TITLE:  Bureau of Land Management:ï¿½ Payment of Printing Costs by the, B-290900, March 18, 2003
BNUMBER:  B-290900
DATE:  March 18, 2003
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Bureau of Land Management:  Payment of Printing Costs by the, B-290900, March
18, 2003

   Decision
    
    
Matter of:   Bureau of Land Management:  Payment of Printing Costs by the
Milwaukee Field Office
    
File:            B-290900
    
Date:           March 18, 2003
    
DIGEST
    
In furtherance of its role in a statutory lighthouse preservation program,
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) participates in the Michigan
Lighthouse Project (Project) under a cooperative arrangement with other
federal, state, and nonprofit entities.  One of the missions of the
Project is to educate the public and other interested entities about the
lighthouse program.  Project members determined that one way to accomplish
this goal was to publish a brochure detailing the program and containing
photographs of the relevant Michigan lighthouse properties.  BLM agreed to
pay part of the cost of developing and printing the brochure.  BLM may use
its appropriated funds to pay its share of the cost of producing the
brochure since disseminating the information, while benefiting all the
Project members in furthering Project goals, also supports BLM in meeting
its responsibilities regarding nineteen Michigan lighthouses in the
lighthouse preservation program.  Under the circumstances presented here,
the general requirement of 44 U.S.C. S: 501 that all government printing
be done through the Government Printing Office does not apply because BLM
did not procure the services and the printing was not done *for the
government* under 44 U.S.C. S: 501, but for the project.
    
DECISION
    
A certifying officer of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S.
Department of the Interior, has requested an advance decision under 31
U.S.C. S: 3529 regarding the payment of an invoice submitted by a printing
company to BLM for part of the costs associated with the printing of a
brochure about the Michigan Lighthouse Project (Project).  For the
following reasons, BLM may use appropriated funds to pay its share of the
brochure production costs in the furtherance of its role in the lighthouse
preservation program.
    
    
BACKGROUND
    
According to the record, the Michigan Lighthouse Project was established
in 1998 to address the fate of lighthouses in the state of Michigan,
including the seventy-seven lighthouses under federal ownership.  A
full-time Project Director, who answers to and is paid by both the
Michigan State Historic Preservation Office and the Michigan Historic
Preservation Network, a statewide nonprofit historic preservation
advocate, oversees the Project.  Letter from William S. Fulcer, Acting
Assistant Manager, BLM Milwaukee Field Office, to Doug McArthur, Senior
Attorney, GAO, August 14, 2002.  In addition to various interested
Michigan state agencies and non-profit organizations, such as the National
Trust for Historic Preservation, current members of the Project include
the General Service Administration (GSA), the Coast Guard, the National
Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and BLM.  (For more
information on the Michigan Lighthouse Project, see the website at
www.sos.state.mi.us/history/preserve/lights/milight2.html.) 
    
According to the submission, BLM agreed to cooperate in the Project under
the authority granted in the Department of Interior and Related Agencies
Appropriation Act, 1991, Pub. L. No. 101-512, title 1, 104 Stat. 1918,
Nov. 5, 1990 (FY 1991 Appropriation Act), which provided that
*notwithstanding the provisions of the Federal Grants and Cooperative
Agreements Act of 1977 . . . the Bureau is authorized hereafter to
negotiate and enter into cooperative arrangements with public and private
agencies, organizations, institutions, and individuals, to implement
challenge cost-share programs,* such as the Michigan Lighthouse Project. 
Letter from Stephen D. Douglas, Acting State Director, BLM Eastern States
Office, to Thomas H. Armstrong, Assistant General Counsel, GAO, Sept. 11,
2002.  BLM and other federal agencies formalized their participation in
the Project in an Agreement Respecting the Preservation of Historic
Lighthouses between the Governor of the State of Michigan, BLM, GSA, and
the Coast Guard, numbered BLM-ES-030-05, August 16, 1999.   The Agreement
sets forth the Project's objectives of developing a plan to permanently
and expeditiously transfer historic Michigan lighthouses to the proper
entities.  The plan will include a strategy to ensure that Michigan's
historic lighthouses are afforded sufficient protection.  The Agreement
does not specify relative funding responsibilities.  It was developed in
conjunction with the Project Charter, which details the mission of the
Project to, among other things, increase public awareness of lighthouse
preservation issues through *print material which highlights the Project
and the benefits which accrue to participants.*  *Charter of the Michigan
Lighthouse Project,* 1999, page 3.
    
