U.S. Government Personal Property Definitions
Property
Management Manual 
Please note: Most links in this site are for LANL interrnal use only.
Property Management life-cycle index Alphabetical
index of Definitions
Index 1: Property Life-cycle 
Requirements determination and basic definitions
Personal property
Real Property
Controlled property
Attractive property
Capital property
Equipment
Sensitive property
Sensitive
property list
Procurement and acquisition planning
Acquisition
Acquisition
Excess property from other federal agencies
Precious metals
Motor vehicles
Accountability, control, and use
Accountability
Property numbers
Barcode labels
Custodian
Exports
Imports
Inventory
High Risk Property
Motor vehicles
Precious metals
Utilization
Utilization
Excess property at LANL
Retired Property
Surplus property
Salvage
Scrap
Precious metals
Recycling
Trash
Index 2: Alphabetical
Index
Accountability
Acquisition
Attractive property
Barcode labels
Capital property
Controlled property
Custodian
Equipment
Excess property at LANL
Excess property from other federal agencies
Exports
High Risk Property
Imports
Inventory
Motor vehicles
Personal property
Precious metals
Procurement and acquisition planning
Property numbers
Real Property
Recycling
Retired Property
Salvage
Scrap
Sensitive property
Sensitive
property list
Surplus property
Trash
Utilization
Generally speaking, "personal property" means property of
any kind, except for real estate, interests therein (such as easements
and rights-of-way), and permanent fixtures. With a few exceptions,
all personal property purchased by the Laboratory belongs to the U.S.
Government. (Cf. 41
CFR 109-1.100-51). The terms "Laboratory property," "personal
property" and "property" are used loosely to refer to
U.S. Government property acquired by the Laboratory to perform the operating
contract between UC and DOE.
 At
the Laboratory, the term "controlled property" is used to describe
personal property listed in the official inventory. The Laboratory must account for
and control its inventory.
 Materials,
supplies, and expense item, such as furniture or office supplies are
not included in inventory, but are nonetheless U.S. Government personal
property. Laboratory employees have an obligation to protect all U.S.
Government personal property from theft, waste, abuse, or conversion
to personal use.
Controlled property is personal property that
meets the following criteria:
- It does not lose its integrity (that is, it is not expended
during use or incorporated within other property).
- It was purchased with U.S. Government appropriated funds (or reimbursable
funding from other organizations).
- It costs more than $5,000 (defined as "equipment")
OR meets the criteria for sensitive property.
Property
Management requires all controlled property to be identified with a unique property
number, tagged with a U.S. Government property barcode
label, and recorded and tracked in the official
property database.
Property professionals must have authorization from Property Management
to access the property database via the Sunflower
Assets® application. LANL workers possessing a token card
may run property reports via Sunflower
Standard Reports, LANL-specific reports, or Data
Warehouse.
Property Administrators assign controlled property to Lab workers, who accept the assignment
by signing an Accountability
Statement. By doing so, you accept personal responsibility
to account for your property, use it for official use only, and protect
it from damage, theft, or diversion to personal use.
See Accountability Statement Frequently Asked Questions.
A property number is the unique identifying number for each controlled
property item at the Laboratory. The barcode label allows
for quick scanning for inventory and control.
If a barcode label is missing, or if weathering, damage, or wear and
tear have degraded a barcode label, you can get replacements from Property Management. Call the Property Help Line at 505-665-3230 or
e-mail lanlproperty@lanl.gov to
order.
If you need to get a barcode label for property you acquired with a
LANL Purchase Card, contact your Property
Administrator.
At the Laboratory, the term "equipment" is used to describe personal property that:
- does not meet the definition for sensitive
items
- has initial acquisition or fabrication
costs (including shipping, handling, and installation costs) of $5,000
or more
- has a service life of at least 2 years
and does not lose its integrity (that is, it is not expended
during use or incorporated within other property)
At the Laboratory, the term "capital property" is used to
describe equipment that:
- has initial acquisition or fabrication
costs (not including shipping, handling, and installation costs)
of $25,000 or more.
- has a service life of at least 2 years
and does not lose its integrity (that is, it is not expended
during use or incorporated within other property)
- is capitalized and carried on the
balance sheet of the Laboratory financial accounts.
Formerly known as "attractive property," sensitive property
- is easily converted to personal use or sold for cash
- is susceptible to theft
- has a $300 minimum acquisition cost threshold, except for firearms and hand-held
computers (e.g. Palm Pilots), which are controlled regardless
of cost.
- does not lose its integrity (that is, it is not expended during
use or incorporated within other property)
See the sensitive
property list for property currently controlled as sensitive.
Click
here for a printer-friendly version (pdf).
The sensitive
property list is found in Property Management Manual
Chapter 1, "General Property Policies." This
list is approved by NNSA and is used at all three UC operated laboratories:
Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos.
Click
here for a printer-friendly version (pdf).
Note: LANL
purchase card holders must obtain permission from the Property Management group
leader or deputy group leader (call 505-667-6122) before they may acquire
items from the sensitive list.
Note: Items deleted from the previous list and no longer considered
sensitive are electronic balances, bicycles, external CD ROM disk
drives, facsimile machines, microwave ovens, radio hand-held scanners,
typewriters, and TV receivers. Although items may still be labeled
with old barcode labels, these items are retired, i.e. not subject to inventory or assigned to individuals. However,
they remain U.S. Government personal property,
and should be protected and used only for official business.
Same as sensitive property.
Procurement is
responsible for planning acquisitions to meet programmatic needs and
meet budget objectives. Procurement
contract specialists follow Standard
Practices and Supplemental Instructions to ensure that procurements
of personal property result in control.
Obtaining property, regardless of cost or method. Property may be manufactured,
received as a transfer or donation, purchased, or constructed.
A custodian is any UC or sub-contract employee working under UC supervision
to whom controlled property is assigned. Custodians are held accountable for
their assigned property.
The Laboratory is subject to numerous
export/import regulations .
Many export licenses must go to other agencies for approval;
processing can take up to two months . Most exports also require registration
with U. S. Customs. You should contact the
Customs Team as
early as possible when you determine that there is a need to export
or import property, printed manuals, software, or material.
"Know
Before You Go" provides
a brief overview for Lab employees planning to travel abroad. For
accurate information and assistance, contact the
Customs Team.
Noun: A detailed list of personal
property for which the Laboratory is accountable.
Verb : To confirm that a specific list of controlled
property exists.
To physically inventory property is to confirm that controlled
property exists by touching it, scan the barcode label with a barcode
reader, upload the results to the property database, validate the results,
and reconcile the results with property accounts. Inventory
by accountability statement relies on custodian accountability plus
an independent validation process.
Property
Management Manual, chapter 11 "High Risk Property" contains
definitions of high risk property, along with policies and procedures. Property
may not be permanently transferred from Laboratory control without
a high risk review .
Motor vehicles are operated principally on roadways for
the transportation of property or passengers. "Motor equipment" includes
vehicles, construction equipment, forklifts, and motorized carts.
Policies and procedures for acquiring, maintaining, and
using motor vehicles are found in Property
Management Manual, chapter 12 "Motor Equipment." The Fleet Management Team (FMT) oversees
the management of government vehicles assigned to the Laboratory.
Information on commercial driver's licensing and qualifications
is available from Packaging & Transportation.
Precious metals include gold, silver, and the platinum
group metals: platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and
osmium. Property Management is responsible
for the control and protection of the Lab’s inventory of precious
metals. More details can be found in the Precious
Metals Overview. All
precious metal scrap is recycled through the DOE Precious Metal Pool. Contact Dennis
Martinez for more information.
Property
Management Manual Chapter 13 "Special Material" contains
the official policies and procedures.
Government equipment that is temporarily not being used
at the Lab may be loaned to government agencies and educational institutions
for DOE-approved programs, the director’s outreach program, research
of benefit to the government or disaster relief in situations involving
the loss of life or property.
Property Management
Manual Chapter 7 "Property Loans" contains
the official policies and procedures.
For more information, call 505-667-6122.
Excess property is any personal property which
is no longer needed by the Laboratory.
Official policies on handling
excess property are found in the the Property
Management Manual, chapter 14 "Excess Property."
If
you have personal property you or your co-workers no longer need, you
should promptly report it to your Property
Administrator ,
who can ensure that it is re-used within your group or division, if
needed. If not, it is made available to the rest of the Laboratory
via the Swap Shop.It
is important to inform your Property
Administrator of
the condition of your property.
Usable
property in good condition is worth being advertised in the Swap
Shop and re-used at the Lab; Damaged property will be picked
up as salvage.
Special handling
is required for radioactive, contaminated, or high-risk property.
Contact your Property Administrator for
instructions. Official policies are found in Property
Management Manual Chapter 14 "Excess Property."
Be
aware that you are accountable for property assigned to you, including
property you have declared to be excess to your needs, until it is
re-assigned by your Property Administrator.At
LANL, excess computers and printers, electronic equipment, and other
property and supplies are held at the KSL warehouse at TA
60. You can look through the warehouse for equipment and
take what you need for official business. Call the service desk
at 505-665-3413 for hours of operation and more information.If nobody
at LANL claims available excess property, it is made available to other
organizations (a process referred to as "utilization" in
the following order:
- Educational or non-profit organizations as designated
by the Laboratory Director (the "LEEG" program)New Mexico
K-12 public and accredited private schoolsColleges and Universities
via the DOE Energy Related Laboratory
Equipment (ERLE) programDOE offices or designated contractors
- All other federal agencies
If property is not requested by any of the above, it
is declared surplus.
