DPA
MEETING NOTES
April 2004
TOPICS
MAY 2004 MEETING
EQUIPMENT THEFT
SENSITIVE PROPERTY
REVIEW PROPERTY WEB SITE
ACCEPTING GFE
SELLING FURNITURE/EQUIPMENT TO EMPLOYEES
MAY 2004 MEETING – The May 2004 meeting will be Thursday, the 27th, 9:30-11:00 A.M. at the ML Damon Room.
EQUIPMENT THEFT – Procedures have been added to the Property Manual addressing what to do in case a theft occurs. Please review these and be sure your division staff are aware of them. If you perceive any problems with compliance, either for you or other division staff, please note them and bring them to the May DPA Meeting.
Bob Cinea (JOSS) noticed that the procedures were not clear on differences between on-site and off-site theft so they have been revised for clarification. Thanks Bob!
Some DPAs expressed concern that, while they could inform division staff of the Theft procedures, they had no authority to require compliance. Therefore, I requested that Katy Schmoll, VP of UCAR F&A, raise this matter at the next UMC meeting. She agreed to do so.
SENSITIVE PROPERTY RECORDS – The ability to respond to an incidence of theft appropriately may depend on the adequacy of your Sensitive Property records. Each division should have REDtagged and have data records for anything that fits the Sensitive Property Procedures. Please take a look at those and be sure your division is in compliance. As with the Theft procedures, if your division cannot comply, note your issues and bring them to the May DPA Meeting for discussion.
SEEKING VOLUNTEERS TO REVIEW PROPERTY WEB SITE – Take a look at the Property Web site and identify pages or sections from the site and Property Manual that you would be willing to review over the next month or two. Most likely, these would be pages or sections that are relevant to your divison’s property needs.
The plan is for DPAs to review various portions of the site and let me know if they see a need for clarification, additional links, or any new sections so I can make those revisions by the end of summer. Please let me know what pages or sections you will review and, even if you do not recommend changes, let me know when you have finished your review. That way, I’ll know which pages/sections have been reviewed. This should benefit DPAs and the divisions, especially during the transition to a new Property Administrator at the end of the calendar year. Thanks.
RECEIVING AND ACCEPTING GFE – Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) is defined in the Property Manual, Section 3-1: Definitions.
Transfer of GFE from a government agency to UCAR, for any duration, must be documented with signatures from both the Agency and UCAR contracts/sponsored agreements manager or administrator or property administrator. These signatures formally transfer accountability for the GFE to UCAR. Likewise, returns of GFE to the government must be documented with signatures. This transfers accountability back to the government and relieves UCAR of further responsibility for the GFE.
All GFE, fixed asset or not, must be tracked carefully for reporting and eventual return to the government. UCAR is accountable to the government for any equipment provided by them for the performance of an agreement.
Division staff must not accept GFE without proper documentation and must notify their DPA, and the DPA the Property Office, so that appropriate tracking can be set up.
WHY UCAR CANNOT SELL FURNITURE & EQUIPMENT TO EMPLOYEES – It is UCAR practice, and has been for many years, not to sell equipment or furniture ready for disposal to employees. There are various reasons for this, a few of which are,
- If the equipment or furniture was purchased with government funds, the proceeds of a sale would have to be returned to the funding agreement. This means that divisions would have to track the funding source for every item of equipment or furniture purchased on the off-chance that it might be sold someday. Such tracking would be both time and cost-prohibitive.
- In order to be equitable, if UCAR sold equipment or furniture to employees, such would need to be offered to all employees. This would require procedures for tracking sales, storage during the sales process, and ensuring the proceeds are correctly applied. Again, this would be time and cost-prohibitive since the proceeds would not come anywhere near covering the costs of selling the items.
If your division staff inquires about purchasing an item out for disposal, please explain these issues. If they persist, feel free to refer them to the Property Administrator.
Contact
the Property Office at anytime with questions or for assistance.
We're here to help you manage your division's property.
Janet Campbell, ext 8858, janetc@ucar.edu;
Chris Knoetgen, ext 8573, knoetgen@ucar.edu
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