altered, or otherwise mutilated, or its value as evidence affected, impaired, or destroyed. Also, such documents should not be presented as evidence or otherwise used in any manner by reason of which they may lose their identity as official records of the General Accounting Office. However, since certified copies are competent evidence equally with the originals (42 Stat. 24; 31 U. S. C. 46), they should be submitted for use as evidence.

§ 3.4 Presentation of original documents for examination and loaning of records. Whenever copies of documents will serve the required purpose the originals thereof will not be removed from the General Accounting Office. When it is impracticable to furnish copies, original documents will be presented for examination in the custody of an employee of the General Accounting Office, or under conditions heretofore or hereafter approved by the Comptroller General may be loaned to proper officials upon written, receipt, which shall include an acknowledgment of accountability therefor. Where original documents are presented for examination or loaned, it is expected that they will be maintained in the same condition as when removed from the files of the General Accounting Office.

§ 3.5 Availability of original documents for court purposes. Whenever the originals of any documents are desired by or on behalf of parties to a suit in any court they will be made available only to the court in response to a subpoena or request from the court, which should be directed to the Comptroller General of the United States and served upon the Chief Clerk of the General Accounting Office.

§ 3.6 Furnishing copies of records, documents, etc. Copies of any books, records, papers, or documents and transscripts or information from the books and proceedings of the General Accounting Office will be furnished only upon the submission of a written statement satisfactorily showing the purpose and necessity therefor. Requests for such copies of records and transcripts should be addressed to the Chief, Reconciliation and Clearance Division, General Accounting Office, Washington 25, D. C., in connection with all matters except those pertaining to the Post Office Department and the Postal Service, which requests

should be addressed to the Chief, Postal Accounts Division, General Accounting Office, Asheville, North Carolina. Certified copies will be furnished where required. Exceptions to the foregoing may be made only on the written approval of the Comptroller General. However, under the provisions of the "Miller" Act of August 24, 1935, 49 Stat. 794; 40 U. S. C. 270 (c), copies of documents will be furnished to proper parties in interest, or their authorized attorneys, upon application therefor.

§ 3.7 Furnishing copies of records or transcripts for court purposes. Where copies of records or transcripts are desired by or on behalf of parties to a suit in court, certified copies or transcripts shall be furnished only to the court in response to a subpoena or request from the court therefor, which should be addressed to the Comptroller General of the United States and served upon the Chief Clerk of the General Accounting Office.

§ 3.8 Charges for furnishing copies of records and certifications thereof. Charges for furnishing copies of official records or certifications thereof shall be made in accordance with the following:

(a) 50 cents for each photostatic sheet of checks, money orders, contracts, bonds, vouchers, and other documents; except that for copies of contracts or other similar multiple sheet documents furnished the charge shall be 50 cents for each of the first four sheets and 25 cents for each sheet furnished in addition thereto;

(b) $1.00 for each certification of authenticity of copies of records;

(c) $1.00 for each certification of the date of final settlement of a contract pursuant to section 3 of the "Miller" Act of August 24, 1935, 49 Stat. 794;

(d) No charge shall be made for copies of records or certifications of authenticity furnished for official use by any court or officer of any branch of the United States Government.

tion requests.

7.11 Spoiled or canceled requests.

7.12 Memorandum of Government request for transportation.

7.13 Uncompleted journeys. 7.14 Unused tickets.

7.15 Claims against common carriers for the value of unused passenger

tickets or portions thereof. 7.16 Elimination of waivers. 7.17 Lost or stolen transportation requests. 7.18 Symbol letters prescribed.

AUTHORITY: §§ 7.1 to 7.18, inclusive, issued under secs. 309, 311 (f), 42 Stat. 25; 31 U. S. C. 49, 52 (f).

SOURCE: 7.1 to 7.18, inclusive, contained in General Regulations No. 108, Comptroller General of the United States, Jan. 2, 1947, effective Apr. 1, 1947, 12 FR. 113.

§ 7.1 Standard Government request for transportation of passengers forms. The following new standard forms for requesting the transportation of passengers by common carriers are hereby prescribed and published for general use throughout the United States Government service, in lieu of all other forms of like character now being used for this purpose:

Standard Form No. 1138,1 U. S. Government request for transportation-Type A book cover (front and back-outside and inside).

Standard Form No. 1139,1 U. S. Government request for transportation-Type A, original.

Standard Form No. 1139a,1 Memorandum of U. S. Government request for transportation-Type A.

Standard Form No. 1140, U. S. Government request for transportation-Type B book cover (front and back-outside and inside).

Standard Form No. 1141,' U. S. Government request for transportation-Type B, original.

Standard Form No. 1141a,1 Memorandum of U. S. Government request for transportation-Type B.

