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553
SCOMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITEDSTATES
. '7WASHINGTON D.C. 20548
B-202455 March l2, 1985
The Honorable Dwight A. Ink
Acting Administrator
General Services Administration
Dear Mr. Ink:
This responds to an invitation from then-Acting Adminis-
trator Kline, relayed to us through his letter of November 6,
1984, to Chairman John D. Dingell, Subcommittee on Oversight
and Investigations, House Committee on Energy and Commerce,
for our suggestions on distinguishing between meeting subject
to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app.AsS 1-15
(1982), and those meetings to which the Act does not'apply.
Mr. Klinas invitation was extended after his review of our
decision,-202455, August 30, 1984, which addressed the ap-
plicabili y of the Federal Advisory Committee Act to certain
meetings held by the Department of Energy. Our decision con-
cluded that GSA's interim rule implementing the Act correctly
exempts from the Act's restrictions meetings held solely for
the purpose of obtaining the advice of individual attendees,
rather than for the purpose of obtaining consensus advice.
At the same time, however, we expressed the view that GSA's
rule did not contain adequate guidance to prevent improper
utilization of this exemption. We have provided below several
suggestions to improve GSA guidance in this area.
GSA's interim rule, promulgated on April 28, 1983, in-
cludes a list of advisory meetings or groups not covered by
the [Federal Advisory Committee] Act or this regulation. One
item in that list exempts from the Act:
Any meeting initiated by a Federal offi-
cial(s) with more than one individual for the
purpose of obtaining the advice of individual
attendees and not for the purpose of utilizing
the group to obtain consei us advice or recom-
mendations. 41 C.F.R. §' 0176.1004(j) (1984).
The rule contains no further guidance on this potentially-
broad exemption, although GSA notes that its preamble to the
interim rule (not included in the codification) warns agencies
against elevating form over substance to exempt advisory
meetings from the Act. See 48 Fed Reg. 19324, 19325
(April 28, 1983).
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