Army Corps of Engineers - Disposition of Fees Received from,

B-271894 Jul 24, 1997 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Provided that the fees received for the training are deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. Since there is no statutory authority for the Corps to provide training to private sector employees. Attendees are charged fees at rates calculated to recoup estimated costs of the training. The Corps is uncertain whether it has authority to deposit the fees received from private sector attendees into the Fund. Receipts that are properly for credit to the fund are exempt from the requirement that they be deposited into miscellaneous receipts. Has opined that in this case the fees should be deposited into miscellaneous receipts since the Corps does not have specific statutory authority to provide training to individuals from the private sector and to deposit the fees charged them into the Corps's Revolving Fund. View Decision Matter of: Army Corps of Engineers - Disposition of Fees Received from Private Sector Participants in Training Courses File: B-271894 Date: July 24, 1997 DIGEST DECISION A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disbursing officer has requested our decision whether the Corps may deposit in its Civil Works Revolving Fund fees received from private individuals to attend Corps-sponsored training courses financed from the Revolving Fund, rather than deposit the fees in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. For reasons discussed below, we conclude that the Corps may not retain the fees for deposit into the Revolving Fund. Background According to the Corps, it operates a training program primarily for the benefit of Corps employees, which includes courses or subjects unique to the Corps, and it finances this program almost entirely on a reimbursable basis from the Revolving Fund. In addition to Corps employees, employees from other federal agencies and employees of state and local government agencies attend. Occasionally, employees of private entities attend on a space available basis, incidental to the primary training requirements of government employees. Attendees are charged fees at rates calculated to recoup estimated costs of the training. The Corps deposits training fees it receives from federal, state, and local government attendees into the Fund. However, the Corps is uncertain whether it has authority to deposit the fees received from private sector attendees into the Fund, or whether it must deposit them into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. [1] The disbursing officer notes that under the revolving fund concept, receipts that are properly for credit to the fund are exempt from the requirement that they be deposited into miscellaneous receipts. The Corps's counsel, however, has opined that in this case the fees should be deposited into miscellaneous receipts since the Corps does not have specific statutory authority to provide training to individuals from the private sector and to deposit the fees charged them into the Corps's Revolving Fund. In support of this position, the counsel cites our decision 42 Comp.Gen. 673 (1963), and letter B-241269, February 28, 1991, holding that although an agency may accept a limited number of private individuals into its training courses on a fee basis, after adequate provisions have been made for all government personnel attending, fees received from the private individuals must be deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. Analysis Absent statutory authority to the contrary, all funds received for use of the United States must be deposited into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3302(b). [2] An exception to this requirement is a revolving fund, created by statute, under which receipts may be credited directly to the fund and are available, without further appropriation by Congress, for expenditures to carry out the purposes of the fund. 69 Comp.Gen. 260, 262 (1990). The existence of a revolving fund, however, does not automatically signal that 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3302(b) will never apply. Thus, where the statute establishing the fund does not authorize the crediting of receipts of a particular type back into the fund, those receipts must be deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, since to credit them to the fund would constitute an improper augmentation of the fund. See 69 Comp.Gen. 260 (1990): 40 Comp.Gen. 356 (1960): 23 Comp.Gen. 986 (1944): and 20 Comp.Gen. 280 (1940). The fund in this case, the Corps of Engineers Civil Works Revolving Fund, is established by 33 U.S.C. Sec.