The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, Pub. L. No.
106-355, 114 Stat. 1385 (codified at 16 U.S.C. S:S: 470w-7 and 470w-8)
established a national lighthouse preservation program and provided a
statutory mechanism for the
conveyance of lighthouse properties at no cost to federal agencies, state
or local governments, nonprofit organizations, and community development
organizations for park, recreation, cultural, historic, or educational
uses, while retaining federal use of the lighthouses for navigational
purposes.   The Department of the Interior and the General Services
Administration (GSA) were made responsible for administering the program,
which includes collecting and disseminating information on historic
lighthouses.  16 U.S.C. S: 470w-7(a)(1).  The U.S. Coast Guard determines
which lighthouses should be in the program and then reports the lighthouse
property to either GSA or BLM, which operates under the direction of the
Department of Interior, for disposal in accordance with the Act's
conveyance mechanism.  The lighthouses referred to BLM are those that were
erected on land that was part of the public domain.[1] 
    
According to BLM's submission, at a Project Planning Committee meeting in
the fall of 2001, Project members determined that one avenue for
fulfilling the mission of the Project was to develop a brochure which
would provide details about the statutory lighthouse preservation program
as well as pictures of the relevant Michigan lighthouses.  Letter from
Stephen D. Douglas, supra.  The Milwaukee Field Office Assistant Field
Manager who served as the BLM representative to the Project and the GSA
Project representative agreed that their respective agencies would cover
the composition, development, and printing costs incurred in the
production of the brochure.[2]  The Project Director worked with a local
small business, CHM Graphics, to develop the graphics, layout, and text,
which the project members reviewed.  In January 2002, the BLM and GSA
representatives advised the Project that funds were available to complete
the development of the brochure, and the Project Director
advised the printer to go ahead with printing 5,000 copies of the 24-page
double-sided brochure with color pictures and graphics.  Memorandum from
Assistant Field Manager, BLM Milwaukee Field Office, to BLM State
Director, Eastern States, Mar. 15, 2002.[3]
    
The record includes a cost quote for the brochure that on March 4, 2002,
CHM Graphics faxed to the Project director indicating that the director
had placed the purchase order.  The account on the invoice is identified
as the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, but according to the record
the Project director asked the company to send the bill to BLM and GSA
directly for payment purposes to avoid having to transfer funding through
the Project.  Letter from Stephen D. Douglas, supra.  The total price for
5,000 copies was $5,260.20 for printing costs and $2,840 for development
costs for a total of $8,100.20.  On March 15, 2002, BLM was billed for
$6,000.  GSA has paid the other portion in accordance with the oral
agreement that occurred during the Project planning meeting.  Id.
    
Since the bill was for printing services provided by a non-Government
Printing Office (GPO) source, the purchase was submitted for ratification
in accordance with BLM Manual 1510-1.603-2.  Memorandum from Assistant
Field Manager, supra.  The regulations include requesting concurrence from
the Interior Solicitor for amounts exceeding $1,000 and the matter was
referred to the Office of the Solicitor.  Memorandum from BLM Eastern
States Office Procurement Specialist to Assistance Solicitor-Procurement,
Division of General Law, Office of the Solicitor, May 7, 2002.    The
record contains a copy of a note that was faxed on May 14, 2002,
indicating that the Solicitor's office did not concur with payment of the
invoice since *44 U.S.C. S: 501 requires all government printing,
including duplicating, in excess of $1,000 to be provided through the
Govt. Printing Office* so the ratifying official would not have the
required authority to enter into the contractual commitment.  BLM has
stated that this faxed note is the only document indicating the Solicitors
office's nonconcurrence in this action.  Letter from Stephen D. Douglas,
supra.  On June 24, 2002, BLM's National Business Center in Denver,
Colorado, submitted the matter to our Office for an advance decision.
    
