Submission for OMB Review; Living Quarters Eligibility Questionnaire; GSA Form 5039

Issuing agencies

Abstract

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Regulatory Secretariat Division will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a revision of an existing information collection requirement.

Full Text

<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 203 (Thursday, October 22, 2026)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 203 (Thursday, October 22, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66706-66707]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21589]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[OMB Control No. 3090-0331; Docket No. 2026-0001; Sequence No. 3]


Submission for OMB Review; Living Quarters Eligibility 
Questionnaire; GSA Form 5039

AGENCY: Office of Human Resource Management, Division of Human Capital 
Strategic Planning and Programs, General Services Administration (GSA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the 
Regulatory Secretariat Division will be submitting to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a revision 
of an existing information collection requirement.

DATES: Submit comments on or before November 23, 2026.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for this information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for Public 
Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colin C. Bennett, Human Resources 
Specialist, Office of Human Resources Management, Division of Human 
Capital Strategic Planning and Programs, at telephone 240-418-6822 or 
via email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#187b77747176367a7d76767d6c6c587f6b79367f776e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="93f0fcfffafdbdf1f6fdfdf6e7e7d3f4e0f2bdf4fce5">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> for clarification of content.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Purpose

    The GSA routinely hires, reassigns, promotes, or transfers Federal 
employees to duty stations in foreign areas (i.e., outside of the 
United States and its territories and possessions). Civilian employees 
located in foreign areas are eligible for different compensation 
authorities compared to employees located in the United States or its 
territories or possessions. Besides basic pay, certain foreign 
allowances are often used as recruitment or retention incentives to 
make foreign service more attractive and economically feasible. One 
type of allowance is called a ``living quarters allowance,'' or 
``LQA,'' and allows an agency to reimburse the cost of rental housing 
as well as utilities (such as electricity, natural gas, and water 
service). Under this authority (conveyed by the Overseas Differentials 
and Allowances Act of 1960, Pub. L. 86-707, Sept. 6, 1960, codified at 
5 U.S.C. 5923(a)(2)), not all job candidates or overseas employees are 
necessarily eligible (for example, if Government-provided housing is 
made available). In addition, for those job candidates who are 
eligible, the amount of the benefit varies by rank (i.e., GS grade), 
presence overseas with or without family, and overall family size. 
Detailed rules concerning eligibility and other matters are found in 
the State Department's Department of State Standardized Regulations, 
sections 031.12 and Chapter 130.
    To more effectively administer LQA, GSA created GSA Form 5039, 
``Living Quarters Allowance Eligibility Questionnaire''. This form 
collects basic demographic and housing-related information. It also 
includes questions meant to coordinate housing benefits between the 
U.S. military and other Federal agencies (for example, if two spouses 
work for different Federal agencies). Individuals who complete this 
pre-employment questionnaire are considered job candidates and members 
of the public (if not already Federal civilian employees). The purpose 
of this data collection is to ensure that eligible applicants receive 
allowance consideration, in the correct amounts based on the position 
and family size, and that ineligible candidates are not erroneously 
provided with this significant monetary benefit.

B. Annual Reporting Burden

    Respondents: 25.
    Responses per Respondent: 1.
    Total Annual Responses: 25.
    Hours per Response: 2.
    Total Burden Hours: 50.

C. Public Comments

    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register at 91 FR 9852 
on February 27, 2026. Three comments were received that contained a 
total of six (6) suggestions, all of which we found very helpful.
    First, a commenter suggested that within the form we could briefly 
summarize the Department of State eligibility criteria so that users of 
the form would not have to independently search elsewhere. Second, a 
commenter suggested that we add a new section to provide definitions of 
three significant terms: ``actual place of residence,'' ``personal 
reasons,'' and ``single employer test.'' Third, a commenter suggested 
that we incorporate a document attachment checklist. A fourth comment 
was that we should increase the time burden estimate because of the 
need to locate and attach outside documents to the GSA form. The 
commenters also suggested that the form completion process could be 
automated, by developing a system to both pre-fill the demographic data 
and then electronically transmit the form to the agency.
    We have implemented several of these suggestions by revising the 
form in ways to include additional information. First, we have 
incorporated a new section that provides easy-to-understand definitions 
for the three terms of art identified by the commenter. We also have 
incorporated a new section that summarizes, in lay language, the 
Department of State regulations that govern allowance eligibility. For 
the third comment, to add a checklist, we note that Section D of the 
form already includes a checklist. We believe that this existing 
checklist should be sufficient. For the fourth comment, regarding time 
burden, we agree, and have therefore doubled the estimated time to a 
total of 2 hours: 1 hour to complete the form and then a separate

[[Page 66707]]

hour to locate and collect other supplementary documents, when they are 
needed. In terms of the two comments concerning automation of the 
completion and submission process, at GSA specifically, we do not 
currently have an existing information technology system that could 
serve this purpose. At GSA, since we currently have fewer than 25 
employees annually transferred or hired for overseas work, the cost of 
this automation would most likely exceed the cost savings in labor 
hours from that automation.
    We thank the commenters for their helpful feedback.

Richard Speidel,
Deputy Chief Data Officer, General Services Administration.
[FR Doc. 2026-21589 Filed 10-21-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-FM-P


</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>