Donations Program

General Services Administration (GSA) has legal authority to accept gifts (also referred to as donations) of property or non-personal services. While gifts of services may only be accepted by the GSA Administrator, the acceptance of gifts of property, real, personal or otherwise, has been delegated to the Commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service (PBS). The authority to accept gifts of property valued under $5 Million has been delegated to GSA's Regional Commissioners.

Below are the authorities available to GSA for gifts donations, and the process of properly evaluating, developing, accepting and executing donations of property.

• 40 U.S.C. § 581 (c)(1) which states in part, “…The Administrator may acquire, by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, real estate and interests in real estate.”
• 40 U.S.C. § 3304, which states in part, “…The Administrator of General Services may acquire by purchase, condemnation, donation, exchange, or otherwise, any building and its site which the Administrator decides is necessary to carry out the duties of the Administrator…”
• 40 U.S.C. § 3175 which states in part, “The Administrator of General Services…may accept on behalf of the Federal Government unconditional gifts of property in aid of any project or function within their respective jurisdiction.”

Although GSA does not solicit gifts, adequate guidance will be given to parties interested in preparing and submitting proposals. Donation proposals will be given thorough and timely consideration. If you are interested in submitting a gift for consideration, guidelines for submittal, evaluation and acceptance can be found in "Gift Acceptance Process for Interested Parties, GSA Public Buildings Service [PDF - 666 KB]”.

In addition to GSA’s gift authorities, the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), also has legal authority to accept donations of property or services.

Congress originally provided CBP the authority to accept donations in a pilot program with Section 559 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, Public Law 113-76 (Section 559), enacted January 2014. Section 559 authorized CBP and GSA to accept donations of real property, personal property, including monetary donations, and non-personal services from private sector and government entities. CBP published guidance for the donation process in, “Section 559 Donation Acceptance Authority, Proposal Evaluation Procedures & Criteria Framework”.

Section 559 was later replaced by Section 482 of the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016, Public Law 114-279 (Section 482), enacted in December 2016. Section 482 jointly authorized CBP and GSA to accept real property, personal property, monetary, and non-personal services donations from private sector and government entities. These donations may be used for ports of entry construction, alterations, operations or maintenance purposes, including land acquisitions, design and the deployment of equipment and technologies. Section 482 guidance can be found in, “Section 482 Donation Acceptance Authority, Proposal Evaluation Procedures & Criteria Framework”.