TITLE: B-308150, United States Central Command--Cairo Housing, March 9, 2007
BNUMBER: B-308150
DATE: March 9, 2007
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B-308150, United States Central Command--Cairo Housing, March 9, 2007

   Decision

   Matter of: United States Central Command--Cairo Housing

   File: B-308150

   Date:  March 9, 2007

   DIGEST

   The Office of Military Cooperation, Cairo, may use its appropriation to
   fund leases of residential property occupied by personnel of other
   agencies at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo as part of a housing pool. Such
   payments are a proper use of an agency's appropriation when they represent
   the costs attributable to an agency's use of housing in the pool.

   DECISION

   The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has requested an advance
   decision under 31 U.S.C. sect. 3529 regarding whether the Office of
   Military Cooperation (OMC), Cairo, may use its appropriation to fund
   leases for residences occupied by personnel of other agencies at the U.S.
   Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, as part of a housing pool. Letter from Colonel
   James R. Pulliam, Financial Management and Comptroller, CENTCOM, to the
   Comptroller General of the United States, Aug. 8, 2006 (Pulliam Letter).
   CENTCOM requests this decision on OMC's behalf because CENTCOM administers
   OMC's appropriation. Id. We conclude that OMC may use its appropriated
   funds for this purpose, as they represent the costs attributable to OMC's
   use of housing in the pool. If OMC did not pay its share of housing costs,
   OMC would improperly augment its appropriation.

   Our practice when rendering decisions is to obtain the views of the
   relevant federal agencies to establish a factual record and to elicit the
   agencies' legal positions on the matter. GAO, Procedures and Practices for
   Legal Decisions and Opinions, GAO-06-1064SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept.
   2006), available at www.gao.gov/legal.htm. In this regard, the Department
   of State (State) responded to questions from our office regarding the
   procedures for assigning housing among the various agencies with personnel
   at the Cairo embassy and State's views on whether OMC may use its
   appropriation to fund leases for residences occupied by personnel of other
   agencies at the Cairo embassy. Letter from Dennis J. Gallagher, Assistant
   Legal Adviser, Buildings and Acquisitions, State, to Thomas H. Armstrong,
   Assistant General Counsel for Appropriations Law, GAO, Oct. 6, 2006
   (Gallagher Letter). We asked CENTCOM similar questions but received no
   response. Letter from Thomas H. Armstrong, Assistant General Counsel for
   Appropriations Law, GAO, to Colonel James R. Pulliam, Financial Management
   and Comptroller, CENTCOM, Aug. 29, 2006.

   BACKGROUND

   OMC is a Department of Defense Security Assistance Organization located at
   the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Pulliam Letter. Security
   Assistance consists of a group of programs, established by the Foreign
   Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act, that transfers
   military articles and services to friendly foreign governments. Department
   of Defense Manual 5105.38-M, Security Assistance Management Manual, para.
   1.1.1 (Oct. 3, 2003) (SAMM). Security Assistance programs are carried out
   chiefly by DOD and State. Id. at para. 1.1.2. OMC engages in Foreign
   Military Sales activities, a major Security Assistance program. Pulliam
   Letter.

   Although DOD carries out numerous aspects of Security Assistance, State is
   responsible for the overall supervision and general direction of the
   Security Assistance program. SAMM para. 2.2. State determines when DOD
   will sell military articles to a particular country and determines the
   size of the budget requests and allocation of funds for military
   assistance. Id. OMC personnel at an embassy serve under the day-to-day
   direction of the Chief of Mission, a State official. Id. at para. 2.5.1.

   OMC receives its funding in the Foreign Military Financing Program
   appropriation. E.g., Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007,
   Pub. L. No. 110-5, sect. 20401, 121 Stat. 8, 22 (Feb. 15, 2007). Congress
   appropriates these funds directly to the President, but they are
   automatically transferred to DOD. Exec. Order No. 11958, Administration of
   Arms Export Controls, sect. 3, 42 Fed. Reg. 4311 (Jan. 18, 1977).

