40 U.S.C. § 321 — Acquisition Services Fund

(a) Existence. The Acquisition Services Fund is a special fund kept in the Treasury.

(b) Composition. The Fund holds money transferred to it or otherwise made available to it. It is also credited with reimbursements, advances, refunds, and recoveries tied to property or services bought through it — including proceeds from selling surplus property, payments from carriers for lost or damaged property, and fees charged to agencies. Each year, the Administrator sets the Fund's cost and capital needs, working with GSA's Chief Financial Officer, and sets the rates agencies pay for supplies and services through the Fund based on that plan. Fees collected under section 313 can also be deposited into the Fund.

(c) Uses. The Administrator can use the Fund to buy property and services for federal agencies — including personal property, standard printed forms bought through the Government Publishing Office, nonpersonal services, and personal services tied to information technology — and to pay for transportation, repair, rehabilitation, and related direct and indirect costs of running this system. The Fund can also be used to buy property and services for certain mixed-ownership government corporations, the D.C. municipal government, or another agency that has had its buying authority transferred to GSA.

(d) Payment for Property and Services. Agencies that get property or services through the Fund pay prices the Administrator sets. Those prices must be high enough to recover, as much as practical, the purchase price, transportation costs, inventory losses, the cost of repair and IT-related personal services, and equipment lease costs, plus other allocable costs. An agency must pay in advance if the Administrator decides the Fund does not have enough capital otherwise, or if the agency and Administrator agree to that. Otherwise, GSA must be reimbursed promptly under procedures the Comptroller General approves. If an agency does not pay within 45 days of being billed (or of GSA's liability arising, whichever is later), the Administrator can force reimbursement through transfer documents backed by itemized invoices.

(e) Reimbursement for Equipment Purchased for Congress. The Administrator can accept payments from the Senate or House for equipment the Fund bought for them, spread out over the equipment's useful life, worked out with the relevant chamber's administrative officer.

(f) Transfer of Uncommitted Balances. After each fiscal year, once enough money is set aside for inventory needs, vehicle replacement costs, and other planned operating needs, any leftover Fund balance goes to the Treasury's general fund as miscellaneous receipts.

(g) Audits. The Comptroller General must audit the Fund under chapter 35 of title 31 and report the results.

(h) Requirement for Annual Report to Congress. By September 30 each year, the Administrator must send two House and Senate committees a report listing every Technology Transformation Services program funded in the past fiscal year or the past five years, including: an explanation of the program; how it is funded and how much it received; any expected reimbursements from other sources; details on its projects, including when they started and finished and their funding; and any other relevant data.

(i) Definitions. "Administrator" means the Administrator of General Services. "Expenditure" means any use of Acquisition Services Fund money for the programs covered by subsection (h).