
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 40USC491]

 
             TITLE 40--PUBLIC BUILDINGS, PROPERTY, AND WORKS
 
       CHAPTER 10--MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
 
                   SUBCHAPTER II--PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
 
Sec. 491. Motor vehicle pools and transportation systems


(a) Establishment

    In order to carry out the policy, expressed in section 471 of this 
title, to provide for an economical and efficient system for 
transportation of Government personnel and property, it is further 
intended by the Congress in enacting this section to (1) provide for the 
proper identification of Government motor vehicles; (2) establish 
effective means of limiting their use to official governmental purposes; 
(3) reduce the number of Government-owned vehicles to the minimum 
necessary for transaction of the public business; (4) provide wherever 
practicable for centrally operated interagency pools or systems for 
local transportation of Government personnel and property; and (5) 
establish procedures to insure safe operation of motor vehicles on 
Government business.

(b) Determinations by Administrator

    Subject to regulations issued by the President pursuant to 
subsection (c) of this section, the Administrator shall in respect of 
executive agencies, and to the extent that he determines that so doing 
is advantageous to the Government in terms of economy, efficiency, or 
service, after consultation with and with due regard to the program 
activities of the agencies concerned, (1) consolidate, take over, 
acquire, or arrange for the operation by any executive agency of, motor 
vehicles and other related equipment and supplies for the purpose of 
establishing motor vehicle pools and systems to serve the needs of 
executive agencies; and (2) provide for the establishment, maintenance, 
and operation (including servicing and storage) of motor vehicle pools 
or systems for transportation of property or passengers, and for 
furnishing such motor vehicle and related services to executive 
agencies. Such motor vehicle services may be furnished, as determined by 
the Administrator, through the use, under rental or other arrangements, 
of motor vehicles of private fleet operators, taxicab companies, local 
or interstate common carriers, or Government-owned motor vehicles, or 
combinations thereof. The Administrator shall, so far as practicable, 
provide any of the services specified in this subsection to any Federal 
agency, mixed ownership corporation (as defined in chapter 91 of title 
31), or the District of Columbia, upon its request.

(c) Regulations

    The President shall, within ninety days after the effective date of 
this section, issue regulations under this section to establish 
procedures for the taking effect of determinations made by the 
Administrator pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Such 
regulations shall provide for adequate notice to executive agencies of 
any determinations affecting them or their functions; for independent 
review and decision as directed by the President of any determination 
not mutually agreed upon between the Administrator and the agency 
concerned, including exemption of any agency, in whole or in part, from 
any determination; and for enforcement of determinations becoming 
effective under such regulations. No determination made pursuant to 
subsection (b) of this section shall be binding upon any agency except 
as provided in such regulations.

(d) Payment of costs; fixing of prices

    (1) The General Supply Fund provided for in section 756 of this 
title shall be available for use by or under the direction and control 
of the Administrator for paying all elements of cost (including the 
purchase or rental price of motor vehicles and other related equipment 
and supplies) incident to the establishment, maintenance, and operation 
(including servicing and storage) of motor vehicle pools or systems for 
the transportation of property or passengers, and to the furnishing of 
such motor vehicles and equipment and related services pursuant to 
subsection (b) of this section.
    (2) Payments by requisitioning agencies so served shall be at prices 
fixed by the Administrator at levels which will recover, so far as 
practicable, all such elements of cost, and may, in the Administrator's 
discretion, include increments for the estimated replacement cost of 
such motor vehicles, equipment, and supplies. Such increments may, 
notwithstanding section 756(e) of this title, be retained as part of the 
capital of the General Supply Fund, but shall be available only for 
replacement of such motor vehicles, equipment, and supplies. The 
purchase price, plus such increments for the estimated replacement cost, 
of such motor vehicles and equipment shall be recovered only through 
charges for the cost of amortization. Such costs shall be determined in 
accordance with the accrual accounting method; and financial reports 
shall be prepared on the basis of such accounting.

(e) Justification for each vehicle pool and system

    Any determination made by the Administrator pursuant to subsection 
(b) of this section shall set forth in writing an analytical 
justification for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of each 
such motor vehicle pool and system. Such justification shall include a 
detailed comparison of estimated costs of present and proposed modes of 
operation, and a showing that savings can be realized by the 
establishment, maintenance, and operation of such pool or system.

