Official Document Text
Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)
By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of August 2, 1946, Public Law 600, 79th Congress, and in the interest of the internal management of the Government, I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing he allowance and payment from Government funds of expenses of travel and of transportation of immediate families, household goods, and personal effects of civilian officers and employees of the Government when transferred from one official station to another for permanent duty: TITLE I - GENERAL Section 1. As used in these regulations: (a) "Employee" means a civilian officer or employee of a department as defined herein. (b) "Department" means an executive department, independent establishment or other executive agency, wholly-owned Government corporation, or the Government of the District of Columbia. (c) "Continental United States" mean the forty-eight States and the District of Columbia. (d) "immediate family" means any of the following-named members of the employee's household: spouse, children (including stepchildren and adopted children) unmarried and under twenty-one years of age or physically or mentally incapable of supporting themselves regardless of age, or dependent parents of the employee (but not of the spouse). (e) "Temporary storage" means storage at point of departure, destination or way station for not more than sixty days. Sec. 2. Travel expenses of employees. Travel expenses of the employee transferred shall be allowed in accordance with the Subsistence Expense Act of 1926, as amended (5 U. S. C. 821-823), the Standardized Government Travel Regulations, and the act of February 14, 1931, as amended (5 U. S. C. 73(a)). Sec. 3. Transportation expenses of immediate family. The transportation of the immediate family of an employee shall be subject to those provisions of the Standardized Government Travel Regulations which relate to transportation, including mileage, and shall be in accordance with the act of February 14, 1931 (5. U. S. C. 73 (a)), whether the travel originates at the employee's last official station or at some previous place of residence and whether the point of destination is the new official station or some other point selected by him, or both. The cost to the Government shall not exceed the cost of transportation by the most economical route between the last official station and the new official station. Sec. 4. Payment of expenses. The travel and transportation expenses allowable under these regulations, when authorized, in the order directing the travel, by such subordinate official as the head of the department concerned may designate, shall be paid in case of transportation from one official station to another, including transfer from one department to another, for permanent duty, but in no case in which the transfer is made primarily for the convenience or benefit of the employee or at his request. In case of transfer from one department to another such expenses shall be paid from the funds of the department to which the employee is transferred. Sec. 5. Time limit. All travel and transportation allowable under these regulations shall begin within two years from the effective date of the transfer of the employee, except that for employees who enter upon active military, naval or Coast Guard duty at any time prior to the expiration of such period and are furloughed for the duration of such duty, the two-year period shall be exclusive of the time spent on such furlough; and for employees transferred to posts of duty outside the continental United States the two-year period shall be exclusive of any time during which shipping restrictions make the travel and transportation impossible. Administrative officers shall endeavor to complete travel and transportation at the earliest practicable dates. Sec. 6. Weight limit. The weight of the household goods and personal effects transported at Government expense shall not exceed 7000 pounds if uncrated or 8750 pounds if crated or the equivalent thereof when transportation charges are based on cubic measurement and when the amount payable by the Government is computed solely on the basis of the cubic measurement of the goods shipped. Sect. 7. Items not allowable. Household goods and personal effects shall not include wines, liquors, animals or birds not necessary in the performance of official duties, or automobiles. Sec. 8. Origin and destination of shipment. The expenses of transportation authorized hereunder or reimbursement on a commuted basis within the continental United States shall be allowable whether the shipment originates at the employee's last official station or at some previous place of residence, or partially at both, or whether the point of destination is the new official station or some other point selected by him, or both: Provided, that the cost to the Government shall not exceed the cost of shipment in one lot by the most economical route from the last official station to the new. No expenses shall be allowable for the transportation of property acquired en route from the last official station to the new. For the purposes of these regulations, the term "official station" shall be construed to include any point from which the employee commutes