National Archives and Records Administration's Records Center Revolving Fund -- Property Damage Recovery, B-302962, June 10, 2005

B-302962 Jun 10, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) should collect amounts sufficient to repair damages to facilities financed by the Records Center Revolving Fund, whether that damage is caused by NARA's federal agency customer, the customer's contractor or NARA's own contractors, and deposit those amounts into the revolving fund. Agency customers that receive amounts from their own contractors to cover such repairs should transfer those amounts to the revolving fund. View Decision B-302962, National Archives and Records Administration's Records Center Revolving Fund -- Property Damage Recovery, June 10, 2005 Decision Matter of: National Archives and Records Administration's Records Center Revolving Fund -- Property Damage Recovery File: B-302962 Date: June 10, 2005 DIGEST The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) should collect amounts sufficient to repair damages to facilities financed by the Records Center Revolving Fund, whether that damage is caused by NARA's federal agency customer, the customer's contractor or NARA's own contractors, and deposit those amounts into the revolving fund. Agency customers that receive amounts from their own contractors to cover such repairs should transfer those amounts to the revolving fund. DECISION The General Counsel of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has requested an advance decision under 31 U.S.C. 3529 on whether NARA may collect and retain in its Records Center Revolving Fund payments for damages caused by a customer agency or the agency's contractor to facilities financed by the revolving fund. Letter from Gary M. Stern, General Counsel, NARA, to Susan Poling, Associate General Counsel, GAO, Mar. 31, 2004 (Stern Letter). Specifically, the General Counsel asks: (1) whether NARA may receive payments from an agency customer for such damages as an exception to the so-called interdepartmental waiver doctrine;[1] (2) whether NARA may retain payments received from a customer's contractor for damages caused by that contractor; and (3) whether an agency customer may transfer to NARA amounts that the customer received from its contractor for reimbursement for damages, or whether the agency customer must deposit those funds in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. Id. Additionally, from the facts that NARA poses, we identify a fourth question: (4) whether NARA may retain payments received from its own NARA contractors for damages caused by the contractor to facilities financed by the revolving fund. As we explain below, NARA should collect amounts sufficient to cover repair costs from entities that damage facilities financed by the Records Center Revolving Fund, whether that damage is caused by the agency customer, the customer's contractor or NARA's own contractors, and deposit those amounts into the revolving fund. Further, agency customers that receive amounts directly from their own contractors to cover such repairs should transfer those amounts to the revolving fund. BACKGROUND NARA stores temporary and pre-archival records that belong to other federal agencies in its Records Center Program Facilities. Federal agencies may enter into agreements with NARA to transfer and store those records at NARA records centers. See 44 U.S.C. 3103; 36 C.F.R. 1220.38(a), 1228.150, 1228.156(a). See generally 44 U.S.C. 2901--2909 (Records Management). When a federal agency customer or that customer's contractor damages a loading dock door while delivering records for storage at a national or regional NARA records center, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage, NARA, for security and other reasons, must immediately repair the damage. [2] Stern Letter. The Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2000, established a "Records Center Revolving Fund" (revolving fund) to pay for expenses and equipment necessary to provide storage and related services for such temporary and pre-archival records of federal agencies and other instrumentalities of the federal government. Pub. L. No. 106-58, Title IV, Nat'l Archives & Recs. Admin., Recs. Ctr. Revolving Fund, 113 Stat. 430, 460-61 (Sept. 29, 1999). NARA must store these records at "Federal National and Regional Records Centers" and must credit the revolving fund with user charges received from federal agencies as payment for the provision of personnel, storage, materials, supplies, equipment and authorized services. Id. The rates that NARA charges must "return in full the expenses of operation, including reserves for accrued annual leave, worker's compensation, depreciation of capitalized equipment and shelving, and amortization of information technology software and systems." Id. The Congress also appropriated an "initial capitalization" to the fund for start-up costs. Id.