1 Filed as part of the original document. "Not filled with the Division of the Federal Register.

§ 7.2 Printing and binding. (a) The size of the above-prescribed standard forms, with the exception of Standard Form No. 1140, will be 84 by 34 inches including binding. Standard Form No. 1140 will be 84 by 164 inches including original binding. The requests for transportation, Standard Form Nos. 1139 and 1141, will be printed on light green paper and the memorandum copies thereof, Standard Form Nos. 1139a and 1141a, will be printed on white paper. U. S. Government Request for Transportation-Type A, original, Standard Form No. 1139, together with the memorandum copy thereof, Standard Form No. 1139a, will be bound 25 requests to the book in U. S. Government Request for Transportation-Type A Book Cover, Standard Form No. 1138. U. S. Government Request for Transportation-Type B, original, Standard Form No. 1141, together with the memorandum copy thereof, Standard Form No. 1141a, will be bound 100 requests to the book (5 requests to the page) in U. S. Government Request for Transportation-Type B Book Cover, Standard Form No. 1140.

(b) The new forms of U. S. Government Request for Transportation, Standard Forms Nos. 1139, 1139a, 1141, and 1141a, will be prenumbered when printed (numbers will be printed in black only) and such numerals will be immediately preceded by symbol letters (also in black and capital letters only), approved in advance by the Comptroller General of the United States for the purpose of identifying the Government agency using same. In connection with the use of the new forms of transportation requests, there are hereby prescribed, as set forth in § 7.18, revised symbol letters for the several departments, independent establishments, and agencies of the Government, and such symbol letters should always be included in any reference to the serial number of said new forms of transportation request. Symbol letters required by agencies not listed in § 7.18 or any variation from the prescribed symbol letters, must be requested in writing and authorized by written approval of the Comptroller General of the United States. The serial numbers of transportation requests for each department, independent establishment, or agency of the Government will begin with the number "1" and continue numerically thereafter until the serial number for a department, establishment, or agency

reaches the number "999,999", at which time the transportation request numbers will again begin with the number "1”. However, separate series of serial numbers for Type A and Type B requests must not be used and the present (single) series of serial numbers may be continued to the new forms of requests prescribed herein. A single series of serial numbers must run consecutively through all requests regardless of the type or types ordered.

(c) No departure from the exact specifications of the standard forms herein prescribed will be permitted, but this will not be construed to prevent a department, independent establishment, or agency from ordering printed on the forms used by it, when more economical and advantageous to do so, the name of the department or establishment, name of bureau or service, place of issue, title of issuing officer, and designation of appropriation or fund chargeable.

(d) The above-prescribed forms will be printed only at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and requisitions therefor should be addressed to the Treasury Department, Bureau of Federal Supply (Printing Section).

(e) The printing of Government requests for transportation by commercial concerns is strictly prohibited.

§ 7.3 Utilization of the old series of transportation requests. The present supply of unused Government requests for transportation forms of the old type on hand in the departments, independent establishments and agencies, and at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will be used until exhausted.

§ 7.4 Accountability for requests for transportation. Appropriate accountability records must be maintained by the departments and establishments of the United States Government for the purpose of controlling the stock of printed transportation requests on hand and for fixing the accountability upon the employees responsible for their issuance and use. Each officer and employee of the United States Government having custody of Government transportation requests should be held accountable therefor and chargeable with the amount which is required to be paid by the United States by reason of improper use of such requests resulting from fault or negligence.

§ 7.5 Issue and use of requests. (a) United States Government requests for transportation will be furnished by competent administrative authority for presentation by persons traveling on official business, based on proper travel authority, to transportation companies in the United States, including the Pullman Company, interurban electric railway companies, motor bus lines, or air lines, and to steamship lines having ports in the United States, for exchange by them for specified passenger, sleeping-car, parlor-car, steamship stateroom, or other commonly recognized transportation accommodations, and should be used, when practicable, to obtain all official transportation when the amount involved is $1 or more.

(b) Requests for Transportation— Type A (Standard Form No. 1139). In those cases where the traveler is authorized to issue transportation requests for his own use, Type A book(s) of blank transportation request forms will be issued to him, and the traveler will sign such requests once only in the space provided thereon for "Signature of issuing officer-traveler". The official issuing Type A book of blank requests to a traveler will show the transaction in the space provided therefor on the inside front cover of the book, Standard Form No. 1138, over his bona fide signature. The traveler should maintain a record of all requests issued by him and of all unnegotiated requests which are spoiled or canceled for any reason, such record to be kept on the stub to which the memorandum of the request for transportation is attached. When there is no further need for unused requests, when separated from Government service, or when all of the requests contained in a book have been exhausted, the book of unused requests or empty cover thereof, as the case may be, should be returned immediately to the official who issued such book of requests to the traveler. Books returned to the issuing officer containing unused requests may be reissued in blank to other travelers until the requests are exhausted, the return and reissue thereof to be shown in the spaces provided therefor on the inside front and back cover of the transportation request book. When all of the spaces provided for this purpose have been used, the unused transportation requests contained in books returned to the issuing officer should be effectively voided, accounted for, and returned through proper administrative channels

to the Treasury Department, Bureau of Federal Supply (Printing Section).

(c) Requests for Transportation— Type B (Standard Form No. 1141). Type B transportation requests when signed and issued by an authorized issuing officer other than the traveler are for use only by the traveler named therein for securing the transportation specified. Type B transportation requests should not be issued in blank to travelers to be signed by them both as issuing officer and traveler.

