Reading Room Document

Bonneville Power Administration's Claim for Reimbursement in Connection with Land Transfer

Under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, the Bonneville Power Administration is entitled to be reimbursed the fair value of certain property that it transferred to the Secretary of the Interior for the use and benefit of the Puyallup Indian Tribe, without regard to whether said property is located within the Puyallup Indian Reservation. Under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, fair value reimbursement to the transferor agency by the acquiring agency is mandatory in all cases where the property was acquired with funds from a revolving fund, 40 U.S.C. §§ 483(a)(1), 485(c). The General Services Administration has no discretion to waive such a repayment obligation by the acquinng agency, even where, as is arguably the case here, the acquiring agency is under an independent statutory obligation to acquire the land. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22971/download.

March 2, 1982