and that the appropriation item, 61 Stat. 186, now proposed to be obligated provides as follows:

Printing and Binding: For an additional amount, fiscal year 1947, for "Printing and binding", $80,000.

Since the appropriation for printing and binding for the fiscal year 1947 is specifically limited by section 3690, Revised Statutes, supra, to expenses properly incurred during that fiscal year and to the fulfillment of contracts properly made within that year, it follows that sums provided to meet a real or estimated deficiency in that appropriation cannot be used during the present fiscal year in any other manner than could a balance of the first appropriation, if there had been a balance remaining on and after July 1, 1947. 4 Comp. Dec. 61, supra. Cf. 3 Comp. Dec. 72.

Accordingly, and since your letter indicates that the appropriation in question was not obligated prior to the termination of its period. of availability for obligating purposes, to wit, June 30, 1947, I have to advise that this office may not authorize charging the cost of the printing work here involved to the appropriation for the fiscal year 1947, as requested in your letter.

(B-68414)

TRANSPORTATION-HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS-PRIOR TO CHANGE OF STATION ORDERS

An employee is entitled under Executive Order No. 9805 to payment for the transportation of his household effects in connection with a change of station even though such effects were transported prior to, but in anticipation of, change of station orders, which orders contained the necessary specific authorization for the transportation.

Comptroller General Warren to W. R. France, Department of Agriculture, August 15, 1947:

I have your letter of July 25, 1947, as follows:

The attached voucher #26614 in the amount of $120.12 has been submitted to me for certification. The voucher represents a claim of Robert G. Travis, Barlow, Kentucky for expense incident to the transportation of his household furniture from Dawson Springs, Kentucky to Barlow, Kentucky. The amount of the claim is based on Public Law 600, Executive Order 9805, Regulations Governing Payment of Travel and Transportation Expenses of Civilian Officers and Employees of the United States When Transferred From One Official Station to Another for Permanent Duty.

Mr. Travis, Soil Conservationist, with headquarters at Dawson Springs, Kentucky was advised by his superior officer on or about August 20, 1946 that it was the administrative intent to transfer him to Ballard County, Kentucky just as soon as the details in connection with the establishment of the work unit were worked out. Subsequent correspondence and conversations between Mr. Travis and his superior officers failed to fix a date when the transfer would be approved. Consequently as a result of having to vacate the house he was occupying at Dawson Springs, Kentucky, the employee moved his furniture from Dawson Springs, Kentucky to Barlow, Kentucky on February 1, 1947 at his own expense where it was placed in storage. The official order #2-488-47 authorizing the

change of station and transportation of household effects from Dawson Springs, Kentucky to Wickliffe, Kentucky was not issued until March 5, 1947. While the transfer order names the employee's new headquarters as Wickliffe, Kentucky the furniture was actually moved to and claim made for transportation charges to Barlow, the mileage according to Household Goods Carrier's Bureau Mileage Guide No. 4 being less than to Wickliffe, Kentucky.

Executive Order 9805, Title 1, Section 2 provides that travel expenses of employees shall be allowed in accordance with the Subsistence Expense Act of 1926 as amended and the Standardized Government Travel Regulations. Section 3 states transportation expenses of immediate family shall be subject to those provisions of Standardized Travel Regulations which relate to transportation. Section 4 states transportation expenses shall be paid when authorized in the order directing the travel. U. S. Department of Agriculture Regulations, Section 3435 (3) conditions the payment of transportation charges of household furniture in connection with the change in official station on the employee's authorization being issued in advance.

In 25 C. G. 444 you indicated payment of transportation expenses of a family which had traveled in advance of the issuance of the transfer order could properly be allowed. That decision was rendered under the provision of 59 Stat. 131 and Executive Order 9587. In the present case Mr. Travis has incurred expenses under the Provisions of Public Law 600, 79th Congress and Executive Order 9805. The conditions, however, are very similar, the wording "in the order directing such transfer" in the earlier statute applicable to transportation of families being now replaced by the words "in the order directing the travel" in the latter statute applicable to all expenses incident to transfers of official stations. In each case a transfer order or travel order was issued prior to the effective date of the employee's transfer. While it appears that payment to Mr. Travis would be proper I can find no decision by you rendered under the new statute and executive order which specifically authorizes payment in such a case. Therefore, please advise me if I may legally certify this voucher for payment.