(f) Maintenance records; discontinuance of vehicle pool or system

    Whenever any such motor vehicle pool or system has been established 
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the Administrator shall 
maintain accurate records of the cost of its establishment, maintenance, 
and operation. If, during any reasonable period, not exceeding two 
successive fiscal years, no actual savings are realized on the basis of 
the accounting for costs provided in subsection (d) of this section the 
Administrator shall discontinue such motor vehicle pool or system, and 
shall return to the agency or agencies involved motor vehicles and 
related equipment and supplies similar in kind and of a value reasonably 
comparable to the value of the motor vehicles and related equipment and 
supplies theretofore received by the Administrator from such agency or 
agencies.

(g) Reimbursement for equipment

    Whenever the Administrator takes over pursuant to subsection (b) of 
this section any motor vehicle or other related equipment or supplies 
from any Government corporation, or from any other agency if such 
vehicle, equipment or supplies have been acquired by such agency through 
expenditures made from, and not theretofore reimbursed to, any revolving 
or trust fund authorized by law, the Administrator shall reimburse such 
corporation or fund by an amount equal to the fair market value of the 
vehicle, equipment or supplies so taken over. If thereafter, pursuant to 
subsection (f) of this section, the Administrator returns to such 
corporation or agency any motor vehicle, equipment or supplies, the 
Administrator shall be reimbursed by the payment to him, by such 
corporation or from such fund, of an amount equal to the fair market 
value of the vehicle, equipment or supplies so returned.

(h) Additions to General Supply Fund capital

    When reimbursement is not required under subsection (g) of this 
section, the value, as determined by the Administrator, of any motor 
vehicle or other related equipment or supplies taken over under 
authority of subsection (b) of this section may be added to the capital 
of the General Supply Fund, and in the event that property similar in 
kind is subsequently returned pursuant to subsection (f) of this 
section, the value thereof may be deducted from the General Supply Fund.

(i) Scrip, tokens, tickets

    The Administrator, in the operation of motor vehicle pools or 
systems, may make provision for the furnishing, sale, and use of scrip, 
tokens, tickets, and similar devices for the making of payment by using 
agencies for services rendered by the Administrator in the 
transportation of property or passengers.

(j) Operating regulations

    The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall issue 
regulations to govern executive agencies in authorizing civilian 
personnel to operate Government-owned motor vehicles for official 
purposes within the States of the Union, the District of Columbia, 
Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United States. Such regulations 
shall prescribe standards of physical fitness for authorized operators 
and may require operators and prospective operators to obtain such State 
and local licenses or permits as would be required for the operation by 
them of similar vehicles for other than official purposes. The head of 
each executive agency shall issue such orders and directives as may be 
necessary to comply with such regulations and shall make appropriate 
provision therein for periodically testing the physical fitness of 
operators and prospective operators and for the suspension and 
revocation of authorizations to operate.

(k) Identification of vehicles

    Under regulations prescribed by the Administrator, every motor 
vehicle acquired and used for official purposes within the United 
States, its Territories, or possessions, by any Federal agency or the 
District of Columbia shall be conspicuously identified by showing 
thereon either (1) the full name of the department, establishment, 
corporation, or agency by which it is used and the service in which it 
is used, or (2) a title descriptive of the service in which it is used 
if such title readily identifies the department, establishment, 
corporation, or agency concerned, and the legend ``For official use 
only'': Provided, That the regulations issued pursuant to this section 
may provide for exemptions from the requirement of this section when 
conspicuous identification would interfere with the purpose for which a 
vehicle is acquired and used.

(l) Violations

    Whenever, during the regular course of his duties, there shall come 
to the knowledge of the Administrator any violation of the provisions of 
sections 1343, 1344, and 1349(b) of title 31 or of section 641 of title 
18 involving the conversion by a Government official or employee of a 
Government-owned or leased motor vehicle to his own use or the use of 
others, the Administrator shall report such violation to the head of the 
agency in which the official or employee concerned is employed, for 
further investigation and either appropriate disciplinary action under 
sections 1343, 1344, and 1349(b) of title 31 or, where appropriate, 
referral to the Attorney General for prosecution under section 641 of 
title 18.

