5 U.S.C. § 1006 — Responsibilities of the Administrator

(a) The Administrator^* must establish and maintain within the General Services Administration a Committee Management Secretariat responsible for all advisory-committee matters. (b) (1) Each year the Administrator must comprehensively review each advisory committee’s activities and responsibilities to decide whether it is carrying out its purpose, whether its responsibilities should be revised consistently with law, whether it should merge with another committee, or whether it should be abolished. (2) The Administrator may request information needed for the review, and agency heads must cooperate. (3) After each review, the Administrator must recommend to the President and the agency head or Congress what action should be taken. (c) The Administrator must issue administrative guidelines and management controls for advisory committees and, as far as feasible, provide advice and assistance to improve them. The Administrator must consider agency-head recommendations about committees related to the agency. (d) (1) After studying and consulting the Office of Personnel Management Director, the Administrator must set guidelines for uniform fair pay for comparable advisory-committee member, staff, and consultant services, recognizing responsibility, qualifications, and other relevant factors. The guidelines must say: (A) a member or staff member may not exceed the maximum rate under section 5376; (B) members away from home or regular business may receive travel expenses, including per diem instead of subsistence, as section 5703 allows intermittent Government employees; and (C) qualifying blind, deaf, or disabled members may receive section 3102 services while doing committee duties if they do not otherwise qualify because they are agency employees. (2) This does not stop a person from receiving the compensation the person would otherwise receive as a full-time United States employee if the person is such an employee apart from committee service or was one immediately before committee service. (e) The Administrator must include in budget recommendations a summary of amounts considered necessary for advisory-committee expenses, including report-publication expenses when appropriate.