Federal agencies cannot use department funds to buy disposable flatware for employee use, as those items don’t directly support an agency’s mission,according to a recent decision from the Government Accountability Office.
The Department of Commerce instituted a policy in 2009 to provide disposable cups, plates and utensils, along with hand sanitizer and disinfectants to employees at the National Weather Service offices in response to concerns over an outbreak of the H1N1 virus, colloquially called “swine flu.”
In 2013, Commerce announced that it would no longer provide disposable flatware to the regional offices, stating that the “purchase was for the primary benefit of the employees” and not the agency’s mission.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/management/agency/2014/12/29/gao-disposable-utensils/21014951/