Executive Order 9805, promulgating regulations for the transportation of employees, their families, and effects upon transfer of official station, provides in sections 4 and 5 thereof:

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 transfer 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.

In 25 Comp. Gen. 444, the decision referred to in your letter, there was construed similar language appearing in another statute, and it was therein stated, at page 445:

It will be noted that this statute requires that the authorization for the transportation of the immediate families of employees upon transfer of official station be "in the order directing such transfer." Hence, if the transfer of the employee has been accomplished, thẹ transportation of the family at Government expense

may not be authorized subsequently. Prior to the departure of the employee from his official station pursuant to an official transfer order, such transfer order properly may be amended to include authority for the transportation of his family.

As indicated in your submission, Executive Order No. 9587 requires the transportation of the family to take place not later than six months after the effective date of the employee's transfer unless an extension is granted within the six months' period, but said Executive order makes no reference to cases in which the family might have performed the travel in advance of the issuance of the transfer orders. However, where the transportation of the family of an employee is authorized by law in connection with the transportation of the employee, this office generally has offered no objection to the family preceding the actual transfer of the employee if the transportation of the family at Government expense is otherwise lawful and properly authorized. Accordingly, in the case referred to in your second question, this office would not object to the inclusion in the order directing the transfer of the employee of authorization for the transportation of his immediate family at Government expense.

In view of the similarity of the language in Executive Order 9805 with the language considered in the above decision, it may be concluded that reimbursement to the employee may be made in the case submitted by you, notwithstanding that the household effects were shipped prior to the issuance of the order directing the transfer, which order contained specific authorization for the transportation of his household effects.

Section 3435 (3) of the Department of Agriculture Regulations, referred to by you, requires that the transportation of household goods "be authorized in advance, in the order directing the transfer," which is understood to mean in advance of the transfer of the employee and not necessarily in advance of the transportation of the household effects.

The voucher, which is returned herewith, may be certified for payment in the absence of other objections.

(B-68301)

APPROPRIATIONS-AVAILABILITY-INCREASED COSTS RESULTING FROM ALLOCATIONS, REALLOCATIONS, ETC.

Under section 400 of the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1947, limiting the availability of appropriations for personal services to such increased costs resulting from the allocation or reallocation of a position to a higher grade or the creation of a new position as could be absorbed on an annual basis within the limits of the appropriation, promotions to higher grades due to allocations or reallocations may be effected only to the extent that annual salaries, if paid for the entire year, would not exceed the obligations currently available for the payment of salaries, taking into consideration savings effected by reallocations downward and the abolishment of certain positions. (Modified, in part, by 27 Comp. Gen. 684.)

Comptroller General Warren to the Postmaster General, August 18, 1947: There has been considered your letter of July 23, 1947, reference 20, as follows:

Several months ago there was undertaken a rearrangement of the various functions of the Bureau of the Second Assistant Postmaster General within

the Post Office Department at Washington, D. C., with a view to modernizing its operations and equipping it to meet new and larger responsibilities in the sphere of postal transport in an era when practically all transportation media have assumed new aspects. There was also the tremendous responsibility of reorganizing international postal operations and agreements in a post-war world of greatly changed characteristics.

All factors in the proposed bureau re-arrangement were submitted to the Bureau of the Budget for study and consideration, and the proposed plan was approved.

Classification sheets were prepared for all positions under the re-arrangement and submitted to the Civil Service Commission for approval, evaluation and rating. The classification sheets did not bear the names of employees who might qualify, but the description of the various positions followed somewhat closely the old assignments of duties except that they reflected the new responsibilities which rest upon the bureau by reason of transportation and other developments mentioned above.

The larger part of these classification sheets has now been processed and returned by the Civil Service Commission, bearing the ratings of salary grades determined by the Commission. A number of the ratings compare with the former evaluations because of the routine nature of the duties described. However, a substantial number of the positions have been graded up because of greater responsibilities which have been assumed since comparable positions were last described and rated.