(d) In order that the lowest possible fares for Government travel may be secured, and that the contract of carriage may at all times be clearly understood by all parties concerned, it is incumbent upon officials issuing requests, and upon travelers authorized to issue requests for their own use, to ascertain the lowest fare of the class that will adequately furnish the desired transportation and to issue transportation requests accordingly. When transportation and/or accommodations exceeding those authorized under current Standardized Government Travel Regulations are used, the excess cost thereof will be collected by the proper Government official from the traveler.

(e) Through tickets, excursion tickets, reduced-rate round-trip or party tickets should be secured whenever practicable and economical.

(f) Separate transportation requests should be issued for parlor, chair, or sleeping accommodations when same are not included in the cost of passage ticket.

$7.6 Preparation of requests. In preparing Government requests for transportation careful attention should be given to all instructions and details in arrangements, especially to the stub attached to the original requests headed "Carrier's stub", which must not be detached or covered by marks or writing since it is for the sole use of the carrier. Transportation requests should be filled in by typewriter, pen, or indelible pencil, and a legible memorandum thereof must always be secured. The information to be inserted in the spaces provided therefor on the transportation request form is as follows:

Good until (date). To avoid the unauthorized use of lost transportation requests, care should be exercised when setting the limitary date to provide for the

728472-48-SUPP. X-BK. 1————14

Point of departure.

Destination.

as

$7.7 Exchange of requests for transTo obtain portation at ticket offices. transportation and/or accommodations, Government requests for transportation completely filled out and validated by an authorized issuing officer other than the traveler, or by an issuing officer-traveler (before reaching ticket window), the case may be, should be exchanged at a ticket office. When requests are presented at an office not supplied with the proper ticket forms, at a non-agency station, or at a station at which the ticket office is not open for the sale of tickets before departure of train, conductors will honor requests as follows:

(a) If the destination is a point on conductor's run, the request may be honored to destination without exchange, and traveler's receipt secured in the space provided therefor on the face of the request.

(b) If the destination is a point beyond the conductor's run, conductor will honor the request to the first station en route at which proper form of ticket can be issued in the usual way, endorsing on

back of request over his signature the points between which request was honored without ticket. When the request is exchanged at an intermediate ticket office, it should show clearly that transportation was furnished from point of origin of travel and not from the intermediate point at which the ticket is exchanged.

(c) When a request presented on the train calls for transportation beyond the line of the initial carrier or beyond the train conductor's run and it is impossible to exchange it before reaching the station at which the traveler leaves the train, or before reaching the end of the conductor's run, as the case may be, the conductor must obtain a statement signed by the traveler, completely describing the transportation request and certifying to the points between which the traveler has been carried and the reason why the request could not be exchanged, such record to be turned in with the conductor's train collections. After securing such statement, the conductor should endorse on the request over his signature the stations between which honored and return it to the traveler who, immediately after leaving the train, will present the request to the ticket agent of the line on which it is drawn, and on which it was honored by the conductor, for exchange for a ticket to the destination named therein. Such request should not be honored by the ticket agent of the carrier on which the journey will be continued, as payment thereon by the Government in that case would necessitate securing a waiver from the initial carrier on which it is drawn.

§ 7.8 Identification of travelers. (a) When a traveler signs a request (Type A) as issuing officer-traveler, the carrier will require him to exhibit the book from which the request was taken, in order to ascertain the name of the person to whom the book of requests was issued, and will then require him to establish his identity as the person to whom such book of requests was issued. When a traveler, upon request, fails to produce the book from which the request was taken, the ticket agent should refuse to honor the transportation request and require the traveler to pay cash for his transportation, the amount thereof to be later included, if proper, in the traveler's voucher as an item for reimbursement.

(b) The above requirement as to means of identification does not apply to Type B transportation requests which are filled out and signed by an authorized issuing officer other than the traveler, ready for use by the traveler named therein for transportation specified. Ticket agents should exercise at least ordinary care in assuring themselves of the identity of a traveler who presents a Type B request.

§ 7.9 Transportation differing from that specified in request. (a) Carriers must furnish transportation of the class or character and between the points specified in the request. The United States Government will not be responsible for excess costs occasioned by violation of those instructions. Transportation exceeding that called for on the face of the request must be paid for by the traveler when obtained and not billed against the Government.

(b) Where exceptional conditions require the issuance of transportation and/or accommodations differing from that specified in the request, the traveler should record, in the space provided on the reverse of the form, the actual services furnished, the reason for the difference, and sign the statement. Any additional charges resulting from furnishing services or accommodations in excess of those called for on the face of the request should be collected by the carrier from the traveler and not billed against the Government, the notation by the traveler on the reverse of the request being, in such situation, only for purposes of adjustment between the traveler and the Government where the traveler may claim reimbursement.

(c) Transportation furnished by a carrier other than the one named on the face of the request is transportation differing from that specified in the request, and in such case the carrier should require the traveler to record, in the space provided on the reverse of the form, the name of the carrier actually furnishing the transportation and to sign the statement.

(d) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c), of this section, transportation requests must not be altered and requests showing erasures or alterations should not be honored.

§ 7.10 Refusal of carrier to honor transportation requests. Should an