Colors of Money
Colors of money is the practitioner term for appropriation categories such as O&M, procurement, RDT&E, military personnel, and military construction, each legally usable only for its stated purpose, within a fixed period, and up to a fixed amount under 31 U.S.C. 1301, 1502, and 1341.
Every appropriation carries three legal limits. Purpose: 31 U.S.C. 1301(a) confines funds to the objects for which the appropriation was made. Time: 31 U.S.C. 1502(a) restricts a fixed-period appropriation to expenses properly incurred during its availability, the root of the bona fide needs rule. Amount: 31 U.S.C. 1341, the Antideficiency Act, bars obligating beyond or in advance of what Congress provided. The color names which appropriation the money came from and what those limits permit.
In DoD practice the periods run one year for military personnel and O&M, two for RDT&E, three for procurement, and five for shipbuilding and military construction (DoD FMR Volume 2A). The same regulation draws the expense-versus-investment line at $250,000 unit cost, which decides whether a purchase is O&M or procurement money.
Buying the right thing with the wrong color is a purpose violation, and if the correct account lacks funds to fix it, an Antideficiency Act report. Expired funds can adjust existing obligations for five more years; they can never fund new ones.
Regulatory Reference
31 U.S.C. 1301(a); 31 U.S.C. 1502(a); 31 U.S.C. 1341; DoD FMR 7000.14-R, Volume 2A
RFO Status
No impact: appropriations law sits in title 31 and the annual appropriations acts, outside the FAR, so neither the model deviations nor the 2026 proposed rules change how funds are colored, timed, or limited.
Category
Regulations & Policy
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot reads the funding cited in a requirements package against what is actually being bought, expense or investment, severable or nonseverable, and flags purpose and period mismatches before obligation, while they are still corrections rather than reports.
Related glossary entries
Class Deviation
A class deviation authorizes an agency to depart from specific FAR or supplement provisions for a category of contract actions rather than a single case — the mechanism agencies are using to implement the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ahead of formal rulemaking.
Commercial Products and Services (FAR Part 12)
Commercial products and commercial services are items of a type sold, leased, licensed, or offered in the commercial marketplace, defined at FAR 2.101. FAR Part 12 implements the statutory preference for buying them whenever market research shows they can meet the agency's need.
Rule of Two
The rule of two directs a contracting officer to set aside an acquisition for small business when there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from at least two responsible small business concerns and making award at fair market prices, per FAR 19.502-2.
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is information the government creates or possesses, or that an entity handles on its behalf, that a law, regulation, or governmentwide policy requires safeguarding or dissemination controls for — sensitive but not classified, governed by 32 CFR Part 2002.