About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


B-329316 1 (2017-11-29)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaduae0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A O U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States Decision Matter of: Air Force Reserve Command-Disposable Plates and Utensils File: B-329316 Date: November 29, 2017 DIGEST Air Force Reserve Command may not use appropriated funds to purchase disposable plates and utensils where potable water was not available in the building but was provided via bottled water. Disposable plates and utensils, like food, are personal expenses of individual employees. An agency may not use appropriated funds to purchase items considered personal expenses without specific statutory authority to do so, unless the agency can demonstrate that the provision of items that would otherwise constitute a personal expense directly advances the agency's statutory mission and the benefit accruing to the agency clearly outweighs the ancillary benefit to the employee. DECISION A Comptroller, together with a Certifying Officer, of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) requests an advance decision under 31 U.S.C. § 3529 regarding the propriety of purchasing disposable plates and utensils using appropriated funds for use by personnel who work in a facility where potable water is provided via bottled water. Letter from Comptroller, Grissom Air Reserve Base, to the Comptroller General (July 17, 2017) (Request Letter); Telephone Conversation between Comptroller, Grissom Air Reserve Base, and Assistant General Counsel and Senior Attorney, GAO (Aug. 11, 2017). As explained below, disposable plates and utensils are a personal expense to be borne by individual employees. Absent statutory authority permitting the expenditure or agency demonstration that the purchase furthers a statutory mission and the benefit accruing to the government clearly outweighs the ancillary benefit to individual employees, AFRC may not use appropriated funds for such purpose. Our practice when rendering decisions is to obtain the legal views of the relevant agency and to establish a factual record on the subject of the request. GAO, Procedures and Practices for Legal Decisions and Opinions, GAO-06-1064SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2006), available atwww.Qao.gov/ roducts/GAO-06-1064SP. AFRC provided the relevant facts and the agency's legal views in its request letter.