BNUMBER: B-235163.11
DATE: February 13, 1996
TITLE: National Science Foundation Annual Awards Dinner
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Matter of: National Science Foundation Annual Awards Dinner
File: B-235163.11
Date: February 13, 1996
DIGEST
The National Science Foundation may use its salaries and expenses
appropriation for dinner-related expenses and travel expenses for the
awardee and his/her spouse incurred in connection with the
presentation of the statutorily established Alan T. Waterman Award at
the National Science Board's annual awards dinner.
DECISION
The National Science Foundation (Foundation) asks whether it may use
its salaries and expenses appropriation, without regard to reception
and representation or donated funds, to defray part of the cost of the
National Science Board's (Board) annual awards dinner. The Foundation
also asks whether it may use its salaries and expenses appropriation
to defray part of the cost of travel and per diem for the awardee, and
his or her spouse, of the statutorily established Alan T. Waterman
Award. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that the
Foundation may use its salaries and expenses appropriation to defray
part of the cost of the awards dinner and the travel and per diem
expenses of the awardee and his or her spouse.
BACKGROUND
The National Science Foundation consists of a 24-member National
Science Board and a director. By statute, the Board meets annually in
May. 42 U.S.C. sec. 1863(e). Since 1960, the Board has hosted a dinner
at its annual meetings which has become known as the Board's annual
awards dinner. Beginning in 1977, the dinner has featured the
presentation of the statutorily created Alan T. Waterman Award. More
recently, the Board has used the annual awards dinner to present two
administratively created awards-the Vannevar Bush and the National
Science Foundation Distinguished Service awards. Letter from the
Foundation's Inspector General to the Comptroller General, Mar. 25,
1994.
The Waterman Award is a statutorily established award.[1] The purpose
of the award is to recognize and encourage the work of younger
scientists in research and advanced study in the mathematical,
physical, medical, biological, engineering, social or other sciences.
42 U.S.C. sec. 1881a(a),(b) (1992). The award consists of a "suitable
medal" and a research grant of up to $50,000 per year for not to
exceed 3 years. 42 U.S.C. sec. 1881a(a) (1992).
According to the Foundation's Inspector General, the Board spent a
total of $18,865.96 on the awards dinner for 1993: $16,620.60 for
dinner-related expenses, including rent for the site of the dinner,
printing, and catering; and $2,245.36 for the travel expenses and per
diem of the awardee and her spouse. Of the total amount spent, the
Foundation paid all but $5,372.60 from subscriptions[2] and donated
funds.[3]
Typically, Board members and representatives from scientific
organizations and corporations pay for themselves and their guests.
The Board, however, does not ask awardees, their families and guests,
Foundation employees, their spouses and guests, Members of Congress
and their staffs, media representatives and other executive branch
employees to subscribe.
Out of a total 1993 attendance of 169 persons, 65 paid, including the
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
and his wife and representatives of private associations. Of the 27
Board members in attendance, 26 paid, as did 7 of 9 former Board
members. When the Board found that subscriptions and other donations
were not sufficient to defray the total costs of the dinner, the Board
applied appropriated funds from the Foundation's salary and expense
account to cover the shortfall ($5,372.60).
ANALYSIS
The legal issues raised by this matter are whether the Foundation may
use its salaries and expenses appropriation to cover dinner expenses
of Board members, Foundation employees and guests at the Board's
annual awards dinner, and whether the Foundation may use the same
appropriation to pay the costs of the awardee's and her spouse's
travel and per diem expenses. While the Foundation applied its
appropriation to defray a shortfall in subscriptions and donated
funds, an audit by the Foundation's Inspector General showed that
except in two instances, no federal employee paid for his or her meal;
most nonfederal employees in attendance paid except for the awardee
and her spouse, former award recipients, and members of the Waterman
family.
As a general rule, appropriated funds are not available for the costs
associated with dinners, because meals and other such expenses are
considered personal in nature. 65 Comp. Gen. 16 (1985); 47 Comp. Gen.
657 (1968). Accordingly, the decisions of the accounting officers of
the government have required congressional authorization before agency
appropriations may be used for such expenses. B-223678, June 5, 1989.
The Government Employees' Incentive Awards Act, 5 U.S.C. sec. 4501-4506,
is an often used example of such authority. The Incentive Awards Act
authorized agencies to "incur necessary expenses for the honorary
recognition of employees." 5 U.S.C. sec. 4503. We have interpreted this
language to permit agencies to use operating appropriations to pay for
refreshments and meals in connection with agency employee awards
ceremonies. 65 Comp. Gen. 738, 740 (1986) (Social Security
Administration's annual awards ceremony). We explained our rationale
as follows:
"Clearly the statutory objective will be better met by presenting
an award along with a measure of public recognition, rather than
anonymously depositing it in the recipient's in-box. Once we
have said this, it becomes apparent that an awards ceremony is
different from an agency's typical day-to-day conduct of official
business. It is by its very nature and purpose, for lack of a
better term, 'ceremonial.' It should therefore not stretch the
imagination to conclude that certain things-such as
refreshments-which would be inappropriate in other contexts,
might be appropriate as part of a ceremonial function." Id.
