Request for Legal Opinion on Matters Related to Appropriation Reimbursements in Air Force Appropriations

GAO provided information on the Air Force's procedures for appropriation reimbursements resulting from Foreign Military Sales, focusing on whether: (1) the Air Force's practice of using appropriation reimbursements in a year other than the year in which obligations were incurred to fill that order was legal; (2) the procedure of allocating 100 percent of the Cooperative Logistics advances on stock level cases to the 3010 appropriation was legal; and (3) the entries recorded by the Air Force to avoid an apparent violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act were legal. GAO held that: (1) the Air Force's practice of using appropriation reimbursements in a year other than the year in which obligations were incurred was illegal to the extent that the case year appropriations credited with Foreign Military Sales Act reimbursements did not earn such reimbursements; (2) it would be illegal for the Air Force to credit all of the advance payments to the 3010 Procurement Account and record portions of the related obligations to other accounts; and (3) the entries recorded by the Air Force to avoid an Anti-Deficiency Act violation was illegal and should be reversed.