OMB's Study of Decentralization of Federal Governmental Functions

The Office of Management and Budget made a study of the possibility of relocating Federal functions from the District of Columbia and the surrounding area. GAO was asked to review the scope and accuracy of the study, the planned use of the study, and the President's authority to decentralize Federal functions without congressional approval. The scope of the President's authority to transfer personnel, positions, and functions of executive agencies from the District of Columbia to other parts of the country without additional statutory authority or specific congressional approval has never been clearly resolved. However, Congress could control executive decentralization actions in several ways.