[Letter]

B-271127.2 Jan 30, 1997 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The Library of Congress does not have revolving fund or similar authority in conducting its Cooperative Acquisitions Program. Of which approximately $1 million was a liability representing the refund that would have been due if every participant had cancelled their requests as of the date of the ending balance. 000 was not a surplus but a reserve for shutdown costs to cover separation benefits for affected employees should the program close down. To make excess foreign currencies the United States was earning from its overseas sales of surplus agricultural commodities available to the Library for certain purposes. [1] Overseas offices were created to use the foreign currencies to finance programs outside the United States for. View Decision B-271127.2 January 30, 1997 The Library of Congress does not have revolving fund or similar authority in conducting its Cooperative Acquisitions Program. Accordingly, when the Library receives money from program participants in excess of the amount the Library needs to pay the direct cost associated with satisfying the Library's responsibilities to the participants, the Library must treat the excess money consistent with 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3302(b), which requires that absent statutory authority to the contrary, money received by the government must be deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. Mr. Winston Tabb Associate Librarian Library of Congress Dear Mr. Tabb: In its report on the financial statement audit of the Library of Congress for fiscal year 1995, Price Waterhouse identified an outstanding legal issue regarding the Library's retention of certain monies incident to its operation of the Cooperative Acquisitions Program. The program had an approximate ending balance on September 30, 1995, of $1.6 million, of which approximately $1 million was a liability representing the refund that would have been due if every participant had cancelled their requests as of the date of the ending balance. The Library asserts that the remaining $600,000 was not a surplus but a reserve for shutdown costs to cover separation benefits for affected employees should the program close down, as well as any other unexpected contingencies. Price Waterhouse referred the issue of whether the Library should retain the $600,000 to our Office for further development and resolution. We obtained the Library's views on the matter. Based on our analysis of the Library's authority and applicable principles of appropriations law, the Library should deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts the monies that the Library has received incident to the Cooperative Acquisitions Program, but does not need to fulfill its responsibilities to the program participants who paid such monies. Background The Cooperative Acquisitions Program evolved from two programs that began under separate authorities. In 1958, Pub. L. No. 85-931, 72 Stat. 1790, amended section 104n of the Agricultural Trade and Assistance Act of 1954, Pub. L. No. 83-480, 68 Stat. 454, 456, to make excess foreign currencies the United States was earning from its overseas sales of surplus agricultural commodities available to the Library for certain purposes. [1] Overseas offices were created to use the foreign currencies to finance programs outside the United States for, among other things, the acquisition of new books, periodicals, and other materials for the Library as well as other libraries and research centers in the United States. In 1965, Title II-C of the Higher Education Act, Pub. L. No. 89-329, 79 Stat. 1219, 1228, authorized appropriations for what became known as the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging (NPAC) at the Library. [2] Under NPAC, the Library received appropriated funds [3] to, among other things, acquire library materials to use for exchange or other purposes. The Library set up Regional Acquisition Centers for the purposes of carrying out NPAC. In 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-482, 90 Stat. 2081, 2090, amended the Higher Education Act to eliminate the provision authorizing appropriations to the NPAC program. Congress eliminated the provisions relating to NPAC "with the understanding that [NPAC], which has benefited users of libraries all across the country, is to be carried on by the Library of Congress." S. Rep. No. 882, 94th Cong., 2nd Sess. 8 (1976). That understanding stems from the Library assuring Congress that NPAC "can be continued under the Library's own authority and that [NPAC's] reauthorization in the Higher Education Act is no longer needed." Id. Congress continued for fiscal year 1977 through fiscal year 1983 to explicitly include NPAC in the Library's appropriation for salaries and expenses.