116 STAT. 2632 PUBLIC LAW 107-314—DEC. 2, 2002 "(c) PECUNIARY LIABILITY. —(1) The Secretary of Defense may subject a departmental accountable official to pecuniary liability for an illegal, improper, or incorrect payment made by the Department of Defense if the Secretary determines that such payment— "(A) resulted from information, data, or services that that official provided to a certifying official and upon which that certifying official directly relies in certifying the voucher supporting that payment; and "(B) was the result of fault or negligence on the part of that departmental accountable official. "(2) Pecuniary liability under this subsection shall apply in the same manner and to the same extent as applies to an official accountable under subtitle III of title 31. "(3) Any pecuniary liability of a departmental accountable official under this subsection for a loss to the United States resulting from an illegal, improper, or incorrect payment is joint and several with that of any other officer or employee of the United States or member of the uniformed services who is pecuniarily liable for such loss. "(d) CERTIFYING OFFICIAL DEFINED. —In this section, the term 'certifying official' means an employee who has the responsibilities specified in section 3528(a) of title 31.". (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.— The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 2773 the following new item: "2773a. Departmental accountable officials.". SEC. 1006. UNIFORM STANDARDS THROUGHOUT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR EXPOSURE OF PERSONNEL TO PECUNIARY LIABILITY FOR LOSS OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. (a) EXTENSION OF ARMY AND AIR FORCE REPORT-OF-SURVEY PROCEDURES TO NAVY AND MARINE CORPS AND ALL DOD CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES.— (1) Chapter 165 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: "§ 2787. Reports of survey "(a) ACTION ON REPORTS OF SURVEY. —Under regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (c), any officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps or any civilian employee of the Department of Defense designated in accordance with those regulations may act upon reports of surveys and vouchers pertaining to the loss, spoilage, unserviceability, unsuitability, or destruction of, or damage to, property of the United States under the control of the Department of Defense. "(b) FINALITY OF ACTION.—(1) Action taken under subsection (a) is final except as provided in paragraph (2). "(2) An action holding a person pecuniarily liable for loss, spoilage, destruction, or damage is not final until approved by a person designated to do so by the Secretary of a military department, commander of a combatant command, or Director of a Defense Agency, as the case may be, who has jurisdiction of the person held pecuniarily liable. The person designated to provide final approval shall be an officer of an armed force, or a civilian employee, under the jurisdiction of the official making the designation. "(c) REGULATIONS. — The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section.".
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