b. Mission requirements means activities that constitute the discharge of an agency's official responsibilities. Such activities include, but are not limited to, the transport of troops and/or equipment, training, evacuation (including medical evacuation), intelligence and counter-narcotics activities, search and rescue, transportation of prisoners, use of defense attache-controlled aircraft, aeronautical research and space and science applications, and other such activities. For purposes of this Circular, mission requirements do not include official travel to give speeches, to attend conferences or meetings, or to make routine site visits.

c. Official travel means (i) travel to meet mission requirements, (ii) required use travel, and (iii) other travel for the conduct of agency business.

d. Required use means use of a government aircraft for the travel of an Executive Agency officer or employee, where the use of the government aircraft is required because of bona fide communications or security needs of the agency or exceptional scheduling requirements.

e. Senior Federal officials are persons:

(i) employed at a rate of pay specified in or fixed according to subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 5 of the U.S. Code;

(ii) employed in a position in an Executive Agency, including any independent agency, at a rate of pay payable for level I of the Executive Schedule or employed in the Executive Office of the President at a rate of pay payable for level II of the Executive Schedule;

(iii) employed in a position in an Executive Agency that is not referred to in clause (i) (other than a position that is subject to pay adjustment under Section 1009 of Title 37 of the U.S. Code) and for which the basic rate of pay, exclusive of any locality-based pay adjustment under section 5304 of title 5 of the U.S. Code (or any comparable adjustment pursuant to interim authority of the President), is equal to or greater than the rate of basic pay payable for the Senior Executive Service under Section 5382 of title 5 of the U.S. Code; or

(iv) appointed by the President to a position under section 105(a)(2)(A), (B), or (C) of title 3 of the U.S. Code or by the Vice President to a position under section 106(a) (1) (A), (B), or (C) of title 3 of the U.S. Code.

f. Full coach fare means a coach fare available to the general public between the day that the travel was planned and the day the travel occurred.

g. Actual cost means all costs associated with the use and operation of an aircraft. (See Attachment A for detailed definition.)

b. Agencies must comply with OMB Circular No. A-76 before purchasing, leasing or otherwise acquiring aircraft and related services to assure that these services cannot be obtained from and operated by the private sector more cost effectively.

c. Agencies shall review periodically the continuing need for all of their aircraft and the cost effectiveness of their aircraft operations in accordance with the requirements of OMB Circular No. A-76. A copy of each agency review shall be submitted to GSA when completed and to OMB with the agency's next budget submission. Agencies shall report any excess aircraft and release all aircraft that are not fully justified by these reviews.

d. Agencies shall use their aircraft in the most cost effective way to meet their requirements.

(i) no commercial airline or aircraft (including charter) service is reasonably available (i.e., able to meet the traveler's departure and/or arrival requirements within a 24 hour period, unless the traveler demonstrates that extraordinary circumstances require a shorter period) to fulfill effectively the agency requirement; or

(ii) the actual cost of using a government aircraft is not more than the cost of using commercial airline or aircraft (including charter) service. When a flight is being made to meet mission requirements or for required use travel (and is certified as such in writing by the agency which is conducting the mission as required in Section 10.b.), secondary use of the aircraft for other travel for the conduct of agency business may be presumed to result in cost savings (i.e., cost comparisons are not required).

(i) the aircraft is already scheduled for use for an official purpose;

(ii) such "space available" use does not require a larger aircraft than needed for the official purpose;

(iii) such "space available" use results only in minor additional cost to the government; and

(iv) reimbursement is provided as set forth in Section 9.

(i) Any incidental private activities (personal or political) of an employee undertaken on an employee's own time while on official travel shall not result in any increase in the actual costs to the government of operating the aircraft.

(ii) The government shall be reimbursed the appropriate share of the full coach fare for any portion of the time on the trip spent on political activities (except as provided in subsection (d) below).

(i) For a wholly personal or political trip, the full coach fare for the trip;

(ii) For an official trip during which the employee engages in political activities, the appropriate share of the full coach fare for the entire trip;

(iii) For an official trip during which the employee flies to one or more locations for personal reasons, the excess of the full coach fare of all flights taken by the employee on the trip over the full coach fare of the flights that would have been taken by the employee had there been no personal activities on the trip.

d. In any case of political travel, reimbursement shall be made in the amount required by law or regulation (e.g., 11 C.F.R. 106.3) if greater than the amount otherwise required by the foregoing reimbursement rules.

