Principles of Federal Appropriations Law - US Government ...

Chapter 4
Availability of Appropriations: Purpose
Gen. at 609. Naturally, if the meeting or conference does not have the
necessary connection with official agency business, the cost of meals may
not be paid regardless of who sponsors the meeting or where it is held.
Thus, a registration fee consisting primarily of the cost of a luncheon was
disallowed for three Community Services Administration employees
attending a Federal Executive Board meeting at which Combined Federal
Campaign (CFC) awards were to be presented. B-195045, Feb. 8, 1980. 69
Similarly, an employee of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development could not be reimbursed for meals incident to meetings of a
local business association. B-166560, May 27, 1969.
In a 1981 case, the Internal Revenue Service bought tickets for several of its
agents to attend the Fourth Annual Awards and Scholarship Dinner of the
National Association of Black Accountants. The purposes of attending the
banquet were to establish contacts for recruitment purposes and to
demonstrate the commitment of the IRS to its equal employment
opportunity program. However, attendance could not be authorized under
either 5 U.S.C. § 4109 or 5 U.S.C. § 4110, and the expenditure was therefore
prohibited by 5 U.S.C. § 5946. B-202028, May 14, 1981.
However, in B-249249, Dec. 17, 1992, the Comptroller General held that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could reimburse an FBI agent for the
cost of a retirement banquet. The agent represented the FBI at the banquet
honoring a local police chief and presented him with a plaque and
commendation letter from the FBI Director. “The agent’s attendance at the
function was in furtherance of the agency’s functions or activities for which
its appropriations were made and the meal was incidental to the retirement
ceremony.” The Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, applying
this decision, stated that “[w]e believe that the Comptroller General’s
holding was correct and would be applicable to an employee of a United
States Attorney’s Office attending the same kind of event under like
circumstances.” 17 Op. Off. Legal Counsel 70 (1993). The Office of Legal
Counsel cautioned, however, that the application of the ruling should be
carefully limited to where the nature of the ceremonial event “provides
69 A later decision, 67 Comp. Gen. 254 (1988), held that agencies may spend appropriated
funds, within reason, to support efforts to solicit contributions to the CFC from their
employees. While 67 Comp. Gen. 254 did not involve meals, it nevertheless raises the
question of whether this aspect of B-195045 (insufficient relationship for purposes of
5 U.S.C. § 4110) would still be followed. Either way, the disallowance in B-195045 was
correct because the meeting was within the “duty station area” and the fee was little more
than a disguised charge for the lunch.
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