B-311235, United Way of the National Capital Area, May 16, 2008

B-311235 May 16, 2008 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The United Way of the National Capital Area protests the selection of Global Impact by the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA) to serve as the principal combined fund organization (PCFO) for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) activities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The United Way argues that the CFCNCA did not conduct a fair and reasonable competition in selecting Global Impact as the PCFO for the 2008 CFC campaign year. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) argues that the CFCNCA is not a federal agency, and that our Office therefore does not have jurisdiction to hear this protest. As discussed below, we agree with OPM that our Office does not have jurisdiction to hear the protest and dismiss it on that basis. We dismiss the protest. View Decision B-311235, United Way of the National Capital Area, May 16, 2008 Decision Matter of: United Way of the National Capital Area File: B-311235 Date: May 16, 2008 Kelley P. Doran, Esq., Sean P. Bamford, Esq., Michael F. Scanlon, Esq., and Scott P. Lindsay, Esq., Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP, for the protester. Kerry McTigue, Esq., R. Alan Miller, Esq., and Linda Fallowfield, Esq., Office of Personnel Management, for the agency. Jonathan L. Kang, Esq., and Ralph O. White, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Government Accountability Office does not have jurisdiction to hear protest of the signing of a memorandum of understanding under a competition conducted by a Local Fund Campaign Committee of the Combined Federal Campaign, because, while this action would appear to be a procurement of services for the benefit of the government, a Local Fund Campaign Committee is not a federal agency. DECISION The United Way of the National Capital Area protests the selection of Global Impact by the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA) to serve as the principal combined fund organization (PCFO) for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) activities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The United Way argues that the CFCNCA did not conduct a fair and reasonable competition in selecting Global Impact as the PCFO for the 2008 CFC campaign year. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) argues that the CFCNCA is not a federal agency, and that our Office therefore does not have jurisdiction to hear this protest. As discussed below, we agree with OPM that our Office does not have jurisdiction to hear the protest and dismiss it on that basis. BACKGROUND Organization of the CFC The CFC is the only officially-sanctioned program for soliciting federal government employees on behalf of charitable organizations. The CFC conducts annual campaigns in the federal workplace, and allows federal employees to make donations through payroll deductions or other forms of payment to an approved list of charities. The CFC has existed in various forms since the 1960s, and its origins lay in the efforts of various federal entities and commissions in the 1940s and 1950s to achieve uniformity in the manner in which federal employees are solicited by charities.[1] The current form of the CFC was established by two Presidential Executive Orders signed by President Reagan. Executive Order (E.O.) No. 12353 recognized the need to –support and facilitate fund-raising on behalf of voluntary agencies through on-the-job solicitations of Federal employees and members of the uniformed services, and to ensure that the recipient agencies are responsible in the uses of the monies so raised.— E.O. No. 12353, 47 Fed. Reg. 12785 (Mar. 23, 1982). Executive Order No. 12404 further explained the objectives of the CFC as follows: The objectives of the Combined Federal Campaign are to lessen the burdens of government and of local communities in meeting needs of human health and welfare; to provide a convenient channel through which Federal public servants may contribute to these efforts; to minimize or eliminate disruption of the Federal workplace and costs to Federal taxpayers that such fund-raising may entail. . . E.O. No. 12404, 48 Fed. Reg. 6685 (Feb. 10, 1983). In order to meet the objectives of the CFC, the director of OPM is directed to –make arrangements— for the annual CFC, including prescribing –such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement this Order.— E.O. No. 12353, 47 Fed. Reg. 12785 (Mar. 23, 1982). The CFC is now governed by regulations promulgated by OPM at 5 C.F.R. part 950. These OPM regulations define the CFC as –the charitable fundraising program established and administered by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) pursuant to Executive Order No. 12353, as amended by Executive Order No. 12404, and all subsidiary units of such program.—[2] 5 C.F.R. sect. 950.101.