The responsibility of the Second Assistant Postmaster General to assign qualified employees to the various positions and to fix the salaries according to the allocations of the Commission is understood to be a necessary adjustment in the legal rate of compensation. Numerous decisions of the Comptroller General on the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, support that conclusion. (4 Comp. Gen. 56, July 14, 1924/6 Comp. Gen. 530, 531, February 14, 1927/4 Comp. Gen. 106, 107, July 24, 1924)

The following excerpts are from pages 35, 36 and 37 of the U. S. Civil Service Commission "Reference Manual of Decisions of the Comptroller General on the Classification Act of 1923, as Amended" revised to August 1944:

"A qualified incumbent of a position under the Classification Act must be paid according to the allocation of his position. Payment according to allocations is not only authorized but required, 4 Comp. Gen. 56, July 14, 1924. Such payment 'is but the necessary adjustment in the legal rate of compensation'. 6 Comp. Gen. 530,531, February 14, 1927."

"Employees legally qualified for their positions must not be paid less than the minimum rates of the grades in which their positions are allocated. This is a legal requirement, with which the departments must comply even if the amount of funds currently available is insufficient. ‘Any resulting deficit in the appropriation must otherwise be avoided.' 4 Comp. Gen. 106, 107, July 24, 1924." "Where the work of a new position (not an identical additional position) is already being performed by an employee not on formal detail, or where the employee's present position is reallocated, and in either case the employee has qualified for the personnel change and the department keeps the employee in the position concerned, it should make any change in pay effective at the beginning of the pay period when notice of allocation or reallocation is received in the administrative office. There is no general authority to delay administrative action."

Under normal procedure the allocations and reallocations indicated by the approved classification sheets would be placed in effect as a routine and obligatory matter. As a matter of fact, fourteen of the position classifications were placed in effect in September 1946, at the time these sheets were rated by the Civil Service Commission and returned to the Department. With respect to the remaining sheets which have since been returned from time to time by the Commission, action has been withheld because of the provisions of Section 400, Public Law 76, 80th Congress, quoted below:

"SEC. 400. No appropriation or fund made available by this or any other appropriation Act to the executive departments and establishments, including corporations, for personal services shall be available to pay any increased cost resulting from the allocation or reallocation hereafter of a position to a higher grade, or resulting from the creation of a new position, if such increased cost

would result in an increase in the total obligations on an annual basis under such appropriation or fund: Provided, That this prohibition shall not apply to the initial creation of positions to carry out new programs or functions for which specific appropriations are made available."

The present appropriation for 1948 contains sufficient funds to place all, or the greater part, of the promotions indicated by the Civil Service Commission's allocation and reallocation into effect without exceeding the appropriation on an annual basis. Also, the estimated appropriation for 1949 will not be increased by reason of these allocations.

An opinion is requested from your office as to whether the Second Assistant is prevented from effecting the described promotions by the above quoted provision of law, provided, of course, that the funds appropriated are not exceeded thereby, or that any deficiency resulting therefrom is otherwise avoided.

During the legislative history the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1947, Public Law 76, 80th Congress, approved May 26, 1947, was designated as H. R. 3245. It is apparent from a reading of that part of the history of that act which relates to section 400, 61 Stat. 118, quoted in your letter, supra, that it was the belief of Congress that a practice had become general in some agencies of allocating or reallocating positions to a grade higher than that actually warranted by the duties of such position and that frequently such allocations or reallocations resulted in a request for a deficiency appropriation. Also, on occasion, allocations or reallocations of positions, when made near the close of a fiscal year, might not result in a request for a deficiency appropriation for that fiscal year, but would form the basis for an increased request for appropriations for the subsequent fiscal year.

Section 400 was designed to curb such a practice by limiting the availability of appropriations or funds for personal services-other than those specifically available for the carrying out of new programs or functions-to only such increased costs resulting from the allocation or reallocation of a position or the creation of a new position as could be absorbed on an annual basis within the limits of the applicable appropriation or fund. That is to say, that unless there are new programs or functions for which specific appropriations are made available there may be no allocations or reallocations of positions to higher grades, or creation of new positions during the fiscal year unless the resulting annual salary could have been met. for the entire year from the current appropriation or fund without incurring a deficiency. Of course, in determining whether such salary may be paid without increasing the total obligations on an annual basis, there may be considered the savings, on an annual basis, already effected or to be effected during the year by the reallocation of positions to lower grades in a general reorganization or rearrangement, such as is stated to have been undertaken with respect to the functions under the Second Assistant Postmaster General,

796802-48