from Grand Haven to Fort Wayne to Fort Hueneme to Fort Wayne and back to Grand Haven, by the usual means of transportation. The amount due Mr. Klever for the per diem portion of his temporary duty travel is also easily calculated. Mr. Klever is entitled to a constructive per diem allowance, calculated as if he had traveled exactly as specified in his travel orders, without any personal travel involved. See Earl C. Cates, Jr., GSBCA 14209-TRAV, 98-1 BCA 29,392 (1997). Mr. Klever's miscellaneous expenses should be calculated on the same basis. Simply put, the Corps should, with Mr. Klever's help, construct the TDY travel that Mr. Klever would have taken had he not added personal travel to his itinerary and pay him accordingly. Decision The Corps of Engineers shall re-calculate Mr. Klever's travel reimbursement in accordance with the instructions provided in this decision. If, after the recalculation, Mr. Klever still is not satisfied with the amount reimbursed, he may request that the Board review the Corps' new calculations. ________________________ ROBERT W. PARKER Board Judge