(June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title II, Sec. 211, as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 
849, Sec. 5(c), 64 Stat. 580; amended Sept. 1, 1954, ch. 1211, Sec. 2, 
68 Stat. 1126; Pub. L. 86-624, Sec. 27(b), July 12, 1960, 74 Stat. 418; 
Pub. L. 87-649, Sec. 14b, Sept. 7, 1962, 76 Stat. 500; Pub. L. 95-506, 
Oct. 24, 1978, 92 Stat. 1756; 1978 Reorg. Plan No. 2, Sec. 102, eff. 
Jan. 1, 1979, 43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783.)

                       References in Text

    The effective date of this section, referred to in subsec. (c), 
means the effective date of this section as amended by act Sept. 1, 
1954, ch. 1211, Sec. 2, 68 Stat. 1126, which was approved Sept. 1, 1954.

                          Codification

    In subsecs. (b) and (l), ``chapter 91 of title 31'' substituted for 
``the Government Corporation Control Act [31 U.S.C. 841 et seq.]'', and 
``sections 1343, 1344, and 1349(b) of title 31'' substituted for 
``section 5 of the Act of July 16, 1914, as amended [31 U.S.C. 638a]'' 
and ``such section 5'', respectively, on authority of Pub. L. 97-258, 
Sec. 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1067, the first section of which 
enacted Title 31, Money and Finance.
    Section was formerly classified to section 239b of Title 41, Public 
Contracts.


                               Amendments

    1978--Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 95-506 inserted provision permitting 
Administrator to include in price increments for estimated replacement 
costs of motor vehicles, equipment, and supplies.
    1962--Subsec. (m). Pub. L. 87-649 repealed subsec. (m) which related 
to travel of members of the uniformed services between duty stations. 
See section 408 of Title 37, Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed 
Services.
    1960--Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 86-624 substituted ``States of the Union, 
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United 
States'' for ``continental United States, its Territories, and 
possessions''.
    1954--Act Sept. 1, 1954, amended section generally to establish and 
operate motor pools and transportation systems.

                          Transfer of Functions

    ``Director of the Office of Personnel Management'' substituted for 
``United States Civil Service Commission'' in subsec. (j) pursuant to 
Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1978, Sec. 102, 43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783, set 
out under section 1101 of Title 5, Government Organization and 
Employees, which transferred all functions vested by statute in United 
States Civil Service Commission to Director of Office of Personnel 
Management (except as otherwise specified), effective Jan. 1, 1979, as 
provided by section 1-102 of Ex. Ord. No. 12107, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 
1055, set out under section 1101 of Title 5.


 Obligations for Multiyear Agreements for Lease or Other Acquisition of 
    Motor Vehicles Entered Into by Administrator of General Services

    Pub. L. 101-136, title IV, Sec. 9, Nov. 3, 1989, 103 Stat. 803, 
provided that:
    ``(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), obligations of funds 
for multiyear agreements for the lease or other acquisition of motor 
vehicles entered into by the Administrator of General Services for the 
purposes of section 211 of the Federal Property and Administrative 
Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 491) shall be limited to the current 
fiscal year for which payments are due, without regard to any 
termination or cancellation costs, and without regard to section 
1341(a)(1)(B) of title 31, United States Code.
    ``(b) Affected Agreements.--This section shall apply to multiyear 
agreements which--
        ``(1) are entered into by the Administrator during the 4-year 
    period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 3, 
    1989]; and
        ``(2) provide for the lease of motor vehicles for a period of 
    not more than four years.''

                        Executive Order No. 10579

    Section 9 of Ex. Ord. No. 10579, Dec. 1, 1954, 19 F.R. 7925, set out 
as a note under section 486 of this title, provides that any motor 
vehicle, the conspicuous identification of which as a Government vehicle 
would interfere with the purpose for which it was acquired, is exempt 
from inclusion in interagency pools.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 906 of this title; title 42 
section 7588.
