§ 600.321 - Real property and equipment.

§ 600.321 Real property and equipment.

(a) Prior approvals for acquisition with Federal funds. Recipients may purchase real property or equipment in whole or in part with Federal funds under an award only with the prior approval of the contracting officer.

(b) Title. Unless a statute specifically authorizes and the award specifies that title to property vests unconditionally in the recipient, title to real property or equipment vests in the recipient subject to the conditions that the recipient:

(1) Use the real property or equipment for the authorized purposes of the project until funding for the project ceases, or until the property is no longer needed for the purposes of the project;

(2) Not encumber the property without approval of the contracting officer; and

(3) Use and dispose of the property in accordance with paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section.

(c) Federal interest in real property or equipment offered as cost-share. A recipient may offer the full value of real property or equipment that is purchased with recipient's funds or that is donated by a third party to meet a portion of any required cost sharing or matching, subject to the requirements in § 600.313. If a resulting award includes such property as a portion of the recipient's cost share, the Government has a financial interest in the property, (i.e., a share of the property value equal to the Federal participation in the project). The property is considered as if it had been acquired in part with Federal funds, and is subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b)(1), (b)(2), and (b)(3) of this section and to the provisions of § 600.323.

(d) Insurance. Recipients must, at a minimum, provide the equivalent insurance coverage for real property and equipment acquired with DOE funds as provided to property owned by the recipient.

(e) Use. If real property or equipment is acquired in whole or in part with Federal funds under an award and the award does not specify that title vests unconditionally in the recipient, the real property or equipment is subject to the following:

(1) During the time that the real property or equipment is used on the project or program for which it was acquired, the recipient must make it available for use on other projects or programs, if such other use does not interfere with the work on the project or program for which the real property or equipment was originally acquired. Use of the real property or equipment on other projects is subject to the following order of priority:

(i) Activities sponsored by DOE grants, cooperative agreements, or other assistance awards;

(ii) Activities sponsored by other Federal agencies' grants, cooperative agreements, or other assistance awards;

(iii) Activities under Federal procurement contracts or activities not sponsored by any Federal agency. If so used, use charges must be assessed to those activities. For real property or equipment, the use charges must be at rates equivalent to those for which comparable real property or equipment may be leased.

(2) After Federal funding for the project ceases or if the real property or equipment is no longer needed for the purposes of the project, the recipient may use the real property or equipment for other projects, insofar as:

(i) There are Federally sponsored projects for which the real property or equipment may be used. If the only use for the real property or equipment is for projects that have no Federal sponsorship, the receipt must proceed with disposition of the real property or equipment, in accordance with paragraph (f) of this section.

(ii) The recipient obtains written approval from the contracting officer to do so. The contracting officer must ensure that there is a formal change of accountability for the real property or equipment to a currently funded, Federal award.

(iii) The recipient's use of the real property or equipment for other projects is in the same order of priority as described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section.

(f) Disposition.

(1) If an item of real property or equipment is no longer needed for Federally sponsored projects, the recipient has the following options:

(i) If the property is equipment with a current per unit fair market value of less than $5,000, it may be retained, sold, or otherwise disposed of with no further obligation to DOE.

(ii) If the property that is no longer needed is equipment (rather than real property), the recipient may wish to replace it with an item that is needed currently for the project by trading in or selling to offset the costs of the replacement equipment, subject to the approval of the contracting officer.

(iii) The recipient may elect to retain title, without further obligation to the Federal Government, by compensating the Federal Government for that percentage of the current fair market value of the real property or equipment that is attributable to the Federal participation in the project.

(iv) If the recipient does not elect to retain title to real property or equipment or does not request approval to use equipment as trade-in or offset for replacement equipment, the recipient must request disposition instructions from the responsible agency.

(2) If a recipient requests disposition instructions, the contracting officer must:

(i) For equipment (but not real property), consult with the DOE Project Director to determine whether the condition and nature of the equipment warrant excess screening within DOE. If screening is warranted, the equipment will be made available for reutilization within DOE through the Energy Asset Disposal System (EADS). If no DOE requirement is identified within a 30-day period, EADS automatically reports the availability of the equipment to the General Services Administration, to determine whether a requirement for the equipment exists in other Federal agencies.

(ii) For either real property or equipment, issue instructions to the recipient for disposition of the property no later than 120 calendar days after the recipient's request. The contracting officer's options for disposition are to direct the recipient to:

(A) Transfer title to the real property or equipment to the Federal Government or to an eligible third party provided that, in such cases, the recipient is entitled to compensation for its attributable percentage of the current fair market value of the real property or equipment, plus any reasonable shipping or interim storage costs incurred.

(B) Sell the real property or equipment and pay the Federal Government for that percentage of the current fair market value of the property that is attributable to the Federal participation in the project (after deducting actual and reasonable selling and fix-up expenses, if any, from the sale proceeds). If the recipient is authorized or required to sell the real property or equipment, the recipient must use competitive procedures that result in the highest practicable return.

(3) If the responsible agency fails to issue disposition instructions within 120 calendar days of the recipient's request, the recipient must dispose of the real property or equipment through the option described in paragraph (f)(2)(ii)(B) of this section.