United States Department of Agriculture
Research, Education, and Economics

ARS * CSREES * ERS * NASS

Bulletin

Effective January 1, 2003, local travel expenses will no longer be paid with the Purchase Card Convenience Check. Local travel expenses shall be reimbursed using the National Finance Center (NFC) Unified Travel System by establishing a Type "L" travel authorization for the fiscal year.

A. Local Travel Expenses

Employees may be reimbursed for travel expenses incurred in performing official duties in and around their duty station. This is commonly referred to as reimbursement for "Local Travel". Local travel expenses may include such things as the cost of subway, bus, train or taxi or, if employees use their privately-owned vehicle, mileage, tolls, and parking. Local travel expenses could be incurred in a variety of work related situations including, but not limited to, required attendance at meetings, conferences or other official functions, training, periodic work assignments at alternate duty locations in or around the duty station, etc. The authority to reimburse employees for local travel expenses is delegated to each agency. Approval of individual local travel claims is generally the responsibility of the employee's fundholder, supervisor, or other designated travel approving official.

B. Distinguishing Local Travel from Temporary Duty (TDY) Travel

Local travel is distinguished from Temporary Duty (TDY) authorizations based on the mileage incurred from the employee's official duty station or residence to the travel destination. The distinction between local travel and TDY should not be based solely on whether the employee will seek overnight accommodations or be in travel status for consecutive days. The following rules apply when making local travel or TDY determinations:

When the official travel occurs within one calender day, local travel is considered to be travel which occurs within a twenty-five (25) mile radius of the employee's duty station or residence. Per diem will not be authorized for local travel. If the travel is greater than 25 miles from either the employee's duty station or residence, TDY authorizations will be issued. Per diem will not be authorized if the period of travel is less than 12 hours. If the travel period is less than 12 hours, reimbursement will be limited to transportation and miscellaneous expenses only. If the travel period exceeds 12 hours, employees will be reimbursed the meal and incidental expense (M & IE) portion of the applicable per diem rate in addition to transportation and miscellaneous expenses incurred.

When the official travel is for consecutive days, local travel is considered to be travel which occurs within a thirty-five (35) mile radius of the employee's duty station (not their residence). If travel is greater than 35 miles from the employee's duty station, TDY authorizations will be issued. The same 12 hour rule applies. If the travel period exceeds 12 hours on a given travel day, employees will be authorized the applicable per diem rate in addition to reimbursement for transportation and miscellaneous expenses incurred. If the travel period exceeds 12 hours, but the employee does not obtain overnight accommodations, reimbursement will be limited to the M & IE portion of the applicable per diem rate, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses incurred.

C. Determining Reimbursement for Local Travel Expenses.

The following guidance is offered to assist employees, supervisors, and travel approving officials in determining reimbursement for local travel expenses incurred.

Although much is available on TDY travel policy and reimbursement, very limited Federal guidance is available concerning reimbursement of local travel expenses. Generally, if the expense appears reasonable and was necessary to conduct business, the employee should be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses. Reimbursement for local travel expenses incurred is therefore at the discretion of the agency and the employee's supervisor or travel approving official.

There is one situation where we are precluded from providing local travel reimbursement to employees. A Federal Agency, per Comptroller General ruling, cannot reimburse (or give the appearance that they are reimbursing) employees for local travel costs incurred solely from the employees residence to their permanent duty station unless the employee is participating in the Public Transportation Benefit Program sponsored by the Federal government. The authority under this program is unique and should not be interpreted as a basis for reimbursing employees for home to work travel costs.

In determining mileage for local travel vouchers the practice of automatically deducting the mileage from the employee residence to duty station from all local travel should be discontinued. In the past this deduction was made, but it was inconsistently applied and has proven to be inequitable and unfair to many employees seeking reimbursement for, out of pocket, local travel expenses. References to this practice will be deleted from all Financial Management Division (FMD) published guidance.