DISCUSSION
    
BLM's fiscal year 2002 appropriation for, among other things, management
of lands and resources and administration does not specifically identify
payment of costs arising through participation in the Michigan Lighthouse
Project as an object of that appropriation.[4]  Nevertheless, we view
BLM's involvement with the Project as within the range of agency
discretion as it is applied to furthering its role under the National
Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.  See, e.g., B-247563.2, May 12,
1993; B-223608, Dec. 19, 1988.  As noted above, BLM has authority to enter
into the cooperative agreement with the Project under the above-quoted
provision in the FY 1991 Appropriation Act.  One of the primary purposes
of the Project, as stated in its Charter, is to disseminate information
about the program and the available lighthouse properties to the public
and other appropriate entities that might have an interest in acquiring
the properties under the program.  Distributing the brochure at issue in
this case was in furtherance of that goal, and BLM's agreement to fund a
portion of the cost of producing the brochure was reasonable in the
context of its participation in the Project.  Thus, considering that BLM
is authorized to participate in the Project and agreed in its capacity as
a cooperator to contribute to the production of the brochure in
furtherance of the specific mission for which the lighthouse program was
established, we conclude that BLM's payment of the billed portion of the
cost of producing the brochure is proper.
    
In reaching this conclusion, we are mindful of the general rule that all
printing and binding for the government *shall be done* through the GPO,
absent a waiver from the Joint Committee on Printing.  44 U.S.C. S: 501. 
See B-300192, Nov. 13, 2002.  In fact, in a recent decision we held that
photocopying services procured by another BLM field office from a
commercial source in violation of 44 U.S.C. S: 501 were not authorized and
may not be paid with federal funds.  B-290901, Dec. 16, 2002.  See also
B-251481.4, Sept. 30, 1994; B-178496, Oct. 9, 1973.  However, this rule is
not applicable to the present situation.  The common denominator in the
cited cases, and others in which we have considered the requirements of 44
U.S.C. S: 501, was that in each case a government entity procured printing
or duplicating services from a non-GPO commercial vendor without acquiring
the necessary waivers for documents or materials that were solely for the
benefit of the government.
    
Here, however, the printing of the brochure came about as a result of a
cost-sharing cooperative arrangement and was for the benefit of all the
Project participants, which included nonprofit, state, and federal
entities.  The actual procurement of the printing services from a non-GPO
commercial entity was done by the Project Director, an employee of the
Project, on behalf of the Project and not by BLM directly nor solely for
BLM purposes.  It cannot be said that the brochure represents printing
done *for the government*; it was in fact done for the project.  Hence,
the requirements of 44 U.S.C. S: 501 are not an impediment to the payment
of the printing costs billed to BLM in this case.
    
We conclude, therefore, that the expenditure of appropriated funds for the
costs related to the production of the Project brochure is authorized and
as such BLM's share of the costs may be certified for payment.
    
    
/signed/
    
Anthony Gamboa
General Counsel
    

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   [1] BLM, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is
authorized to perform all executive duties pertaining to the use and sale
of public lands.  43 U.S.C. S: 2.  This includes accepting back into the
public domain any lands that have been withdrawn for other federal
purposes (such as the lighthouse properties) and determining their
disposition.  According to the record, BLM's Milwaukee Field Office has
been processing withdrawal relinquishments for nineteen U.S. Coast Guard
lighthouses around the Great Lakes.  Memorandum from BLM Eastern States
Deputy State Director*Support Services to the Director, Apr. 9, 2002.
[2] According to the record, BLM Manual 1510-1.602-1D, June 15, 2000,
provides BLM officials with the authority to commit funds as a member in
associations, and the Assistant Field Manager who agreed to fund the
brochure in this case had authority to commit funds in his position as BLM
representative to the Project under the provisions of BLM Manual 1203,
Apr. 6, 1998 (Delegation of Authority).  Letter from Stephen D. Douglas,
supra.
[3] The BLM Milwaukee Field Office lands and realty (1430) subactivity
allocated $7,000 in fiscal year 2002 for participation in the Michigan
Lighthouse Project.  Id.
[4] Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
2002, title 1, Pub. L. No. 107-63, 115 Stat. 414, Jan. 3, 2001 (FY 2002
Appropriation Act).