See also B-167835, Nov. 18, 1969 (NASA banquet honoring Apollo 11
astronauts).
Presentation of the Waterman Award is a statutory function of the
Foundation.[4] 42 U.S.C. sec. 1881a. The Foundation's authorizing
legislation authorizes it "to make such expenditures as may be
necessary" to carry out its functions. 42 U.S.C. sec. 1870(b). The
Foundation points out that the prescribed purpose of the award is
two-fold: to recognize and to encourage the work of young scientists.
42 U.S.C. sec. 1881a(b). Citing our Incentive Awards Act decisions noted
above, the Board maintains that in order to achieve the statutory
objectives of providing both recognition and encouragement, a dinner
meeting, attended by those prominent in the research community, is
"patently the only forum filling this bill." Accordingly, the
Foundation considers the costs of meals and refreshments at the annual
awards dinner a necessary expense of its operating appropriation.
As noted above, the Foundation is authorized "to make such
expenditures as may be necessary" to carry out its functions. 42
U.S.C. sec. 1870(b). We have described the concept of a "necessary
expense" as a relative one, "measured not by reference to an
expenditure in a vacuum, but by assessing the relationship of the
expenditure to the specific appropriation to be charged." 65 Comp.
Gen. at 740. We also have afforded the agencies reasonable discretion
to decide how to spend their operating appropriations to satisfy their
statutory duties. We agree with the Foundation's assessment of the
purposes of the Waterman Award. The $50,000 grant that accompanies
the Waterman Award would certainly seem to encourage the work of
younger scientists and would carry with it, we presume, a certain
degree of recognition. The Foundation's decision to enhance the
recognition value of the award and its recipients by presenting it at
an annual awards dinner attended by those prominent in the research
community does not in the context of the purpose of the Waterman Award
seem unreasonable. Resolved in light of the statutory objectives
sought to be achieved and given the Board's determination that its
annual awards dinner is the appropriate and necessary vehicle to
accomplish these objectives, we do not object to the Foundation's use
of its operating appropriation to finance part of the dinner. We
would recommend, however, that the Foundation disclose in its budget
submissions the amount of its appropriation used to defray the cost of
the awards dinner.
Travel and Per Diem of Awardees and Spouses
As a general proposition, agency appropriations are not available to
pay for the travel, transportation and subsistence expenses of private
parties. 31 U.S.C. sec. 1345. We have previously recognized that the
authority to make an award carries with it the authority to incur
necessary expenses that will contribute to effectively achieving the
purpose of the award. 65 Comp. Gen. 738. In this regard, we have
concluded that the travel expenses for an awardee, 32 Comp. Gen. 134
(1957), and for an awardee's spouse, 69 Comp. Gen. 38, 39 (1989), are
appropriate expenses of an awards ceremony. Having concluded that an
awards ceremony at the Board's annual dinner meeting is an appropriate
vehicle for presentation of the Waterman Award, we view the cost of
the awardee's and his or her spouse's travel and per diem as a
necessary expense of the Foundation's operating appropriation.
/s/Robert P. Murphy
for Comptroller General
of the United States
1. In its entirety, the statute establishing the Waterman Award, 42
U.S.C. sec. 1881a, reads as follows:
Alan T. Waterman Award
Establishment; amount
(a) The National Science Foundation is authorized to establish the
Alan T. Waterman Award for research or advanced study in the
mathematical, physical, medical, biological, engineering, social, or
other sciences. The award authorized by this section shall consist of
a suitable medal and a grant not to exceed $50,000 per year for a
period not to exceed three years to support further research or study
by the recipient.
Purpose
(b) Awards under this section shall be made to recognize and encourage
the work of younger scientists whose capabilities and accomplishments
show exceptional promise of significant future achievement.
Number
(c) No more than one award shall be made under this section in any one
fiscal year.
2. The Board asks many invitees to pay $100 each to attend, or
"subscribe" to, the dinner.
3. The Foundation is authorized to receive and use funds donated by
others. 42 U.S.C. sec. 1870(f). The Foundation may use such
funds for entertainment expenses when it determines such expenditures
are necessary to carry out its authorized functions and such use of
the funds is consistent with the terms of the donation. B-142538,
Feb. 8, 1961.
4. The Board also presents two other awards at its annual awards
dinner. The Board established the two awards pursuant to the
Government Employees' Incentive Awards Act.