The determination whether a discount is a gift for purposes of financial disclosure must be made on a case by case basis. The following guidelines should assist you in deciding whether the employees in your agency may accept a particular discount. In cases in which an entity offers a commercial discount to the general public, regardless of an individual's employer or position, a Government employee may generally accept the discount, subject to his or her agency's policies or standards of conduct regulations. In such instances, it appears that the motivation of the offeror is to increase sales volume by attracting a large identifiable group of customers, rather than to offer something of value to a particular group. In the absence of an agency policy or regulation to the contrary, a Federal Government employee may accept a discount that a commercial entity makes available to the general public.
Many agencies deal with commercial discounts in the same manner in which they deal with gifts.
Because the potential for a conflict of interest is minimal in cases in which a Federal Government employee accepts a commercial discount that has been offered to the general public, agencies treating discounts as gifts might consider carving out an exception for discounts available to the general public. When the offer of the discount is made to a class as large and diverse as all Government employees, there is little likelihood that the offeror is seeking to gain influence or to supplement employees' salaries. On the other hand, the concern for appearances remains. Despite the fact that the offer extends to all Government employees, specific categories of employees might not be allowed to accept. Although most commercial discounts are not considered gifts, when the commercial entity belongs to one of the prohibited sources contained in 5 C.F.R. 735.202, the concern that the offeror might gain some benefit in its dealings with the Government would preclude acceptance by the employee.