H. R. 5683 
One Hundred Tenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and eight 
An Act 
To make certain reforms with respect to the Government Accountability Office, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government 
Accountability Office Act of 2008’’. 
(b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly provided, 
whenever in this Act an amendment is expressed in terms of an 
amendment to a section or other provision, the reference shall 
be considered to be made to a section or other provision of title 
31, United States Code. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act 
is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; references; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Provisions relating to future annual pay adjustments. 
Sec. 3. Pay adjustment relating to certain previous years. 
Sec. 4.
Lump-sum payment for certain performance-based compensation. 
Sec. 5. Inspector General. 
Sec. 6. Reimbursement of audit costs. 
Sec. 7. Financial disclosure requirements. 
Sec. 8. Highest basic pay rate. 
Sec. 9. Additional authorities. 
SEC. 2. PROVISIONS RELATING TO FUTURE ANNUAL PAY ADJUST-
MENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 732 is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(j)(1) For purposes of this subsection— 
‘‘(A) the term ‘pay increase’, as used with respect to an 
officer or employee in connection with a year, means the total 
increase in the rate of basic pay (expressed as a percentage) 
of such officer or employee, taking effect under section 731(b) 
and subsection (c)(3) in such year; 
‘‘(B) the term ‘required minimum percentage’, as used with 
respect to an officer or employee in connection with a year, 
means the percentage equal to the total increase in rates of 
basic pay (expressed as a percentage) taking effect under sec-
tions 5303 and 5304–5304a of title 5 in such year with respect 
to General Schedule positions within the pay locality (as defined 
by section 5302(5) of title 5) in which the position of such 
officer or employee is located; 
‘‘(C) the term ‘covered officer or employee’, as used with 
respect to a pay increase, means any individual—
H. R. 5683—2 
‘‘(i) who is an officer or employee of the Government 
Accountability Office, other than an officer or employee 
described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of section 4(c)(1) 
of the Government Accountability Office Act of 2008, deter-
mined as of the effective date of such pay increase; and 
‘‘(ii) whose performance is at least at a satisfactory 
level, as determined by the Comptroller General under 
the provisions of subsection (c)(3) for purposes of the adjust-
ment taking effect under such provisions in such year; 
and 
‘‘(D) the term ‘nonpermanent merit pay’ means any amount 
payable under section 731(b) which does not constitute basic 
pay. 
‘‘(2)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, 
if (disregarding this subsection) the pay increase that would other-
wise take effect with respect to a covered officer or employee in 
a year would be less than the required minimum percentage for 
such officer or employee in such year, the Comptroller General 
shall provide for a further increase in the rate of basic pay of 
such officer or employee. 
‘‘(B) The further increase under this subsection— 
‘‘(i) shall be equal to the amount necessary to make up 
for the shortfall described in subparagraph (A); and 
‘‘(ii) shall take effect as of the same date as the pay increase 
otherwise taking effect in such year. 
‘‘(C) Nothing in this paragraph shall be considered to permit 
or require that a rate of basic pay be increased to an amount 
inconsistent with the limitation set forth in subsection (c)(2). 
‘‘(D) If (disregarding this subsection) the covered officer or 
employee would also have received any nonpermanent merit pay 
in such year, such nonpermanent merit pay shall be decreased 
by an amount equal to the portion of such officer’s or employee’s 
basic pay for such year which is attributable to the further increase 
described in subparagraph (A) (as determined by the Comptroller 
General), but to not less than zero. 
‘‘(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the 
effective date of any pay increase (within the meaning of paragraph 
(1)(A)) taking effect with respect to a covered officer or employee 
in any year shall be the same as the effective date of any adjustment 
taking effect under section 5303 of title 5 with respect to statutory 
pay systems (as defined by section 5302(1) of title 5) in such 
year.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this section 
shall apply with respect to any pay increase (as defined by such 
amendment) taking effect on or after the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 3. PAY ADJUSTMENT RELATING TO CERTAIN PREVIOUS YEARS. 
(a) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies in the case of any 
individual who, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, is 
an officer or employee of the Government Accountability Office, 
excluding— 
(1) an officer or employee described in subparagraph (A), 
(B), or (C) of section 4(c)(1); and 
(2) an officer or employee who received both a 2.6 percent 
pay increase in January 2006 and a 2.4 percent pay increase 
in February 2007.