D. Approving Local Travel Expenses.

Supervisors and other travel approving officials will ensure that employees are promptly reimbursed for reasonable, out-of-pocket expenses incurred for official local travel in or around

the duty station. Approving reimbursement for local travel expenses incurred must be made on a case-by-case basis. In making this determination, approving officials should take care not to reimburse or give the appearance that they are reimbursing employees for routine residence to official duty station commuting costs. It is the responsibility of the employee seeking reimbursement to clearly illustrate and justify that local travel costs incurred were out of pocket and not part of their normal commuting expense.

E. Type L, Local Travel Authorization - Using the NFC Unified Travel System

A Type L authorization will now be used for all reimbursement of local travel costs as defined above using the NFC Unified Travel System. A Type L, Local travel authorization (form

AD-202, Travel Authorization/Advance, may be prepared for an employee or for a group of employees to obtain reimbursement for local travel expenses. The use of Type L authorizations and associated vouchers enables employees to obtain expeditious reimbursement for local travel expenses incurred. Payments will usually be made by electronic funds transfer (EFT) to the employee's salary or travel EFT account.

Procedures:

See Enclosure 1 for instructions on preparing Type L, local travel authorizations.

Follow NFC Manual Title II, Chapter 2, Section 1, Travel System and Title VI, Chapter 6, Section 1, Travel Online Data Entry, for additional instructions on processing Type L authorizations and reimbursement vouchers.

Type L authorizations may be issued to authorize an employee or group of employees (up to 50) for an entire fiscal year.

Any questions pertaining to this bulletin may be directed to Linda E. Mahoney, Chief, Travel and Relocation Services Branch, on 301-504-1307.

/s/

S. M. HELMRICH
Director
Financial Management Division

Enclosure 1

Instructions for Form AD-202,

Travel Authorization for Type L, Local Travel

1. ACTION CODE (enter one of the following):

E = Enter to establish a new travel authorization.

A = Amends an authorization that was previously established.

2. AUTHORIZATION DATE: Enter the preparation date of the travel authorization.

SECTION A- IDENTIFICATION

3. TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION NO.: Enter the appropriate authorization number
   
   (13-position number) assigned to the authorization. The first position is the fiscal year. The second position of the authorization must be "L" for local travel. If authorizing a single individual, the third position of the authorization number will be an "S". If authorizing a group of individuals, the third position of the authorization number will be an "M".

4. SOCIAL SECURITY NO.: Enter the traveler's social security number. If the authorization covers multiple travelers, leave this block blank and complete Form AD-202M (Attachment for Multiple Travelers). The AD-202M has a sufficient number of blocks to indicate the appropriate social security number of 50 individuals within an office.

5. NAME: Enter the traveler's name. If the authorization covers multiple travelers, leave this block blank and complete the AD-202M.
   
   The AD-202M is used along with the AD-202 to accommodate situations of group travel of up to 50 travelers. Each AD-202M can accommodate 25 travelers, therefore, if 26-50 travelers are being authorized, use two AD-202M's.

6. AGENCY CODE: Enter the 2-digit agency code; "03" for ARS, "22" for CSREES, "18" for ERS, and "20" for NASS.

7. AGENCY ORIGINATING OFFICE NUMBER (OON): Enter the applicable 10-digit originating office number, e.g., AG03XXXXXX.

8. TRAVELER ORIGINATING OFFICE NUMBER (OON): Leave blank.

9. ESTIMATED DATES OF TRAVEL: Enter the beginning and ending dates of the fiscal year.

10. TRAVEL TYPE: Enter the type travel code "DM" for domestic travel.

11. GOVERNMENT CREDIT CARD HOLDER Leave blank if this is a multiple authorization. If authorizing one individual, enter "Y" for yes if the traveler has a Government contractor-issued travel charge card or is eligible for a Government contractor-issued travel charge card. Enter "N" for no if the traveler is not eligible for a card.

12. TRAINING DOCUMENT NO.: Leave blank. However, if local travel is performed for the purpose of travel code 3, the training document number should be entered on the AD-616, Travel Voucher and the accounting redistributed to the correct purpose of travel code, accounting code, and percentage.

