GSA Rights and Responsibilities

General Points

• • • General information about your move is available in the General Services Administration’s booklet “Shipping Your Household Goods”.
    • Detailed information about the mover’s responsibilities to you and to the Government is contained in the GSA Tender of Service (TOS). Your agency coordinator should have a copy of the TOS for your review.

Your Move

• • • Instead of you making your own arrangements, your agency has made those arrangements for you. Your agency will pay the moving company directly for the services it provides. To do so, your agency has issued a Government Bill of Lading (GBL).
    • Once your agency has authorized the movement of your household goods, the Government will pay the costs of packing, loading, transportation, unloading, unpacking, and authorized storage in transit (SIT).
    • The Government will NOT pay the cost to move cordwood, livestock, pets, birds, boats, camper trailers, mobile homes, airplanes, building materials, property intended for disposal or resale, or property used in a business.
    • The Government may pay the cost to move privately owned vehicles when authorized by your agency.
    • The Government may pay the cost to move your professional books, papers, and/or equipment used in the Government employment.
    • The Government will move your household goods (HHG) at Full Value Service. If you desire to increase the base valuation, you must notify your move coordinator, in writing, prior to your move commencing. The cost for such additional valuation is an expense for you and must be paid in full at the time of the request.

Communications

• • • Communication between you, your move coordinator and the moving company is vital to the success of your move. If you have any questions, ask! If anything is wrong, call your move coordinator.

Your Rights

• • • You’ve got the right to move your HHG in a professional & timely manner by a firm that has been approved by GSA to handle Government employee property.
    • You have the right to an on-site pre-move survey of your belongings by the mover. Only your GBL Issuing Officer may authorize the mover to conduct a telephone survey.
    • You have the right to have all items disassembled by the mover at your previous residence to be reassembled in your new place.
    • You have the right to stop the mover’s work at any time you believe that continuing will subject you or your possessions to harm.
    • You have the right to review and object to the way in which your property’s coded on the inventory of the mover at its origin.
    • You’ve got the right to have the mover give reasonable assistance to prepare for a claim. This includes the mover giving repair estimates at its expense.
    • You have the right to stop work and rest. Working hours are from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. However, you may continue to work beyond 5:00 PM, begin work before 8:00 AM, or work on Saturday, Sunday, or U.S. holiday if mutually agreeable in writing between you and the carrier at no additional cost to the Government.
    • When your goods are placed into SIT, you have the right to have them stored within 50 miles of the destination municipality. If there are no SIT facilities located within 50 miles, only the GBL Issuing Officer may approve SIT at another location.

Your Responsibilities

• • • You have the responsibility to ensure that the mover services your shipment in a professional manner and to immediately advise your move coordinator when it does not.
    • You have the responsibility to establish with the mover the dates on which your shipment will be packed and loaded.
    • You have the responsibility prior to the pickup of your shipment to advise your move coordinator, in writing, if you want to declare excess valuation above the base valuation on your shipment.
    • You have the responsibility to be present or have your designated agent present as your goods are packed and loaded to protect your and the Government’s interest.
    • You or your designated agent have the responsibility of verifying and signing the inventory prepared at your old residence to ensure that it properly reflects the contents and condition of your HHG’s.
    • You have the responsibility to advise the mover of everything you intend to move, and you must make accessible to the carrier all items you intend to move, including items in the attic, garage, basement, and storage shed.
    • You have the responsibility to stop work on your shipment and notify your GBL Issuing Officer or move coordinator when it is not being performed to your satisfaction.
    • You have the responsibility to disassemble before your move and reassemble after delivery, television, outdoor playground equipment, swing sets, ice makers and storage sheds, satellite dishes, radio antennas and any other items declared as non-standard that require disassembly.
    • You have the responsibility to arrange for the disconnecting/reconnecting of gas and/or electric washer/dryers. You also have the responsibility of draining/filling waterbeds and draining water hoses.
    • You have the responsibility for arranging for the servicing, reassembling, or disassembling of articles that need services of a technician or special servicing or craftsman if your agency declines the third-party request. Examples of items include a hi-fi stereo, a grandfather clock or other electronic equipment, pool tables, hot tubs, electric/pipe organs, wall units/room, gas dryers, and phonograph sets.
    • You are responsible for the transportation costs to ship that portion of your HHG’s in excess of your authorized weight.
    • You have the responsibility to be present or have your agent present when your goods are delivered to confirm from the original inventory listing that all boxes, furniture, and other items are accounted for and are received in the same condition as when they were picked up. You must immediately notify the carrier and annotate on the carrier’s delivery inventory listing all damage or loss that’s readily visible as your items are unloaded.
    • You have the responsibility to instruct the mover in the placement of property at your new residence. This does not mean the mover must place articles being unpacked into drawers, cupboards, cabinets or closets except when articles are removed from hanging wardrobes.
    • You have the responsibility to report and submit a claim in writing for any loss/damage discovered at the time of delivery or that was found after delivery. Any loss or damage that is not readily noticeable at the time of delivery, such as broken China or glassware that was in a carton and not unpacked when goods were delivered must be reported, in writing, to the mover within 75 days after delivery. This does not mean, however, that you cannot file a claim after 75 days. Concealed damage must be reported within 75 days. If it is not, the burden of proof is on you to prove that the mover did the damage.
    • You have the responsibility to complete and return the GSA Household Goods Carrier Evaluation Report to your GBL Issuing Officer.

The Mover’s Responsibilities

• • The mover has the responsibility to conduct an on-site pre-move survey of your property to determine the estimated weight, packing materials, and containers needed.
  • The mover should inspect and complete all the necessary padding, crating, and packing to ensure safe transportation of your items. The use of crates must be pre-authorized by the GBL Issuing Officer. At your request, articles such as electronic equipment may be packed in the original containers if the containers are considered by the mover to be in good condition for shipping purposes.
  • The mover should furnish clean packing containers of sufficient quality for your goods’ protection, such as cartons, wardrobes, boxes, barrels, all padding materials and all crating materials and equipment. The mover must furnish new cartons for mattresses, linens, clothing, draperies, and other similar articles.
  • The mover shall reassemble all property disassembled by the mover at origin; e.g. sectional bookcases, waterbeds, beds and shall service all appliances; e.g. remove washer kits, washer locks/packs, record player turntables, etc. that were serviced by the mover to guarantee your shipment’s safe transportation.
  • If requested by you, the mover shall uncrate and/or unpack all property that was crated and packed for movement and will place the property in your new location as instructed by you. When unpacking’s conducted by the mover at delivery, the mover should remove all packing or materials that are related from the premises.
  • The mover has the responsibility to protect the finished surface from marring or scratching, to have books packed in cartons and separate each row of books with an intervening piece of corrugated or solid fiberboard, and to pack kitchenware by itself.
  • The mover has the responsibility to carefully pack such items as glassware, chinaware, and other fragile articles using clean, modern materials. Excelsior or shredded paper is not acceptable. The mover must wrap small toys, ornaments and other small-sized items individually. The mover must wrap lampshades and pack them separately from other items.
  • The mover has the responsibility to notify you as soon as possible and the GBL Issuing Officer within 5 days after the placement of your HHG’s are in SIT, of the name, address, and telephone number of the warehouse in which the shipment is stored.
  • The mover has the responsibility to ensure that warehouses or facilities used by the carrier for SIT are commercial facilities used in the normal receipt and storage of HHG’s.
  • The mover has the responsibility to inventory at the origin, all items in your shipment and specify the actual condition of those items and list at delivery all loss or damage that has occurred.

*This information is provided by GSA, item #G220