daily to his official post of duty. Sec. 9. Change of station prior to November 1, 1946. These regulations shall not be applicable in case of change of station which is ordered prior to November 1, 1946, and is incomplete on that date, but in such case as the provisions of Executive Order No. 8588 of November 7, 1940, as amended, and Executive Order No. 9743 of June 26, 1946, shall control. Sec. 10. Preparation of vouchers. In preparing vouchers for payment under these regulations the following conditions shall be observed: (a) Statement of weight. When charges for transportation are based upon weight, the actual (not estimated) weight shall be shown. (b) Payment by more than one voucher. When all the services rendered are not covered by a single voucher, vouchers covering payment for subsequent charges shall bear a reference to the prior vouchers. Sec. 11. Employees not affected. These regulations shall not apply to: (1) Civilian employees of the War Department and their dependents when transferred under the provisions of section 3 of the act of June 5, 1942 (50 U. S. C. App. 763); (2) officers or employees of the Foreign Service, Department of State; or (3) persons whose pay and allowances are established by the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942 (56 Stat. 359). Title II - TRANSPORTATION OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS AND PERSONAL EFFECTS BETWEEN POINTS WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES. Sec. 12. Commutation of expenses. In lieu of the payment of actual expenses of transportation, packing, crating, temporary storage, drayage, and unpacking of household goods and personal effects in the case of transfers between points within the continental Untied States, reimbursement shall be made to the employee on a commutated basis at rates per hundred points as fixed by zones in Schedule A which is attached to and made a part of these regulations. The amount payable shall be the product of the applicable rate and the net weight of household goods and personal effects actually shipped by carrier for the employee (within the weight limitation prescribed by section 16 hereof). Government bills of lading shall not be used. Sec. 13. Schedule of rates. The schedule of rates is predicated on zones consisting of mileage blocks. The application of the schedule will require a determination of the short-line highway distance between the points which may be authorized under these regulations, and in accordance with the provisions of the Household Goods Carriers' Bureau Mileage Guide No. 4, Motor Freight-Interstate Commerce Commission No. 27, or successive reissues thereof. If the rate is not shown in the schedule for the actual distance stated in such mileage guide, the rate shown for the next greater distance shall apply. Sec. 14. Evidence of shipment. Employees shall be required to submit the carrier's original bills of lading, or a certified copy thereof when using common carrier service. If no bill of lading is required, other evidence showing point of origin, destination, and weight shall be required. In stances in which no adequate scale is located at point of origin or at any point within a radius of ten miles thereof, a constructive weight, based on seven pounds per cubic foot of property loaded van space, may be used. Sec. 15. Advance of funds. An advance of funds may be allowed employees who are being transferred from one duty station to another within the continental limits of the United States in connection with shipment of their household goods and personal effects. A bond under the terms specified under Treasury Department Circular No. 369, Revised, shall be required in making such an advance. In requesting an advance of funds, the applicant shall submit a written statement disclosing the number of rooms containing his personal property which is for shipment, such number of rooms to exclude bathrooms and closets, and reception hallways in apartment. The reported number of rooms shall be multiplied by 1,000, and the result shall be considered the estimated weight of the prospective shipment. Such statement shall also designate the shipping point and destination. The estimated weight and the distances between the origin and the destination of the shipment shall be used as the factors required by the schedule of rates to compute the amount of funds which may be advanced in anticipation of the ultimate settlement to be made hereunder. Sec. 16. Determination of weight. For the purpose of determining the rates and computing the amounts to be allowed for the household goods and personal effects shipped at Government expense, there shall be used the net weight of such goods and effects uncrated, and such weight shall include the weight of containers and packing materials which are required to protect articles of fragile or breakable nature. When such goods and effects are crated and packed for shipment, the net weight for consideration herein shall be eighty per cent of the gross shipping weight. Such net weights shall not exceed 7,000 pounds for employees with immediate families and 2,500 for employees without immediate families. TITLE III - TRANSPORTATION OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS AND PERSONAL EFFECTS TO OR FROM POINTS OUTSIDE THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES. Sec 