TITLE:  ï¿½Gifts of Goods and Services to the Government, B-289903, March 4, 2002
BNUMBER:  B-289903
DATE:  March 4, 2002
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 Gifts of Goods and Services to the Government, B-289903, March 4, 2002

    
    
B-289903
    
    
    
March 4, 2002
    
Mr. Robert F. Benson
6150 Stornoway Dr., S.
Columbus, Ohio 43213

   Subject:  Gifts of Goods and Services to the Government
    
Dear Mr. Benson:
    
This responds to your January 7, 2002, letter to Ms. Kathleen E. Wannisky
of our Office asking whether federal agencies may accept gifts of goods or
services from private sources.  The Comptroller General is authorized to
issue decisions on  appropriations law matters only to disbursing and
certifying officers and heads of agencies, 31 U.S.C. S: 3529.  We provide
you with the following information in the hope that you will find it
useful.
    
The general rule is that without statutory authority, an individual
government agency may not accept gifts of goods or services for its own
use (i.e., for retention by the agency or credit to its own
appropriations).  This is to prevent a government agency from exceeding
the amount that Congress has appropriated to it.  Contribution of
Telecommunications Services to the D.C. Courts, B-286182, Jan. 11, 2001.
    The only way that an agency can accept free goods or services would be if
the particular agency receiving those goods or services has specific
statutory authority to accept such donations.[1]   16 Comp. Gen. 911
(1937).  Moreover, as you point out, 31 U.S.C. S: 1342 prohibits any
officer or employee of the United States Government or of the District of
Columbia government from accepting voluntary services for the government
except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the
protection of property, without specific statutory authority otherwise. 
Thus,
regardless of the fact that the donor might offer goods and services for
free, absent a specific statute authorizing acceptance of gifts, an agency
would not be allowed to accept the offered donation. 
    
We trust this is responsive to your question.
    
Sincerely yours,
    
    
/signed/
    
Thomas H. Armstrong
Assistant General Counsel
B-289903
    
DIGEST
    
Absent specific statutory authority to accept gifts for its own use, a
government agency may not accept donations of goods or services from
private sources.
    
    
    

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   [1] For example, 2 U.S.C. S: 156, which authorizes the Library of Congress
Trust Fund Board to accept gifts from private sources, provides:
    
*The Board is authorized to accept, receive, hold, and administer such
gifts, bequests, or devises of property for the benefit of, or in
connection with, the Library, its collections, or its service, as may be
approved by the Board and by the Joint Committee on the Library.*