Property Standards
2 CFR Part 200: 200.310 – 200.316
Jason Guilbeault, Senior Consultant
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Property Standards 200.310
• Maintain equivalent insurance to that which is
maintained for the awardees own real property
and equipment.
• Federally-owned property need not be insured
unless required by the terms and conditions of the
Federal award.
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Real Property 200.311
Definition: 200.85 - Real property means land, including land
improvements, structures and appurtenances thereto, but
excludes moveable machinery and equipment.
a) Title to property acquired or improved vests upon
acquisition with awardee.
b) Real property will be used for the authorized purpose as
long as needed, during that time the property should not
be disposed of or encumbered.
c) When property is no longer needed for the originally
authorized purpose the awardee must obtain disposition
instructions from the awarding agency.
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Property Disposition Options 200.311 (c)
3 Alternatives for Disposition Instructions:
1. Retain Title After compensating the awarding agency.
2. Sell the Property and compensate the awarding
agency.
3. Transfer title to the awarding agency or to a third party
designated or approved by the awarding agency, with
compensation being provided for the awardee’s
participation in the acquisition.
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Federally-Owned and Exempt Property 200.312
• Federally-Owned Property:
• Title to federally-owned property remains vested with
the government.
• Grantees must submit an annual inventory of federallyowned property in their custody.
• Upon completion of the award or when the property is
no longer needed, grantees must report the property to
the awarding agency for further Federal agency use.
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Federally-Owned and Exempt Property 200.312
• Exempt Property:
• Federally owned property acquired under a Federal
award, that explicitly indicates title vests with the
awardee without further obligation or under conditions
the agency consider appropriate.
• Agencies may exercise this option when statutory
authority exists.
• Absent statutory authority and award terms, title to
exempt federally-owned property acquired under
the awards remains with the Federal government
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Equipment 200.313
Definition: Tangible personal property (including IT systems)
having a useful life of more than 1 year and a per-unit
acquisition cost equal or exceeding the organization’s
capitalization threshold or $5,000.
Title: Title vests upon acquisition with the awardee. Unless
statutory and agency authorization exists for vesting title
without further obligation to the Federal government, the title
vests conditionally with the awardee.
**Conditional Title is a new term. This concept has always
been effective, just not explicitly named in A-110.
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Equipment and Conditional Vesting 200.313(a)
Title must vest in the non-Federal entity subject to the
following conditions:
1. Use the equipment for the authorized purpose until funding
for the project ceases, or until it is no longer needed for the
project (regardless of continued federal funding for the
project).
2. Not encumber the property without approval of the awarding
agency
3. Use and dispose of the property in accordance with (b), (c),
and (e) of this section
– Note: (b) is only applicable to states
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Equipment Use 200.313(c)
1. When no longer needed for the original purpose, it may be
used for other activities in the following priority:
i.
ii.
Activities under a Federal award from the Federal awarding agency
which funded the original program or project
Activities under other Federal awards from other Federal awarding
agencies
2. During the time the equipment is being used on the project,
the non-Federal entity must also make it available for
use on other projects/programs currently or previously
supported by the Federal government, provided the
work will not interfere with the work of the project.
–
–
Must follow order of priorities from above (i and ii)
Use for non-federally-funded programs/projects also permissible,
however user fees should be considered if appropriate
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Equipment Use 200.313(c)
3. In spite of the encouragement to earn program income, the
non-Federal entity must not use equipment acquired with
the Federal award to provide services for a fee that is less
than private companies charge for equivalent services
unless specifically authorized by Federal statute for as long
as the Federal government retains an interest in the
equipment
4. When acquiring replacement equipment, the non-Federal
entity may use the equipment to be replaced as a trade-in
or sell the property and use the proceeds to offset the cost
of the replacement property
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Equipment and Management Requirements 200.313(d)
• Procedures for managing equipment paid for in whole or part
under a federal award must meet the following requirements:
1. Property records must be maintained that include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Description of the property
Serial number or other ID number
Source of funding for the property, including FAIN
Who holds title
Acquisition Date and cost of property
**Percentage of Fed participation in project costs for the Fed
award under which the property was acquired
Location
**Use and condition
Disposition data
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Equipment and Management Requirements 200.313(d)
**New Language and requirements added for
property records:
– Percentage of Federal participation in the project
costs for the Federal award under which the
property was acquired
• This includes having the information from which one can calculate the
% of Federal participation in the cost of the equipment
– Use and condition
• Just referring to an indicator in the property records that the specific
piece of equipment is active and linked with the appropriate Federal
award (same as A-110)
• May be useful to note the condition codes on SF1428 (FAR), a
required form for contracts (not grants)
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Equipment and Management Requirements 200.313(d)
2. Take a physical inventory of the property once every
two years
3. Have a control system to ensure safeguards to
prevent loss, damage, or theft of the property. Any
loss, damage, or theft must be investigated
4. Maintenance procedures to keep property in good
condition
5. If authorized or required to sell, sale procedures to
ensure the highest possible return
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Equipment Disposition 200.313(e)
When equipment, other than federally-owned or
exempt, is no longer needed for the original project or
other activities currently or previously supported by a
federal agency, if required by the terms of the award,
the awardee must request disposition instructions from
the awarding agency.
