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B-310108 1 (2008-02-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptavwl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A G A O Comptroller General . Accountability * Integrity * Reliability of the United States United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 Decision Matter of: Forest Service-Apportionment Limitation for Aviation Resources File: B-310108 Date: February 6, 2008 DIGEST The Forest Service violated the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1517, when it exceeded an apportionment limitation of $100 million for aviation resources to be used for forest fire suppression activities. The emergency exception to the Antideficiency Act is not applicable because the Forest Service had received an appropriation that was sufficient for these activities; the need for emergency funding was based on the apportionment limitation, which was well below the amount appropriated. DECISION The Forest Service has requested our decision regarding its obligation of fiscal year 2006 funds for wildland fire suppression activities. Letter from Hank Kashdan, Deputy Chief for Business Operations, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, to David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, Aug. 20, 2007 (Request Letter). This decision addresses whether the Forest Service violated the Antideficiency Act when it incurred obligations for the acquisition of aviation resources in excess of a $100 million limitation contained in an apportionment schedule footnote. Our practice when rendering decisions is to obtain a factual record from the relevant federal agency and, as appropriate, other interested parties, and to elicit the legal position, if any, of the agency and other interested parties on the subject matter of the request. GAO, Procedures and Practices for Legal Decisions and Opinions, GAO-06-1064SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2006), available at www.gao.gov/legal/resources.html. In this instance, the request letter included, as an attachment, a May 2007 memorandum containing the views of the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Memorandum from L. Benjamin Young, Jr., Assistant General Counsel, General Law Division, to J. Lenise Lago, Acting Director, Program and Budget Analysis, Forest Service (USDA