b. Whenever a government aircraft used to fulfill a mission requirement is used also to transport senior Federal officials, members of their families or other non-Federal travelers on a "space available" basis (except as authorized under 10 U.S.C. 4744 and regulations implementing that statute), the agency that is conducting the mission shall certify in writing prior to the flight that the aircraft is scheduled to perform a bona fide mission activity, and that the minimum mission requirements have not been exceeded in order to transport such "space available" travelers. In special emergency situations, an after-the-fact written certification by an agency is permitted.

c. Agencies that use government aircraft shall report semi-annually to GSA each use of such aircraft for non-mission travel by senior Federal officials, members of the families of such officials, and any non-Federal travelers (except as authorized under 10 U.S.C. 4744 and regulations implementing that statute). Such reports shall be in a format specified by GSA and shall list all such travel conducted during the preceding six month period. The report shall include: (i) the name of each such traveler, (ii) the official purpose of the trip, (iii) destination(s), and (iv) for travel to which Section 8.a.(ii) applies, the appropriate allocated share of the full operating cost of each trip and the corresponding commercial cost for the trip. In addition, agencies shall report a summary of these data to OMB semi-annually in a format specified by GSA. (Reports on classified trips shall not be reported to GSA but must be maintained by the agency using the aircraft and available for review as authorized.)

b. Special approval requirements for required use travel - Use of government aircraft for required use travel must be approved in advance and in writing. A Federal officer or employee must obtain written approval for all required use travel on a trip-by-trip basis from the agency's senior legal official or his/her principal deputy, unless (1) in the case of an officer or employee who is not an agency head, the agency head has determined that all travel by the officer or employee or travel in specified categories qualifies as required use travel, or (2) in the case of an agency head, the President has determined that all travel, or travel in specified categories, by the agency head qualifies as required use travel. Any determination by an agency head that travel by an officer or employee of that agency qualifies as required use travel must be in writing and set forth the basis for that determination. In special emergency situations, an after-the-fact written certification by an agency is permitted.

Any agency head opting to determine that travel by an officer or employee may be required use travel shall establish written standards for determining when required use travel is permitted. Such travel is not permitted unless in conformance with such written standards.

c. Special approval requirements for travel that is not to meet mission requirements or required use travel - Use of government aircraft for such travel by the following categories of people must be authorized in advance and in writing:

(i) senior Federal officials;

(ii) members of families of such senior Federal officials; and

(iii) non-Federal travelers.

Travel by such individuals that is deemed to be official travel shall be subject to the same rules and conditions as any other official travel. Travel by such individuals that is not official travel is subject to the reimbursement requirements in Section 9.c. for "space available" travel.

- the date(s) used

- the name(s) of the pilot(s) and flight crew

- the purpose(s) of the flight

- the route(s) flown

- the names of all passengers

(i) Their agency's internal policies and procedures for procuring aircraft and related services are consistent with the requirements of OMB Circular No. A-76.

(ii) Their agency's aircraft programs comply with the internal control requirements of OMB Circular No. A-123 and that they are included in the agency's Management Control Plan. Any material weaknesses in these programs are to be reported in the annual internal control reports to the President and the Congress.

(iii) Their agency cooperates with the General Services Administration in the development of aircraft management policies and standards and in the collection of aircraft information.

(iv) Their agency has an aircraft information system that conforms to the generic data and reporting standards developed by GSA. Agencies that do not already have systems that conform to these standards are required to implement such systems within one year from the issuance of the GSA standards.

c. The Administrator of General Services shall maintain a single coordinating office for agency aircraft management. The responsibilities of this office shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(i) coordination of the development of effectiveness measures and standards, policy recommendations, and guidance for the procurement, operation, safety, and disposal of civilian agency aircraft;

(ii) operation of a government-wide aircraft management information system;

(iii) identification, for agencies and OMB, of opportunities: to share, transfer, or dispose of underutilized aircraft; to reduce excessive aircraft operations and maintenance costs; and to replace obsolete aircraft;

(iv) development of generic aircraft information system standards and software;

(v) other technical assistance to agencies in establishing automated aircraft information and cost accounting systems and conducting the cost analyses required by this Circular;

(vi) review of proposed agency internal aircraft policies for compliance with OMB guidance and notification to OMB of any discrepancies; and

(vii) conduct of an annual study of the variable and fixed costs of operating the different categories of government aircraft and dissemination of the results for use in making the cost comparisons required in Section 8.a.(ii) and reporting the trip costs as required in Section 10.c.

d. Except for provisions of this Circular which specify their own implementation dates, each agency head shall issue internal agency directives to implement this Circular no later than 180 days from the date of the Circular. These internal agency directives must include all policies contained in this Circular, but may also contain additional policies unique to the agency. Responsibility for these policies shall be assigned to a senior management official who has the agency-wide authority and resources to implement them.