UCAR PROPERTY MANUAL

Property Homepage Manual TOC 3--Guidance 4--Contacts 5--DPA Responsibilities
6--Meeting Notes 7--Responsible Person Duties 8--Sensitive Property

Section 8: Sensitive Property Procedures

Overview

It is UCAR policy to be accountable for all property purchased for and used in the performance of its mission. UCAR follows the property guidelines of OMB Circular A-110, Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations. The UCAR property control system accounts for all nonexpendable, tangible personal property with a useful life of one year or more and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or greater; Fixed Assets.

UCAR recognizes the need to maintain an additional layer of property accountability for those property acquisitions less than $5,000 which might be sensitive in nature. Sensitive Property can be characterized as items that may be readily converted to cash and especially subject to theft because of portability, ease of concealment and useful for personal purposes..

Definition

Items (individual or system) which

• have an acquisition cost less than $5,000 and are
  
  
  • easily portable 
    
    
  • expensive new technology
    
    
  • adaptable to personal use

are prone to loss or theft and may be labeled with Sensitive Property tags (REDtags) to facilitate tracking, unless extenuating circumstances, such as age or condition, deem otherwise. Such circumstances should be documented in the division Sensitive Property file by a general statement such as, "Laptop computers acquired prior to 2000 are not RED tagged and tracked."

Several categories of items should be considered Sensitive Property, based on the potential risk of loss. (Items located in areas that are locked when not in use need not be tracked; however, items unsecured and easily accessible should be tracked as Sensitive Property.)

Examples of such categories are:

• Audiovisual equipment (i.e., portable projectors, video equipment and display screens),
  
  
• Cameras (digital, video, still, etc.),
  
  
• Communications equipment (i.e., fax machines, cellular phones),
  
  
• Automated Data Processing (ADP) equipment (i.e., CPU's, workstations, laptops, PDA's, color printers, and other information technology equipment),
  
  
• Computer peripherals (i.e., disk drives, tape drives, and components with memory capability, etc.),
  
  
• Aviation spares
  
  
• Special tooling, and special test equipment.

Items acquired through GSA surplus or donated to UCAR, should be reviewed for sensitivity as well. Further, divisions may want to include equipment with an acquisition cost under $5,000 used in field experiments or frequently taken off-site to facilitate accountability for and tracking of these items. A DPA may RED tag and track any additional property items as determined appropriate by the division.

It is important to establish, document, and apply consistent and logical rationale for determining which items, other than those listed above, are treated as Sensitive Property by a division.

Note that Sensitive Property does not include software purchases since software is not tangible personal property.

Recordkeeping

DPA's will maintain a property control record for Sensitive Property, which may be subject to annual review by the UCAR Property Administrator. These records should contain at a minimum:

• Sensitive Property Tag Number*
  
  
• Item Description
  
  
• Acquisition Cost
  
  
• Manufacturer
  
  
• Model
  
  
• Serial Number
  
  
• Date of Purchase
  
  
• Purchase Requisition Number
  
  
• Requisitioning Account Key
  
  
• Responsible Person
  
  
• Disposition, e.g. Active, Loan, Spare, Repair

* Sensitive Property items will be tagged using a different alphanumeric code (i.e., RED000000174) to distinguish them from tagged Fixed Assets (items with an acquisition cost greater than $5,000). RED tags should be placed conspicuously on the item (front, top, or side) so that at the time of inventory the RED tag is easily visible to the inventory team. This will readily distinguish Sensitive Property from the Fixed Assets being inventoried.

* Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) - Regardless of tracking threshold, all government property provided under an agreement must be tagged, tracked and disposed according to Property Disposition guidelines.

Disposition of NON-fixed-assets

A NON-fixed asset is basically an item that is UCAR owned and does not qualify as a fixed asset.  It is equipment purchased for less than $5,000 and may or may not be identified as sensitive property.  If a NON-asset can no longer be used by a division, either because it is obsolete or does not work, the division should do the following:

• DPA - offer the NON-fixed-asset to other divisions/programs within NCAR/UCAR/UOP via an e-mail to "dpaalias@ucar.edu" noting description, and condition (working or not working), and a response deadline.  If no other division claims it,
• DPA may coordinate a donation to a non profit educational institution following the same guidelines as with fixed assets.
• DPA may dispose of the item through Logistics Operations at x1143 or refer to the recycling section of the Sustainable UCAR Web site for further information.
  

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