§ 1260.74 - Property use, disposition, and vesting of title.

(a) Approval for acquisition of property shall conform to the following procedures:

(1) Providing existing government equipment or property, or allowing acquisition of property by a grant recipient, should only be allowed in situations where the recipient justifies the need for the property and cannot carry out the effort with existing property already in the possession of the recipient.

(2) In accordance with OMB Circulars A-21 and A-122, prior approval of property acquisitions is required for special purpose equipment with a unit cost over $5,000, general purpose equipment with a unit cost over $5,000, (unless a lower threshold has been established by the recipient), or coherent systems (as defined in §1260.74(e)) with a value of over $5,000. Grant awards under the Federal Demonstration Partnership are exempt from this requirement. The NASA grant officer will retain authority for approving the expenditure of grant funds for the acquisition of such equipment. Requests by grant recipients for the acquisition of equipment shall be supported by written documentation setting forth the description, purpose, and acquisition value of the equipment, and include a written certification that the equipment will be used exclusively for research. (A change in the model number of a prior approved piece of equipment does not require re-submission for that item.) NASA grant officers shall not approve the expenditure of grant funds for the acquisition of equipment unless the recipient's justification for the equipment demonstrates that the equipment will be used exclusively for research activities.

(b) Vesting of title to property acquired by the recipient shall conform to the following procedures:

(1) For awards to educational institutions and non-profit organizations, special purpose and general purpose equipment costing in excess of $5,000 (unless a lower threshold has been established by the recipient) acquired by the recipient under a grant or cooperative agreement for the purpose of research shall be titled to the recipient as “exempt” equipment as set forth at §1260.133(b). The recipient shall have no further obligation or accountability to the Federal Government for the use or disposition of “exempt” property, including reporting requirements. Special purpose and general purpose equipment costing in excess of $5,000 (unless a lower threshold has been established by the recipient) acquired by the recipient under a grant or cooperative agreement for non-research work shall be titled to the recipient in accordance with §1260.134.

(2) For awards to commercial organizations, the following property procedures will apply:

(i) Acquisition of special purpose equipment costing in excess of $5,000 and not included in the approved proposal budget requires the prior approval of the grant officer unless the item is merely a different model of an item shown in the approved proposal budget.

(ii) Recipients may not purchase, as a direct cost to the grant, items of general purpose equipment, examples of which include but are not limited to office equipment and furnishings, air conditioning equipment, reproduction and printing equipment, motor vehicles, and automatic data processing equipment. If the recipient requests an exception, the recipient shall submit a written request for grant officer approval, prior to purchase by the recipient, stating why the recipient cannot charge the general purpose equipment to indirect costs.

(iii) Under no circumstances shall grant funds be used to acquire land or any interest therein, to acquire or construct facilities (as defined in 48 CFR (FAR) 45.301), or to procure passenger carrying vehicles.

(iv) The Government shall have title to equipment and other personal property acquired with Government funds. Such property shall be disposed of pursuant to 48 CFR (FAR) 45.603.

(v) Title to Government furnished equipment (including equipment, title to which has been transferred to the Government prior to completion of the work) will remain with the Government.

(vi) The Recipient shall establish and maintain property management standards for Government property and otherwise manage such property as set forth in 48 CFR (FAR) 45.5 and 48 CFR (NFS) 1845.5.

(vii) Recipients shall submit annually a NASA Form 1018, NASA Property in the Custody of Contractors, in accordance with the instructions on the form, the provisions of 48 CFR (NFS) 1845.71 and any supplemental instructions that may be issued by NASA for the current reporting period. The original NF 1018 shall be submitted to the center Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Finance, with three copies sent concurrently to the center industrial property officer. The annual reporting period shall be from October 1 of each year through September 30 of the following year. The report shall be submitted in time to be received by October 15. Negative reports (i.e. no reportable property) are required. The information contained in the reports is entered into the NASA accounting system to reflect current asset values for agency financial statement purposes. Therefore, it is essential that required reports be received no later than October 15. A final report is required within 30 days after expiration of the agreement.

(c) Equipment with a unit price of $5,000 or less (unless a lower threshold has been established by the recipient) is properly classified as “supplies,” is not subject to transfer to the Agency, and will be titled to the recipient in accordance with §1260.135.

(d) Title to Federally-owned property remains with the Government, and is subject to the following additional requirements:

(1) In accordance with Public Law 94-519, NASA will not acquire property from other agencies for use on NASA grants.

(2) Government property provided to a grant recipient for use under a grant will be identified through inclusion of the special condition at §1260.66, Listing of Reportable Equipment and Other Property.

(3) When Federally-owned property is reported excess by a recipient, the administrative grant officer will report the equipment to the center industrial property officer, who will consult with the technical officer concerning property disposition.

(4) NASA policy encourages the donation of existing, excess NASA property to nonprofit organizations whose primary purpose is the conduct of scientific research.

(e) When two or more components are fabricated into a single coherent system in such a way that the components lose their separate identities, and their separation would render the system useless for its original purpose, the components will be considered as integral parts of a single system. If such a system includes recipient-owned components, the property will be considered to be exempt. The requirement for agreement regarding NASA's retention of its option to take title shall further apply where it is expected that one or more recipient-acquired components costing $5,000 or less will be fabricated into a single coherent system costing in excess of $5,000. However, an item that is used ancillary to a system, without loss of its separate identity and usefulness, will be considered as a separate item and not as an integral component of the system.

(f) Property administration and plant clearance for all grants and cooperative agreements will be delegated to the appropriate ONR office.

(g) NASA grant officers will provide copies of property related grant documentation to the center industrial property officer and to the Office of Naval Research (at time of award or modification) when the NASA program office elects to retain title to an existing item of Government property, to furnish the property to the recipient in lieu of donation, or to take title to property acquired by the recipient. When NASA acquires title to items of recipient acquired equipment or when NASA transfers an item of Government property to a recipient as Federally owned property, the NASA grant officer shall notify the cognizant NASA center financial management officer, the industrial property officer and Office of Naval Research to ensure proper entries in financial and property accounting records.

[65 FR 62900, Oct. 19, 2000, as amended at 69 FR 41936, July 13, 2004]