31 U.S.C. § 3324
Section 3324 · Advances
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 10 court decisions — leading case United States v. Amdahl Corp. (1986)
Most recently applied in 127 Fed. Cl. 77 - Ultimate Concrete, LLC v. United States (June 2016)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Except as provided in this section, a payment under a contract to provide a service or deliver an article for the United States Government may not be more than the value of the service already provided or the article already delivered.
(b) An advance of public money may be made only if it is authorized by—
(1) a specific appropriation or other law; or
(2) the President to be made to—
(A) a disbursing official if the President decides the advance is necessary to carry out—
(i) the duties of the official promptly and faithfully; and
(ii) an obligation of the Government; or
(B) an individual serving in the armed forces at a distant station if the President decides the advance is necessary to disburse regularly pay and allowances.
(c) Before the Secretary of the Treasury acts on a requisition for an advance, the Comptroller General shall act on the requisition under section 3522 of this title. The Comptroller General does not countersign a requisition for an advance.
(d) The head of an agency may pay in advance from appropriations available for the purpose—
(1) to the Secretary of the Army, charges for messages sent by the Secretary of the Army for the head of the agency, including charges for—
(A) payment of tolls of commercial carriers;
(B) leasing facilities for sending messages; and
(C) installing and maintaining facilities for sending messages; and
(2) charges for a publication printed or recorded in any way for the auditory or visual use of the agency.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
In subsection (a), the words “Except as provided in this section” are added for clarity. The words “already provided” and “already delivered” are substituted for “rendered . . . delivered previously to such payment” for clarity and consistency.
In subsection (b), before clause (1), the words “in any case” and “It shall, however, be lawful under the special direction of” are omitted as surplus. In clause (2)(A)(i), the word “official” is substituted for “officer” for consistency in the revised title. The words “of the Government” are omitted as surplus. Clause (2)(A)(ii) is substituted for “the public engagements” for clarity. In clause (2)(B), the word “individual” is substituted for “persons” for consistency. The words “armed forces” are substituted for “military and naval service” for consistency with title 10. The words “and proper” are omitted as unnecessary. The words “disburse regularly pay and allowances” are substituted for “discharge of the pay and emoluments to which they may be entitled cannot be regularly effected” to eliminate unnecessary words, for clarity, and for consistency with title 37.
In subsection (c), the words “Comptroller General” are substituted for “General Accounting Office” for consistency.
In subsection (d), before clause (1), the words “On and after April 15, 1926” in 31:686–2 are omitted as executed. The word “agency” is substituted for “department or establishment” because of section 101 of the revised title and for consistency. The words “may pay in advance from appropriations available for the purpose” are substituted for “may transfer in advance . . . such amounts as may be necessary to defray the expense of” for clarity and consistency. In clause (1), the words “Secretary of the Army” are substituted for “Signal Corps of the Army” because of 10:3012. The title of Secretary of War was changed to Secretary of the Army, and the Department of War was designated the Department of the Army by section 205(a) of the Act of July 26, 1947 (ch. 343, 61 Stat. 501), and by sections 1 and 53 of the Act of August 10, 1956 (ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 157, 676). Clause (2) is substituted for 31:530a and 530b to eliminate unnecessary words. The words “or the municipal government of the District of Columbia” are omitted because of sections 441–445 and 736 of the Act of December 24, 1973 (Pub. L. 93–198, 87 Stat. 798, 823).
Exemption of Functions
Functions authorized by Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, as exempt, see Ex. Ord. No. 11223, May 12, 1965, 30 F.R. 6635, set out as a note under section 2393 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
International Refugee Organization
Funds available for expenditure without regard to this section, see section 289c of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.