13. OFFICIAL DUTY STATION CITY AND STATE: For multiple Type L authorizations, leave this block blank. If authorizing one individual, enter the city or town and 2-position state abbreviation code in which the traveler is now stationed.

14. RESIDENT CITY AND STATE: For multiple Type L authorizations, leave this block blank. If authorizing one individual and this is the same as the official duty station, leave this block blank, otherwise, enter the city and 2-position state abbreviation code of the traveler's residence.

SECTION B- EMPLOYMENT STATUS

Only one block may be checked in this section. All employees on a multiple authorization must be of the same employment status.

15. PAYROLLED BY NFC: If all travelers are Federal employees of an agency payrolled by NFC, check this block and move to Section C. All employees listed as payrolled by NFC must have been payrolled by NFC for at least 2 pay periods.

16. NOT PAYROLLED BY NFC: Leave blank.

17. NEW HIRE: If all travelers are newly-hired Federal employees whose effective date of employment has been within the last 2 pay periods, check this block and move to Section C. All employees listed on the authorization must meet the same criteria.

18. SPECIAL APPOINTEE: If all travelers are special appointees, check this block and move to Section C. All employees listed on the authorization must meet the same criteria.

19. NON-GOVERNMENT: Leave blank.

SECTION C- ITINERARY AND ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES

20. FROM: Leave blank.

21. TO: Leave blank.

22. PURPOSE OF TRAVEL: Enter a brief statement describing the specific reason for the travel. DO NOT use the purpose of travel code definition.

23. AUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES: The only expenditures that can be authorized for Type L authorizations are POV, Other, GSA Auto, and Car Rental. If a POV has been authorized, provide the POV rate.

24. TOTAL EST. EXPENDITURES AUTHORIZED: Enter the cumulative amount of Block 23.

SECTION D - ACCOUNTING CLASSIFICATION

25. DISTRIBUTE TOTAL ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES FROM SECTION C TO THE APPLICABLE PURPOSE OF TRAVEL CODE AND ACCOUNTING CLASSIFICATION
    
    PURPOSE OF TRAVEL CODES: Enter the correct purpose travel code for each accounting code that will be entered. Only the following purpose codes should be used on a Type L.

    1 - Site visit

    2 - Information meeting

    3 - Training Attendance

    4 - Speech or presentation

    5 - Conference attendance

    15 - Informal Training

    ACCOUNTING CLASSIFICATION: Enter the appropriate accounting code to which the travel will be charged. If there is more that one accounting code, then it should be annotated on the next line with the appropriate purpose of travel code and percentage.

SECTION E - TRAVEL ADVANCE

Leave this section blank.

SECTION F - AGENCY APPROVAL

35. APPROVING OFFICER'S NAME AND TITLE: Enter the name of the appropriate official and position title.

36. SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER: Enter the approving officer's social security number. Note: The social security number must be for the approving official that is signing the authorization.

37. DATE APPROVED: The approving officer must provide the date of approval, using the mm/dd/yy format.

38. PHONE (AREA CODE & NO.): Enter the area code and telephone number of the approving officer.

39. APPROVING OFFICER'S SIGNATURE: The approving officer must sign and the individual signing must be the same individual whose name and social security number appears in Blocks 35 and 36.

40. CONTACT PERSON'S NAME: Enter the name of the person to contact for information regarding the travel authorization if other than the approving official.

41. PHONE (AREA CODE & NO.): Enter the area code and telephone number of the contact person listed in Block 40.

42. REMARKS: Enter any additional information that may be pertinent.

SPECIAL NOTE: In instances where the employee's supervisor, normally considered the approving officer, is geographically separated from the employee, an alternate (local) approving officer may be designated. For example, ARS Area Directors will use the Area Administrative Officer (AAO) or Area Budget and Fiscal Officer (ABFO) as the approving officer for local travel reimbursement purposes. Use of the AAO/ABFO as approving officer does not apply to temporary duty travel situations.