   CENTCOM's request stems from the housing arrangement among the agencies at
   the Cairo embassy. Housing at U.S. embassies is normally "pooled."
   Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual, vol. 15, Overseas Buildings
   Operations (15 FAM), 231, 261(1) (Apr. 26, 2006). Typically, embassy
   housing pools consist of numerous leases for residential properties near
   an embassy. Telephone conversation between Wesley Dunn, Staff Attorney,
   GAO, and Kerry Armstrong, CENTCOM Command Budget Officer, Aug. 21, 2006
   (Armstrong Conversation). Each embassy has an Interagency Housing Board
   (IAHB), which manages most aspects regarding housing for personnel of the
   embassy's agencies, including housing pools. Id.; 15 FAM 212.2. The IAHB
   assigns these leases to personnel of the various agencies associated with
   an embassy, including OMC, as the personnel arrive at the embassy.
   Armstrong Conversation. When personnel living in a leased housing unit are
   transferred and leave the embassy, the lease for the property goes back
   into the pool and is reassigned to new personnel from any agency as they
   arrive. Id. Usually, each agency participating in the pool pays the rent
   and other costs for housing occupied only by its own personnel. Id.

   OMC's arrangement at the Cairo embassy departs from this model in that OMC
   funds leases for housing occupied by other agencies' personnel. Pulliam
   Letter. This departure from the normal procedure of embassy housing pools
   is rooted in State regulations that distinguish between short-term leased
   housing and government-owned/long-term leased (GO/LTL) housing at
   embassies.[1] See 15 FAM 230, 260. IAHBs allocate short-term leased
   housing among all the agencies at an embassy, including OMC. Id.  at 233.
   In contrast, GO/LTL housing at embassies is usually available only to
   employees of the Foreign Affairs Agencies (State, U.S. Agency for
   International Development, Foreign Agricultural Service, and Foreign
   Commercial Service) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Id. at 232,
   235.2 (list of the Foreign Affairs Agencies). Personnel of DOD entities
   such as OMC "are not normally entitled to" GO/LTL housing. Id.  at
   261.4(a). GO/LTL housing is normally made available to agencies like OMC
   only after all housing needs of the Foreign Affairs Agencies and DIA are
   met. Id.  at 162.1(a).

   Prior to 2001, the IAHB in Cairo occasionally placed OMC personnel in
   GO/LTL housing, even though the housing was not surplus to the housing
   needs of the Foreign Affairs Agencies and DIA. Armstrong Conversation;
   Gallagher Letter. OMC personnel were thus occupying housing that would
   otherwise have been allotted to Foreign Affairs Agency and DIA
   personnel.[2] State bears all GO/LTL residential leasehold costs,
   regardless of the agency occupying the unit. 15 FAM 162.1(a). Other costs,
   such as building operating expenses and minor improvements, are borne by
   the occupying agency. Id. at 162.1(b)--(c). State and, to a lesser extent,
   the other agencies eligible for GO/LTL housing thus used their
   appropriations to house OMC personnel and incurred costs by housing their
   displaced personnel in leased housing. Pulliam Letter, Attachment 2.

   In 2001, when State objected to this arrangement, OMC entered into a
   memorandum of agreement with State and the other agencies at the embassy
   (collectively referred to in the memorandum of agreement as "The Embassy")
   under which OMC agrees to fund a short-term lease for inclusion in the
   Cairo housing pool whenever OMC personnel are assigned to GO/LTL housing.
   Memorandum of Agreement between the American Embassy, Cairo, Egypt, and
   the Office of Military Cooperation, Cairo, Egypt (Mar. 21, 2001) (MOA).
   Specifically, the MOA provides that, whenever the IAHB assigns OMC
   personnel to GO/LTL housing, OMC will fund a short-term lease of
   comparable value for another agency's personnel. In practice, the agency
   whose personnel are to live in an OMC-funded leased residence enters into
   a lease and then transfers the funding responsibility for the lease to
   OMC. See Pulliam Letter, Attachment 9. OMC asks whether it may use its
   appropriated funds to lease residences occupied by another agency's
   personnel in these circumstances.

   ANALYSIS

   An agency's appropriated funds "shall be applied only to the objects for
   which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law."
   31 U.S.C. sect. 1301(a). OMC does not receive an appropriation
   specifically to fund the housing of other agencies' personnel.[3]
   Nevertheless, an agency's appropriation is available for expenses
   necessary and incident to the object of the appropriation. E.g., B-306748,
   July 6, 2006; B-303145, Dec. 7, 2005.

