Procedures for Federal Assets

 

This site presents Property Management Office (PMO) policies and procedures as they relate to federal requirements to have a system to manage Government property in its possession. These procedures relate to Principal Investigator and PMO responsibilities for the maintenance of the property management system (PSAM) for Government-owned equipment where title remains with the Federal Government.

 

For information regarding the acquisition and ownership of University of Iowa-titled equipment, please see PMO University-Owned Equipment Procedures.

 

Related Sites:

UI:

Division of Sponsored Programs
Grant Accounting

U.S. Office of Management and Budget:

OMB Circular A-110 Property Standards

 

Table of Contents

1. Ownership of Federal Funded and Furnished Equipment

2. Acquisition of Federal-Titled Equipment

3. Tagging

4. Stewardship, Maintenance of Records

5. Physical Inventories

6. Disposition Procedures

7. Loss, Theft or Destruction of Property

 

I.  Ownership of Federal Funded and Furnished Equipment

1. Title to equipment furnished to the University by all Federal Agencies shall remain with the Federal Agency, unless other arrangements are specified in the contract signed by the Federal Agency and the University. The equipment is classified as "Federal Furnished" on PSAM's Federal Asset page.

2. Equipment purchased with funding by Federal Agencies shall be either the property of the University or the Federal Agency according to the terms of the award as determined by the Grant Accounting Office.

   1. For cases where title remains with the Federal Agency, the equipment is classified as "Federal Titled" on PSAM's Federal Asset page.

   2. For cases where title transfers to the University, the equipment is classified as “None” on PSAM’s Federal Asset page.

3. Additions, changes, and disposition of all Government-owned equipment is reported via the “Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status” form.   University of Iowa-specific forms (i.e. Additions Request Form, Deductions Request Form, etc.) should not be used for Government-owned equipment.

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II.  Acquisition of Federal-Titled Equipment

Federal equipment to be added to PSAM must meet the University minimum capitalization threshold and useful life criteria.

1. Government-furnished Equipment The Principal Investigator is responsible for reporting equipment furnished by the Government by completing the “Asset Information”, “Custodian or Location”, and “Federal Condition Code” boxes of the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status and sending it, along with a copy of the federal shipping document or letter describing the equipment, to PMO. Note: this does not preclude or replace Principal Investigator reporting requirements to Grant Accounting.

2. Equipment purchased with Government funds to be federal-titled Grant Accounting will notify PMO of awards of federal grants and contracts for which equipment purchases are to be federal-titled. Additionally, the Principal Investigator should request that the Initiator include the award number and federal-titled status in the “Internal Comments” section of the P-req, so that PMO can record the asset’s title appropriately.

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III. Tagging

1. For all Government-owned equipment, PMO and the equipment’s Custodian are responsible for following the same process for assigning and placing bar code tags as is used for University-owned equipment.

2. Along with the University bar code tag, PMO will send the equipment’s Custodian an “Agency Tag” showing the Federal Agency’s name. The Custodian applies this tag near the bar code tag.

3. For Federal-furnished equipment, PMO will send the equipment’s Custodian a vinyl tag with the designation “GFE0” to be affixed directly to the left of the University bar code tag. PMO is responsible for updating the tag number in PSAM to reflect both the GFE0 designation and the University bar code number (i.e. GFE0######).

4. Special treatment of Government-owned equipment may be required to fulfill specific requirements of the Federal Agency grant or award. Normally, these “Government Tags” are furnished directly to the Principal Investigator, who is responsible for placing the tag on the equipment and notifying PMO. PMO is responsible for entering the tag information on PSAM’s federal pages.

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IV. Stewardship, Maintenance of Records

1. Principal Investigator/Equipment Custodian Is responsible for informing PMO of any changes in the equipment’s condition, location, and custodian by completing the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status as necessary.

2. Grant Accounting Office Is responsible for the submission of year-end property reports (i.e., DD 1662, NASA 1018 and grant reports) and reporting any changes in federal awards or MFK that impact Government-owned equipment to PMO.

3. Property Management Office Is responsible for recording any changes of Government-owned equipment in PSAM and working with Grant Accounting to resolve any differences between PSAM records and year-end property reports.

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V.  Physical Inventories

PMO coordinates the physical inventory of all Government-owned equipment and reports discrepancies to the Grant Accounting Office. The physical inventory is conducted by the Custodial Department.

1. Frequency Government owned equipment must be audited annually by the department to which the equipment is assigned.

2. Inventory Process

   1. PMO notifies departments by May 1 each year to begin the inventory. Inventories must be completed by June 1 in order to provide annual reports to Grant Accounting and auditors.

   2. Custodians will receive instructions, an electronic listing of Government-owned assets, and a blank “Letter of Certification” from PMO. The electronic listing will include a column indicating the current federal condition code for each asset.

   3. Departments must verify the existence of all federal equipment items assigned to them. This helps the University satisfy the requirement to manage Government property in its possession. Departments meet the requirement by:

      • Verifying the existence and condition of all assets on the listing,

      • Reporting the addition of any Government-owned assets on the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status,

      • Reporting the correction of any Government-owned assets carrying a University bar-code tag but not on the listing on the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status,

      • Reporting any changes or disposition to a Government-owned asset on the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status,

      • Updating the “Federal Condition Code” column of the electronic list to show changes to condition code, so that PMO can update records.

   4. The electronic listing will note any equipment for which disposition is pending but for which PMO has not been authorized to remove the asset. Custodians are to inventory these assets also during the inventory process.

   5. Department Executive Officers are required to review the completed inventory and sign the "Letter of Certification".

   6. The entire packet ("Letter of Certification", updated electronic listing, and FORMs) is to be returned to PMO.

   7. PMO updates asset records and federal asset pages and forwards changes to Grant Accounting.

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VI.  Disposition Procedures

Government owned equipment returned to Federal Agencies

1. The Principal Investigator is responsible for reporting Government-owned equipment returned to Federal Agencies by completing “Request for Disposition” section of the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status and returning it and copies of the federal shipping document to PMO. Note: this does not preclude or replace Principal Investigator reporting requirements to Grant Accounting.

2. All other requests for disposition of Government-owned equipment should be handled through Grant Accounting. PMO may not change the federal panel in PSAM or remove the asset until the Federal Letter of Disposition has been received from Grant Accounting.

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VII.  Loss, Theft, or Destruction of Property

See (UI Operations Manual, Part V, Chapter 12, Section 7)

1. Any Government-owned equipment stolen, destroyed or missing must be reported by the Custodial Department to the Department of Public Safety at the time that the property is discovered to be missing.

2. If the property is not recovered within 48 hours, the incident must be reported to Grant Accounting. Grant Accounting is responsible for requesting a release of liability from the Federal Agency.

3. The Custodial Department is also responsible for completing the “Request for Disposition” section of the Statement of Government-Owned Equipment Status and sending it to PMO. PMO is responsible for updating asset records to indicate that a release is requested and, upon receipt of the release, to remove the asset from PSAM.

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Property Management is a department within the Finance and Operations organization