BNUMBER: B-276601
DATE: June 26, 1997
TITLE: Central Intelligence Agency--Availability of Appropriations,
B-276601, June 26, 1997
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Matter of:Central Intelligence Agency--Availability of Appropriations
to Purchase Refrigerators for Placement in the Workplace
File: B-276601
Date:June 26, 1997
DIGEST
Should the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) administratively
determine that equipping the workplace with the refrigerators is
reasonably related to the efficient performance of agency activities,
and not just for the personal convenience of individual employees, it
may use appropriated funds to purchase refrigerators for the
workplace.
DECISION
The Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) requests our opinion on the propriety of using
appropriated funds to purchase refrigerators for placement in the
workplace. For the reasons stated below, should the CIA
adminstratively determine that equipping the workplace with the
refrigerators is reasonably related to the efficient performance of
agency activities, and not just for the personal convenience of
individual employees, we would not object to the CIA using
appropriated funds to purchase refrigerators for the workplace.
According to the submission, the CIA headquarters facility is somewhat
isolated and relatively distant from private eating establishments.
The facility has an on-site cafeteria that is open only for breakfast
and lunch. The nearest commercially available eating facility is
10-15 minutes away. Having food delivered for dinner requires a 15-20
minute commute from the headquarters facility to the Visitors Center
because the delivery service may not enter the headquarters compound.
The Principal Deputy General Counsel believes that providing
refrigerators will bolster employee morale by giving employees a real
choice in their eating arrangements, and will increase productivity,
not just as a result of improved morale, but by permitting employees
to spend less time away from the workplace to eat.
The issue here is whether the purchase of refrigerators may be
considered a "necessary expense" of operating the facility. The
general rule is that where an appropriation is not specifically
available for a particular item, its purchase may be authorized as a
"necessary expense" if there is a reasonable relationship between the
object of the expenditure and the general purposes for which the funds
were appropriated and the expenditure is not otherwise prohibited.
B-210433, April 15, 1983. This rule of reason recognizes an agency's
discretion in using its appropriation to fulfill its purpose. Id.
We have addressed situations analogous to the one presented here. In
47 Comp. Gen. 657 (1968), we objected to the purchase of a coffee
maker and related items because a purpose of the purchase was to
enable the agency to provide coffee at meetings to its employees and
others. We reached a different result where the agency determined
that the purchase was necessary to compensate for a lack of available
eating facilities. For example, when an agency location operating on
a 7 days a week, 24-hour basis determined that eating facilities
were not readily accessible to all its employees, we did not object to
the Naval Medical Command, Department of the Navy purchasing a
microwave oven for use by its duty section and crypto center employees
(B-210433, April 15, 1983) or the Federal Aviation Administration
purchasing cooking utensils for its air traffic control facility
(B-173149, August 10, 1971). In each case, we required a proper
agency official to determine that the purchase was reasonably
necessary for the proper and efficient performance of the facility for
which the food related equipment was being purchased.
The Principal Deputy General Counsel points out that the cafeteria
serving the CIA headquarters facility can serve only a portion of the
headquarters population and is not open for dinner, the facility is
relatively distant from private eating establishments, and even
deliveries to the facility require the employees to spend considerable
time away from the office because of security precautions. These
factors are similar to those found in B-210433 and B-173149, noted
above. We also have allowed agencies to use appropriated funds to
subsidize an employee's cafeteria upon a finding that the expenditure
was necessary to the efficiency of operations and in promoting
employee morale. E.g., B-216943, March 21, 1985. In the context of
appropriations law, we see little substantive difference between using
appropriated funds to subsidize or even expand cafeteria operations
and using those funds to purchase equipment that allows the employees
to prepare their own food. In either case, the burden on the agency
is the same--to make the determination that the expenditure is
reasonably related to the purpose of the appropriation to be charged.
Accordingly, we would not object to the purchase of refrigerators
should CIA administratively determine that equipping the headquarters
facility with refrigerators is reasonably related to the efficient
performance of agency activities, and not just for the personal
convenience of individual employees.
/s/Robert P. Murphy
for Comptroller General
of the United States l
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