DPA
MEETING NOTES
May 2004
TOPICS
JUNE 2004 MEETING
DPA DUTIES
SENSITIVE PROPERTY RECORDS
FIELD INVENTORY LISTS
DPAs REVIEW PROPERTY WEBSITE
RECEIVING AND ACCEPTING GFE
LOANS TO AND FROM UCAR
FADB DESCRIPTIONS
FADB TRAINING CLASS OFFERRED
PROPERTY FORMS
JUNE 2004 MEETING – The June 2004 meeting will be Thursday, the 24th, 9:30-11:00 A.M. at CG1-3416. (Janet will be on PTO and Chris will conduct the meeting.)
DPA DUTIES – DPAs are responsible for understanding their division's property issues and raising questions or requesting additional guidance if the property manual does not cover something. The manual cannot anticipate every eventuality.
SENSITIVE PROPERTY RECORDS – The recent theft of field equipment has prompted another look at how divisions are recording sensitive property. This is a division responsibility and, with no communication to the contrary, we have assumed that each division is following the procedures from the Web site. Because of the theft and some difficulties encountered, the Property Office will request a copy of the Sensitive Property lists, first, from those divisions who typically engage in field efforts and, eventually, from all divisions.
FIELD INVENTORY LISTS – It is important that divisions create a list of equipment taken from UCAR Boulder sites for field efforts both as documentation in case of an insurance claim and to demonstrate prudent business practice to sponsors and auditors. In the DPA meeting, we discussed various ways this could be accomplished, recognizing the time constraints related to field preparations. Below are some of the ideas discussed. If you have additional ideas, please contact Janet.
- Field Inventory List - This form identifies the information that should be documented when equipment is taken to the field. If an item of equipment has a PPEtag# or a REDtag# (which is recorded in the division Sensitive Property list), only that number and serial number need to be noted on the form. The corresponding records will have the remaining information.
- Checklists – DPAs can dump their FADB records to an Excel spreadsheet, copy and paste appropriate items from their Sensitive Property list, and create a checklist. Then, division staff can check off items being taken on the field effort. The list could include all division equipment or just equipment for a specific Responsible Person. The checklist should include several blank lines so staff can add equipment items that did not appear in the checklist.
- Digital Pictures – As equipment is gathered in a staging area before loading, staff could take pictures of groups of equipment. This is the least efficient method because it does not provide tag and serial numbers but it is better than no record at all.
Checklists are the preferred method because they contain all the necessary information but require minimal effort. The DPA could, over time, add hand written items to the division Sensitive Property list so that in the future those items are part of the checklist. Checklists in excel can also be sorted according to the needs of the affected staff to make the process as easy as possible.
DPAs REVIEW PROPERTY WEB SITE – Take a look at the Property Web site over June and July and review those sections most relevant to your division’s property needs. Then let Janet know if the sections need clarification, additional links, or any new information so she can make those revisions by the end of summer. Please let her know what pages or sections you reviewed even if you do not recommend changes. That way, she will 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.
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/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 to transfer accountability back to the government and relieve UCAR of further responsibility for the GFE.
All GFE, fixed asset or not, must be tracked carefully for annual 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, regardless of the item’s cost/value.
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.
Please remind your division staff that they must contact you if they are receiving or returning GFE.
LOANS TO AND FROM UCAR – All loans to UCAR from other entities and from UCAR to other entities must be documented and authorized with appropriate signatures. This means signatures from specific UCAR management personnel. Loan agreements typically commit UCAR to financial (replacement cost at a minimum), liability, accountability, and/or other obligations. Only a few designated UCAR employees have the authority to commit the organization to such obligations.
Send loan forms to the Property Office. We will obtain the appropriate signature and return the form to the division.
Check with your division staff to see if there are any undocumented loans. If so, work with staff and the Property Office to get documentation in place. UCAR could have substantial liability in borrowing equipment from other entities and we need to know about that and have appropriate official signatures on the documents.
FADB DESCRIPTIONS – Review descriptions in your FADB records to be sure they would be clear to non-technical staff. The Property Office will review and adjust descriptions if we cannot tell what the item is based on the current description. Reports are issued to sponsors and government agencies at various times throughout the year that require categorizing assets in different ways and accurate descriptions are needed to do that. If you want some unusual nomenclature, please use the System Name field. During this inventory cycle, Chris will pay particular attention to descriptions and work with DPAs to make appropriate corrections.
FADB TRAINING CLASS OFFERRED – Chris will be e-mailing DPAs to determine interest in another FADB training class. This is available to all DPAs, whether for initial or refresher training.
PROPERTY FORMS – Be sure to pull property forms from the web each time one is needed rather than making copies of blank forms on hand. These forms are periodically revised and it is important to always use the most current version.
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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