§572 Real Property

Summary

Money from selling extra federal land and related personal property goes into a special fund in the U.S. Treasury. The General Services Administrator can use some of that money to pay direct costs of handling and selling the property, like fees for appraisers and brokers, environmental and historic reviews, studies, inspections, moving costs, advertising, and surveys. No more than 12 percent of the total sale proceeds in a fiscal year can be used for those direct costs. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director must set the exact spending limit every quarter. Money spent this way can pay bills directly or pay back the account that paid them first. At least once each year, any extra money not needed for operations must be moved from the fund into miscellaneous Treasury receipts. Each year there must also be a report on the money in, money out, and transfers, sent with the budget estimate to the OMB Director and to Congress. Two terms used here are defined elsewhere: "military installation" (see 10 U.S.C. 2687(e)(1)) and "base closure law" (see 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(17)). For military property that a service declares excess, the Secretary of Defense must first offer it, without reimbursement, to other military departments. If no other service takes it, the military department asks the General Services Administrator to transfer or sell it. Net proceeds (after the allowed expenses) go into a special Treasury account. If allowed by an appropriation law, those proceeds can be used for facility maintenance, repairs, or environmental cleanup: if the property was at a closed base, the former owning service gets the funds; otherwise half goes to the local installation’s maintenance/cleanup and half goes to the former owning service. The Secretary of Defense must include a detailed accounting of each transfer or sale and how the money was used in the annual budget request to the Armed Services Committees.