Although you will see your total per diem reflected in either your TM4 authorization or medevac cable, for our services, we only use the total lodging per diem allocation. For those requesting lodging and furnishing, we first allocate per diem toward lodging. After taxes and a booking fee, we then apply the standard rate based upon market research for renting not only brand-new, but also entirely customizable furnishings (this is very different from competitors, who rent used and refurbished items…all sourced from warehouses of items they’ve been reusing for up to 15 years! In contrast, we only provide brand-new, specifically tailored items). We then incorporate the standard transaction fee that credit card companies charge as a surcharge; the logistics cost for delivery, assembly, and disassembly of the furnishings; and the insurance premium to cover liability since no one else rents brand-new items. In short, because these items must be rented during your TDY, the calculations are designed on market price, factoring in brand-new items that are also customizable, while accounting for liability. Second, each geographic region adds varying rates for taxes, moving logistics, and insurance. At the end of your TDY, you can then choose to purchase your items for 75% off their full market rate since we do not reuse anything + most items have been uniquely tailored to individual preferences.

Here’s a deeper dive: our services are included within your lodging per diem based upon the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) established rate, which fluctuates widely depending on locality and time of year; for example, a standard GSA rate of $110/day nationwide does not go as far to provide our services as a TDY based upon locality…for example, a non-HSTA per diem in Minneapolis in July = $148 while the standard rate is only $110! Let’s use OB Med clients as another example (90 days per diem, no sliding scale, single pregnancy) and say their lodging rate is $98/day (a conservative example). That comes out to roughly $11K when factoring Eligible Family Members (EFMs).

Their lodging budget is “Use or Lose” – they (through TDYR) use $11K to secure temporary lodging and rent supplemental furnishings (so they don’t lose it).  

Thus, the signed agreement is a Rental Lease Agreement for $11K. It’s proof of purchase of a rental contract. Then we would charge the clients throughout their TDY for a collective total of $11K and encourage them to submit receipts as early as possible so that they can receive $11K into their bank account asap.

Think of it like this. You go on TDY to Phoenix for three days. You’re entitled to rent a car, so you do so. They charge $20 per day. Then Alamo charges me $60. I turn around and give the government that receipt (AKA proof of purchase/record of a contractual exchange) for $60. I then receive the $60 from the government.

The government knows that within the $60 there are included all sorts of things: rental car company overhead, employee salaries, profit, operations/maintenance of their fleet, the soap used to wash the vehicles, the polo shirts worn by the clerk, etc. No different here, whether it’s Starbucks or TDY Rentals. Each expense of every company is ultimately passed along to the end user in order to provide company services. So rest assured, when you submit the $11K TDY Rentals receipt to the government, they’ll send you $11K.

A final important factor that impacts how we use your per diem is one of legality, which we call “averaging.” Because you cannot take the entire per diem average for the duration of your TDY stay and apply it evenly (due to the changes in per diem from sliding scale or additional EFMs), we find a property at the lower of the authorized per diem rates spanning your TDY duration, then use the difference toward supplemental rental items so that you do not lose out on any of your per diem benefit. Watch the video below for an example of how this works using the Home Service Transfer Allowance (HSTA) TDY benefit: