31 U.S.C. § 1553 — Availability of appropriation accounts to pay obligations
submitted 44 years ago by Pub. L. 97-258 to r/title-31-MONEY-AND-FINANCE · 509 words · no verdicts yet
After a fixed appropriation account’s obligation period ends, it remains available for proper recordkeeping and certain later charges, subject to limits and approval rules.
(a) Until closure under section 1552(a), a fixed account keeps its fiscal-year identity and remains available to record, adjust, and liquidate obligations properly chargeable to it. (b) After closure under section 1552(a) or 1555, certain otherwise-chargeable obligations and adjustments may be charged to a current account available for the same purpose, but total charges may not exceed 1 percent of that account’s total appropriations. (c) For a closed-period account, a contract-change obligation exceeding $4,000,000 in the fiscal year requires agency-head approval. If it would make such obligations exceed $25,000,000, the agency head must first notify the appropriate congressional authorizing committees and both Appropriations Committees, explain the legal and policy basis, and wait 30 days. “Contract change” means a change requiring additional contractor work; it excludes claim adjustments and escalation-clause increases. (d) These obligations may be paid without prior Comptroller General action. This does not remove the Comptroller General’s duty to decide matters requested by law or authority to settle claims and accounts.
After the end of the period of availability for obligation of a fixed appropriation account and before the closing of that account under section 1552(a) of this title, the account shall retain its fiscal-year identity and remain available for recording, adjusting, and liquidating obligations properly chargeable to that account.
Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2), after the closing of an account under section 1552(a) or 1555 of this title, obligations and adjustments to obligations that would have been properly chargeable to that account, both as to purpose and in amount, before closing and that are not otherwise chargeable to any current appropriation account of the agency may be charged to any current appropriation account of the agency available for the same purpose.
The total amount of charges to an account under paragraph (1) may not exceed an amount equal to 1 percent of the total appropriations for that account.
In the case of a fixed appropriation account with respect to which the period of availability for obligation has ended, if an obligation of funds from that account to provide funds for a program, project, or activity to cover amounts required for contract changes would cause the total amount of obligations from that appropriation during a fiscal year for contract changes for that program, project, or activity to exceed $4,000,000, the obligation may only be made if the obligation is approved by the head of the agency (or an officer of the agency within the Office of the head of the agency to whom the head of the agency has delegated the authority to approve such an obligation).
In the case of a fixed appropriation account with respect to which the period of availability for obligation has ended, if an obligation of funds from that account to provide funds for a program, project, or activity to cover amounts required for contract changes would cause the total amount obligated from that appropriation during a fiscal year for that program, project, or activity to exceed $25,000,000, the obligation may not be made until—
the head of the agency submits to the appropriate authorizing committees of Congress and the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives a notice in writing of the intent to obligate such funds, together with a description of the legal basis for the proposed obligation and the policy reasons for the proposed obligation; and
a period of 30 days has elapsed after the notice is submitted.
In this subsection, the term “contract change” means a change to a contract under which the contractor is required to perform additional work. Such term does not include adjustments to pay claims or increases under an escalation clause.
Obligations under this section may be paid without prior action of the Comptroller General.
This subchapter does not—
relieve the Comptroller General of the duty to make decisions requested under law; or
affect the authority of the Comptroller General to settle claims and accounts.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 97–258, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 936; Pub. L. 101–510, div. A, title XIV, § 1405(a)(1), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1676.)
- 1982Enacted · Pub. L. 97-258 · 96 Stat. 936
- 1990Amended · Pub. L. 101-510 · 104 Stat. 1676
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 97-258 on 1982-09-13.
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