• Disposition will be made as follows, in accordance
with awarding agency disposition instructions:
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Equipment Disposition 200.313(e)
1. Items with a current per unit fair market value of $5,000 or less
may be retained, sold, or disposed of with no further obligation
to the Federal awarding agency.
2. If the agency fails to provide disposition instructions within 120
days, items of equipment with a current fair market value
greater than $5,000 may be retained or sold. The agency is
entitled to its percentage of participation on the sale.
3. Transfer title to the Federal government or to an eligible third
party, reimbursing the awardee for its percentage of
participation.
4. If non-Federal entity fails to take appropriate disposition
actions, the Federal awarding agency may direct the awardee
to take disposition actions.
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Supplies 200.314
Definition: tangible personal property other than
equipment. A computing device is a supply if the
acquisition cost is less than the capitalization
threshold, regardless of its useful life.
Title: Title vests with the awardee on acquisition.
Residual Supplies: A residual inventory exceeding
$5,000 at the end of the award that is not needed for
any other Federal award, the awardee must retain
the supplies for use or sell them, but must in either
case compensate the Federal government for its
share (using a percentage of participation basis).
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Intangible Property 200.315
Definition: property having no physical existence, such as trademarks,
copyrights, patents, patent applications, and property such as loans, notes,
or other debt instruments, lease agreements, stock and other instruments of
property ownership (whether tangible of intangible).
Title: Title to intangible property acquired under a Federal awards vests upon
acquisition with the non-Federal entity.
Use and Disposition: The non-Federal entity must use the property for the
originally-authorized purpose and must not encumber the property without
approval of the awarding agency. When no longer needed, disposition
should follow the guidance for equipment.
Copyright and License: The awardee may copyright any work that is subject
copyright and was developed, or which was acquired, under a Federal
award. The awarding agency reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive and
irrevocable right to reproduce, publish or otherwise use the work for Federal
purposes and authorize others to do.
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Intangible Property and 37 CFR Part 401
Rights to Inventions Made by Nonprofit Organizations and
Small Business Under Government Awards, Contracts and
Cooperative Agreements.
The government has the right to:
– Obtain, reproduce, publish or otherwise use data produced
under a Federal award.
– Authorize others to receive, reproduce, publish, or otherwise
use data for Federal purposes.
Freedom of Information Act
– Awardees can be required to, within a reasonable time,
make the research data available to the public if the data
developed under a Federal award was used by the
Government in an agency action that has the force and
effect of law.
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Property Trust Relationship 200.316
Property acquired or improved with a Federal award
must be held in trust by the non-Federal entity as
trustee for the beneficiaries of the project or program
for which it was acquired.
The awarding agency may require the awardee to
record liens or notice of record to indicate that
personal or real property has be acquired or improved
with Federal funds and that use and disposition
instructions apply.
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For Federal Contracts:
• Title 48 CFR Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)
Chapter 1 Part 45 prescribes standards for
Government Property in contracts
• FAR Clause 52.245 in a contract means you have to
abide by regulations in FAR Part 45
– Same idea, but different terminology and some
different requirements
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Federal Acquisition Regulations
Key term:
• “Government property” means all property owned or
leased by the Government. Government property
includes both Government-furnished property and
contractor-acquired property. Government property
includes material, equipment, special tooling, special
test equipment, and real property. Government
property does not include intellectual property and
software.
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Federal Acquisition Regulations
• Key regulations:
• Upon project completion, fill out Standard Form
1428 – Inventory Disposal Schedule, which lists all
remaining inventory of equipment and supplies.
Contractor may place a bid to purchase excess
inventory, but federal agency may also abandon the
inventory (no purchase necessary)
• Title to Government furnished and contractor
acquired property remains with the Government.
• For fixed price contracts, the contractor can retain title to
contractor acquired property, unless the property is part of
a deliverable
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Federal Acquisition Regulations
• Condition codes from SF-1428
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Federal Acquisition Regulations
• Useful links:
• FAR Property Standards
https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/FARTOCP45.html
• FAR Clause 52.245
https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/52_245.html#wp1149752
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