Economy Act: An Overview

This product is also designated as GAO-26-900743.

The Economy Act provides authority for intra- and interagency transactions between agencies and major organizational units of agencies. The Act broadly applies to federal entities for the procurement of a wide variety of goods and services. However, the Economy Act does not authorize an agency to circumvent statutory limitations on its use of appropriated funds. An agency may only procure goods and services under the Economy Act that it is already authorized to procure, and Economy Act transactions must comply with the Act’s requirements, as well as general appropriations law principles, such as the purpose statute, the bona fide needs rule, the Antideficiency Act, and the rule against augmentation.

GAO’s engagement work on agency financial operations has touched on Economy Act transactions in a variety of contexts and we have issued numerous legal decisions applying the Economy Act, many of which are cited in the testimony.

For more information, contact Shirley A. Jones at jonessa@gao.gov.