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B-198242 1 (1980-04-24)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadife0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 7 ~ '>TH4E COMPTROLLER GENIERAL D E C ISi 10 R1, OF TIt1 _ UNITE-D SrATE~s VVASHINGTON. D. C. 20548 FILE: B-198242 DATE: April 24, 1980 MATTER OF: Contracts for maintenance of office plants DIGEST: Extent of prohibition against using appropriated fundsj for plant care and watering contracts with private firms, contained in fiscal year 1930 HUD Appropriation Act, is uncertain. However, violation of provision clearly occurs when appropriated funds are used for private maintenance contracts for office plants located in areas which are assigned work spaces of particular Federal employee or employees. This decision interprets section 409 of the Depar;tment of Housing and Urban Development--Independent Agencies Appropriation Act, 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-103, 93 Stat. 771, 738 (HUD Appropriation Act). This provision prohibits the use of appropriated funds for plant maintenance contracts. For the reasons indicated below, we conclude that this sec- tion is violated whea appropriated funds are used for contracts to main- tain plants located in offices to which particular Federal employees are assigned. On the other hand, without further clarification from the Congress, we are unable to conclude that the section is violated if the plants are located in publicly or commonly used areas which are not the work spaces of any particular employees. Section 409 of the HUD Appropriation Act provides: No part of any appropriation for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1980, contained in this or any other Act shall be used to contract with private firms to provide plant care or watering services. If read literally, this section would prohibit the use of any appropri- ated money for any contract for maintenance of plants, wherever located. For example, it would prohibit contracting for landscaping services out- side of Federal office buildings, contracting for tree and shrubbery care in national cemeteries, and contracting by municipalities for maintenance of their parks if Federal revenue sharing funds were used, as well as contracting for watering office plants within Federal buildings. However, after examining the legislative history of this provision, we believe that the Congress did not intend sutch a broad application of the prohibition. The provision was introduced as a floor amendment to the HUD Appropriation Act by Senator Sasser. In explaining the need for this

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