   We have previously approved a similar reimbursement arrangement involving
   a housing pool at an embassy. In 59 Comp. Gen. 403 (1980), we considered
   whether DIA could use its appropriation to reimburse State for costs State
   incurred funding all the leases in the housing pool at the embassy in
   Jakarta, Indonesia. The housing pool in Jakarta consisted of leases that
   State funded initially. Id.  at 403. Each agency participating in the
   housing pool was assigned responsibility for ultimately funding a number
   of leases based on the number of personnel that the agency had at the
   embassy. Id. The agencies reimbursed State for the costs State incurred
   initially funding the leases assigned to that agency. Id. Participating
   agencies paid for the leases assigned to them whether or not their own
   personnel occupied the leased premises. Id. In effect, the agencies were
   often using their appropriations to house personnel of other agencies, but
   were paying only for their share of housing in the housing pool.

   We decided that such an arrangement was a proper use of DIA's
   appropriation. 59 Comp. Gen. at 405. When all the agencies at an embassy
   decide to pool housing for the convenience of the group, each agency may
   properly pay for its share of the housing costs, regardless of whether its
   personnel actually reside in the housing units it funds. Id. While DIA was
   using its appropriation to house personnel of other agencies, the other
   agencies in the pool were using their appropriations to house DIA
   personnel. Id.  at 403. In this way all agencies participating in the pool
   fund the costs they properly incur for housing their own personnel, albeit
   indirectly. Unlike the arrangement we considered in 1980, where each
   agency used its appropriation to house personnel of other agencies, OMC is
   the only agency at the Cairo embassy using its appropriation to house
   another agency's personnel. Nevertheless, the same principle applied in
   that decision also applies to OMC's funding of short-term leases for other
   agencies at the Cairo embassy when OMC personnel are assigned to GO/LTL
   housing. By signing the MOA, OMC agreed to pay for its share of the
   housing costs in the Cairo housing pool, and OMC agreed that its cost
   would be proportional to its personnel's use of pooled housing. See MOA.
   Each time the IAHB assigns OMC personnel to GO/LTL housing, OMC must fund
   a lease for the personnel of another agency based on the cost of the
   GO/LTL housing occupied by OMC personnel. In this way OMC pays its share
   of the housing costs its personnel incur in the Cairo housing pool.[4] The
   fact that OMC is making lease payments for property occupied by personnel
   of another agency is not problematic, so long as the payment is based on
   the cost attributable to OMC's use of housing in the pool.[5] 59 Comp.
   Gen. at 403. OMC has not suggested that its costs under the MOA are not
   comparable to the costs State incurs when OMC personnel occupy GO/LTL
   housing.

   Indeed, if OMC were not to pay for these costs, it would improperly
   augment its appropriation. OMC's appropriation is available for its
   housing costs. State does not, by regulation, have to pay the cost of
   housing OMC personnel, as State does for the Foreign Affairs Agencies and
   DIA. See 15 FAM 162.1, 232. If OMC did not pay for its personnel to live
   in GO/LTL housing, in the form of offset leases or otherwise, it would
   receive free housing for its personnel. Because OMC does not have
   authority to receive housing free of charge, it may not do so without
   augmenting its appropriation.

   CONCLUSION

   OMC may use its appropriated funds to pay for leases for personnel of
   other agencies as part of its participation in the housing pool at the
   U.S. Embassy, Cairo. Such payments represent OMC's share of the costs
   attributable to its personnel's use of housing in the pool. If OMC did not
   pay these costs, OMC would improperly augment its appropriation.

   Gary L. Kepplinger
   General Counsel

   ------------------------

   [1] State has authority to allocate space in buildings used for diplomatic
   establishments "among the several agencies of" the government. 22 U.S.C.
   sect. 292.

   [2] OMC personnel regarded the government-owned housing as more "child
   friendly" than short-term leased housing because it consists of adjacently
   located units in a walled compound. Pulliam Letter, Attachment 2.

   [3] OMC's appropriation is available, of course, to provide housing to OMC
   personnel.

   [4] DOD has authority under 10 U.S.C. sect. 2834 to participate in State
   housing pools overseas if DOD determines that there is a shortage of
   adequate housing in the area and that participation in the housing pool is
   the most cost-effective means of providing housing for the DOD personnel.
   Under such agreements, DOD is to reimburse State for housing and related
   services provided DOD. We do not analyze the applicability of this statute
   here because we have not been made aware of either its applicability to
   OMC or whether DOD has made the necessary determinations for the statute
   to apply.

   [5] Agencies in short-term lease housing pools today normally fund leases
   only for residential properties occupied by their own personnel. 15 FAM
   233. This fact does not alter our legal analysis.