Contract Allotment and Termination Liability

If you are using the term as it is used in the clause at FAR 52.232-22 Limitation of Funds, then allotted means obligated on the contract by the contracting officer -- not the amount "allotted" by the Congress in an appropriations bill; not the amount "allotted to the agency by OMB; not the amount "allotted" by the agency to the program office; not the amount "allotted" by the program office for the contract; but the amount allotted by the contracting officer on the contract as payable to the Contractor.

This is how I see it.

There are terms such as allocated and alloted and apportioned and appropriated and so forth used in budget circles, so I can understand that there is some misunderstanding sometimes.

The terminology is:

Congress

authorizes

and

appropriates

funds.

OMB

apportions

funds to agencies.

Agencies

allot

funds to organizational units and programs.

Apportionment

and a

llotment

are called

administrative division

and

subdivision

.

COs

obligate

funds (make

obligations

) that have been authorized, appropriated, apportioned, and allotted.

Finance offices

commit

and

disburse

funds (make

commitments

and

disbursements

).

See GAO, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process (Sept. 2005).

FAR 52.232-22, Limitation of Funds, which is used in incrementally funded contracts, refers to the increment of funds obligated as "the amount available" and "the amount allotted" to the contract.

Thank you both very much for the insight and references.