Reporting the condition of property accurately when it
is excessed or salvaged will
help channel serviceable property to those who need it, while
preventing time and money being wasted on damaged property.Property
Administrators use
the codes below when they declare a property item for excess or salvage. A
- Serviceable as isB - Needs minor repairs costing approximately 15%
of the property's cost or lessC - Needs major repairs costing approximately
50% of the property's cost or less
D - Salvage or scrap
Utilization is the processing and transfer of excess
personal property between federal agencies. The Lab can save
millions of taxpayer dollars and free up funding for other needs
by acquiring serviceable property available from other agencies as
the first source of supply instead of purchasing new.
Every year, millions of dollar's worth of personal property
is declared excess by federal agencies and contractors. In order
to prevent unneeded expenditures or duplicate acquisitions, procurement
contract specialists must
check this pool of excess property as the first source of supply before
new property may be purchased. "Reportable" property,
i.e. categories of property of high value and having a good chance
of being used by other agencies, are reported to the General Services Administration for utilization
by other federal agencies."Non-reportable" property is handled
in the most economical method determined by the holding agency or contractor. Generally,
if it is not claimed by any eligible organization, it is auctioned
or sold to the public as surplus property.The Property
Operations Team can
search all for specific items upon request. You can often find
big-ticket items and save money for your program by avoiding new procurement.
If the Property
Operations Team finds
suitable property that will meet your needs, be prepared to generate
a Purchase
Request to
authorize payment for shipping and handling, the only costs borne
by your organization, regardless of the value of the property you
are getting.
Personal property is considered retired when the property
number is removed from the Lab's official inventory.
There are many reasons controlled property is retired; the most common
is after it becomes obsolete, or is declared to be excess to
an organization's needs, and is removed from service.In some cases,
retired property remains in service. Items may still be tagged
with barcode labels, but a search of the property number shows that
the item in question is no longer
Retired property remains U.S. Government property, and
as such should be protected from theft, waste, or abuse.
Real property consists of land, easements, improvements,
buildings, and fixtures permanently attached to buildings. The Facilities
Division manages Laboratory real property, facility and infrastructure
management.
Surplus property is no longer needed by the federal government,
and is donated to other agencies in the following order:
- State Surplus agenciesOther public agencies
- Non-profit organizations
Finally, surplus property not claimed is sold to the
public.Every month, surplus computing, printing, and electronic equipment
from LANL and other NM sites is sold at public auction at Bentley's
and Associates in Albuquerque.
Furniture and miscellaneous property can be purchased
at the JCNNM salvage yard public sale, held the third Thursday of each
month at noon (weather permitting) at TA 60, building 1.
The General Services Administration schedules
regular U.S. Government
vehicle auctions, which are open to the public.
Salvage property is obsolete, disassembled, or damaged
to an extent that it cannot be used for its original purpose, but still
has value greater than its material content.
Although the two terms are commonly used interchangeably, excess and
salvage are not the same. Contact your Property
Administrator to
arrange for a pickup of salvage property.
Scrap has material, commodity value only, and is suitable
for recycling. It should NOT be thrown
away as trash.FWO can generally pick up clean
scrap metal on short notice. Contact wastenot@lanl.gov schedule a pick up or find
out about recycling other materials.See the Laboratory Recycling
and Pollution Prevention web site.
Note: Precious metal scrap
may only be recycled through Property
Management. Official policies on returning all forms of precious
metal scrap are found in the Property
Management Manual, Chapter 13. "Special Material."
Reducing the Lab waste stream is tracked as a UC Contract Appendix
F Performance Measure. Recycling can help the Lab meet this measure,
save taxpayer dollars, reduce the solid waste stream, and preserve
natural resources.  The Recycling
and Pollution Prevention web site has information on recycling
programs at the Laboratory. Before you
throw something in a trash dumpster, ask yourself: Is this personal
property, excess property, salvage, scrap,
recyclable, or trash? If it really is
trash, throw it away. Otherwise, handle accordingly.The Lab
Mailroom personnel will pick up routine office recyclables, such
as junk mail, transparencies, manuals, software, or printer toner
cartridges. Label these items to mail stop A1000.
Another resource for information on recycling and for
scheduling pickups is wastenot@lanl.gov.
Unlike scrap or salvage,
trash has no intrinsic value. You must usually pay somebody to take
it away.If it can't be recycled, has no salvage or scrap value,
is not radioactive, contaminated, or hazardous waste, it's trash. Use
the dumpster.
See
the Recycling and Pollution Prevention
web site page for information on recycling programs at the Laboratory.
If you have any questions on personal property management
at LANL, please call the Property Help line at 505-665-3230,
or e-mail your question to lanlproperty@lanl.gov
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