Property and Equipment

Property & Equipment

Overview

Principal Investigators (PIs), Department Administrators, OCG and other central offices share responsibilities for the management of property and equipment purchased with University funds.

OCG can help PIs and Department Administrators by ensuring that:

  • Property and equipment purchases are reasonable, allowable, allocable, and essential for the project’s performance.
  • Property management during the project complies with University and sponsor requirements.
  • Disposition requests and closeout reports are submitted to the sponsor on time.

Sponsored Project Property Control Manual

The Sponsored Projects Property Control Manual outlines 91¸£ÀûÉç’s policies, processes and procedures for managing property acquired on sponsored awards. It includes instructions for acquiring, maintaining, reporting, inventorying, and disposing of property.

Specific controls for managing Government property are also described. These controls are evaluated annually by the Office of Naval Research for compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Kinds of Property and Equipment

Common property definitions used in research administration are detailed in Section 1.3 of the Sponsored Projects Property Control Manual.Ìý

Refer to theÌýProperty Account Code Quick ListÌýfor our recommendations on account codes for Non-Capital Equipment, Capital Equipment, Materials, and Supplies directly charged to sponsored awards.

Property includes all items acquired on a sponsored award, such as supplies, materials, capital and non-capital equipment, computers, and electronic devices.

Government Propertyrefers to property owned by the Government. The University must follow specific mandated requirements for managing Government property. These are summarized in theRequirements for Government Property resource.

University Property refers to property owned by the University. Any property acquired with Federal or University funds is considered University property unless titled to the sponsor or Government.

Capital Equipment is a tangible, durable, non-expendable item that meets the University’s capitalization rules and is functionally complete for its intended purpose. .Ìý It includes:

  • Standalone Equipment: A commercially available, non-expendable item exempt from indirect costs per University capitalization rules.
  • Fabrication:ÌýÌýA one-of-a-kind piece of equipment created by transforming materials, supplies, and hardware to meet a unique research need.
  • All components of a fabrication must be essential to its function.
  • Costs may include materials, freight, construction, installation, training, or assembly labor.
  • Materials used for testing or construction but are not integrated into the final unit (e.g. fuels, gasses, compressed air) are considered supplies and not capitalizable fabrication costs. or.
  • For awards involving fabrications (or adding to an existing work-in-progress fabrication), complete the forms available on the .

Tangible items that are non-consumable, but do not meet the capitalization rules are considered non-capital property or equipment. Any tangible property that is not considered either capital or non-capital equipment is considered supplies. Most supplies are consumable and are used up during the course of a sponsored project.
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Computers and electronic devices are considered non-consumable supplies (or non-capital property) if they cost less than $5,000. They are considered capital equipment if they cost more than $5,000.

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External Links

  • Campus Controller’s Office Debt and Asset Management:ÌýResources on capital construction, equipment ($5,000+), debt, inventory, cash, petty cash and change funds.
  • Finance and Business Strategy’s : Resources for Campus Property Managers, including forms for fabrication requests, interdepartmental transfers, off-campus property, and lost property.
  • Facilities Management : Information on furniture, property surplus and disposal, moving and hauling, and property sales and auctions.Ìý
  • : Information on the procurement of property and services in accordance with University rules.

OCG Resources

Below are resources to assist with property management for sponsored projects:

ÌýFor detailed policies and procedures, refer to theSponsored Projects Property Control Manual.

Need help?

Email the OCG Compliance Team atÌýOCGProperty@colorado.edu