17. Maximum Allowance for Transportation - Weight. The actual costs of transportation of the household goods and personal effects of the employee, not in excess of 7,000 pounds net, and of the packing, crates, boxes, lift vans, or other temporary containers required for the shipment, shall be allowed in the case of transfers to or from points outside the continental United States: Provided, That employees who have no immediate family shall be entitled to the transportation of household effects and other personal property not in excess of 2,500 pounds. Gross weight shall include the net weight of the property and the weight of packing, crates, boxes, or lift van which have no connection with the property except for the purposes of the immediate shipment and which do not constitute a continuing part of the property of the employee. For the application of the limitations prescribed by this section the gross weight of the property shall be considered to be eighty per cent of the combined weight of the property and the packing and crating used for the shipment: Provided, that in case of shipments involving transportation by vessel over all or part of the distance, the gross weight of the property shall be considered to be eighty per cent of the combined weight of the property and the packing, crating, boxing, and lift vans used for the shipment: And provided further, That when shipment is by motor freight the gross weight of the property shall be the actual weight of the goods transported. Thus, transportation shall be allowed at Government expense for property when packed, crated, boxed, or placed in lift bans for shipment, within the following maximum weights: TABLE Sec. 18. Allowances for packing, crating, unpacking, and uncrating. The actual costs of packing, crating, unpacking and uncrating (not to exceed the authorized weight) shall be allowed. Sec. 19. Allowances for drayage. In the case door-to-door common carrier rates are not applicable, the actual costs of drayage (not to exceed the authorized weight) to and from the common carrier shall be allowed. Sec. 20 Temporary storage. The actual expenses of temporary storage (not to exceed the authorized weight) for not to exceed sixty days, shall be allowed. Sec. 21. Means of shipment. For the duration of the present war and six months thereafter transportation services, including allowances specified in sections 18 and 19 hereof, may be procured by the agency concerned from pay available common carrier: Provided, however, That the employee may have his effects moved by some means other than that selected the by the Government by paying the difference between the Government and the charges by the preferred means. Sec. 22. Use of Government bill of lading or purchase order. Shipment shall be made on Government bill of lading or purchase order whenever possible; otherwise reimbursement shall be made to the employee for transportation expenses actually and necessarily incurred within the limitations prescribed by these regulations. If property in excess of the amount allowable under these regulations is shipped on a Government bill of lading or purchase order, the employee shall immediately upon completion of the shipment pay to the proper officer of the department or establishment an amount equal to the charge for the transportation of such excess computed from the total charges according to the ratio of excess weight to the total weight of the shipment. Sec. 23. Use of lift vans. Charges allowable hereunder for packing and crating and for transportation shall include expenses incurred in hiring, transporting, and packing lift vans when shipments are made in whole or in part by water, but shall not include charges in connection with any shipment of empty lift van or for payment of storage charges or import duties on lift vans. Sec. 24. Valuation. The valuation of property as declared for shipping purposes shall not exceed that at which the lowest freight rates will apply. If the employee desires a higher valuation, he shall assume all costs of transportation in excess of the charges at the lowest rate. Sec. 25. Shipment by American vessels. Except to the extent noted in Section 208 of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1947, all shipments of property by water shall be made on ships registered under the laws of the United States whenever such ships are available. Sec. 26. Itemization of charges. In case the services rendered cover, in addition to transportation, other services such as packing, crating, drayage, unpacking , and uncrating, the total charge for the services shall be itemized so as to show the charge for each service. TITLE IV - REVOCATION OF PRIOR ORDERS Executive Orders No. 8588 of November 7, 1940, No. 9122 of April 6, 1942, No. 9223 of August 15, 1942, No. 9348 of June 3, 1943, and No. 9743 of June 26, 1946, are hereby revoked; except that Executive Orders No. 8588 and No. 9743 shall continue in effect as long as, it may be necessary for the effectuation of section 9 hereof. TITLE V - EFFECTIVE DATE AND PUBLICATION This order shall become effective as of November 1, 1946, and shall be published in the Federal Register. Schedule A - Rate per Hundred Pounds -- Table HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, November 25, 1946