Relocation Travel

This report provides governmentwide information on the number of civilian employees relocated during fiscal years 1991 through 1995 and the cost of these relocations. GAO discusses (1) the total number of civilian employees who were relocated at the federal government's expense, (2) the total cost of these relocations to the government, and (3) the agencies that had rotational policies requiring their civilian employees to relocate. GAO also provides information on trends for the number and cost of civilian employee relocations during this period.

GAO noted that, for FY 1991 through 1995: (1) 97 federal organizations reported authorizing about 132,800 relocations, and 23 other organizations reported making about 40,200 relocations; (2) a small number of organizations accounted for the bulk of the relocations authorized or made; (3) while the total numbers of relocations authorized and made fluctuated yearly across the organizations that provided data for all 5 fiscal years, there was moderate change in these totals between FY 1991 and 1995; (4) across the organizations that provided data for all 5 fiscal years, the total number of relocations authorized decreased by less than 1 percent (89 organizations) and the total number of relocations made increased by about 12.5 percent (19 organizations) from FY 1991 to 1995; (5) 97 federal organizations reported obligating about $3.4 billion for relocations, and 23 other organizations reported expending about $363 million for relocations; (6) a small number of organizations accounted for the bulk of the relocation obligations or expenditures; (7) across the organizations that provided data for all 5 fiscal years, total relocation obligations varied and total relocation expenditures increased yearly; (8) there was noticeable change in these totals between FY 1991 and 1995; (9) in constant 1995 dollars, total relocation obligations increased about 16 percent (83 organizations) and total relocation expenditures increased about 88 percent (22 organizations) from FY 1991 to 1995; (10) for the 22 organizations, this increase was due to the Department of the Navy's expenditures; (11) excluding the Navy's expenditures, the 21 remaining organizations' total expenditures decreased by less than 1 percent during the period; (12) 15 federal organizations reported that they had mandatory rotational policies requiring some of their employees to rotate on a prescribed schedule; (13) most of these organizations attributed their policies to federal regulations that limit overseas tours of duty; and (14) based on data provided by these 15 organizations, GAO estimated that these rotational policies accounted for about 19 percent of the total relocations reported as authorized and about 7 percent of the total relocations reported as made during this period.