Responsible Office: OJG

Subject: NASA Personal Property Disposal Policy

1. POLICY

a.  NASA sales of "exchange/sale" property or surplus personal property
will be conducted to minimize the cost of the sales process while 
obtaining the optimum maximum level of sales proceeds, thereby reducing 
Federal Government costs.  All sales of NASA property shall be conducted
in accordance with the Federal Property Management Regulations (FPMR), 
41 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 101-45, "Sale, Abandonment, or 
Destruction of Personal Property," Federal Management Regulation 41 CFR 
Part 102-38, "Sale of Personal Proerty," and Part 102-39, "Replacement of 
Personal Property Pursuant to the Exchange/Sale Authority." 

b.  NASA shall aggressively pursue the continued utilization of NASA 
excess and surplus personal property through transfer to Federal 
agencies and eligible donees including schools, in order to assist in 
achieving the NASA Strategic Plan goals of transferring technology 
and educational excellence.

c.  NASA shall aggressively pursue acquiring excess property from other 
Federal agencies for NASA use, thereby reducing new procurements, lowering
NASA cost of operations, and assisting in achieving the NASA Strategic 
Plan "Values of Excellence" to provide the most cost-effective and timely 
services to our customers.
 
d.  All NASA property that is to be disposed of shall be properly and 
completely rendered safe, and any hazard either abated or adequately 
identified and documented to preclude harm to the gaining entity.  If 
any report of hazard or other problem or deficiency has been generated 
about such hardware/equipment, those reports shall be included as an 
integral part of the equipment/property disposal process along with any 
applicable Material Safety Data Sheet.

2. APPLICABILITY

a.  This policy is applicable to NASA Headquarters, and NASA Centers, 
including Component Facilities and to JPL and to other NASA contractors 
to the extent specified in their contracts.

b.  This NPD is not applicable to contractor inventory, defined by statute
at 40 U.S.C. 472(k) and by regulation at 48 CFR 45.601.  Regulations 
governing disposal of contractor inventory are contained in FMR Parts
102-36, "Disposition of Personal Property," 102-37, "Donation of Surplus 
Personal Property," 102-38, "Sale of Personal Property," and in the Federal 
Acquisition Regulations (FAR) at 48 CFR Subpart 45.6, 
"Reporting, Redistribution, and Disposal of Contractor Inventory," and in 
the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) at 48 CFR Subpart 1845.6, "Reporting, 
Redistribution, and Disposal of Contractor Inventory."

3. AUTHORITY

a.  42 U.S.C. 2473(c), Section 203(c) of the National Aeronautics 
and Space Act of 1958, as amended.

b.  Public Law 107-217 title 40, United States Code, "Public Buildings, 
Property, and Works", August 21, 2002, previously 40 U.S.C. 471 et seq., 
the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended.

c.  41 CFR Part 101 of the FPMR, Subchapter H, "Utilization and Disposal."
 
d.  41 CFR Part 102 of the FMR, Subchapter B, "Personal Property."

4. REFERENCES

a.  Executive Order 12999, dated April 17, 1996, "Education 
Technology:  Ensuring Opportunity for All Children in the Next Century,"
3 CFR (1996 Compilation).

b.  FAR Subpart 45.6, 48 CFR Subpart 45.6, "Reporting, Redistribution, 
and Disposal of Contractor Inventory," and NFS Subpart 1845.6, 
48 CFR Subpart 1845.6, "Reporting, Redistribution, and Disposal of 
Contractor Inventory."

c.  NPR 4300.1, "NASA Personal Property Disposal Procedures and 
Guidance."

d.  NPR 4310.1, "Identification and Disposition of NASA Artifacts."
 
e.  NPD 4300.4, "Use of Space shuttle Materials as Mementos."

5. RESPONSIBILITY

a.  The Associate Administrator (AA) for the Office of Institutional 
and Corporate Management is responsible for the overall management of 
property disposal activity in the Agency, for establishing Agency disposal 
policy, and for assessing the effectiveness of policy implementation.

b.  The Center Directors shall be responsible for the following:

(1)  Implementing the policies established by this NPD.

(2)  Appointing a Property Disposal Officer for their respective Centers
who will be responsible for assuring the proper utilization, transfer, 
sale, or other disposition of NASA personal property.

(3)  Establishing Center internal procedures to ensure compliance and 
uniformity and to protect the integrity of the sales process.

c.  Each NASA organization shall be responsible for determining whether 
NASA property is required for its needs.  In the case of a negative 
determination, the NASA organization shall report the property with a 
complete commercial description within 3 calendar days to the Center 
Property Disposal Officer for further Federal disposal processing. 

d.  The Center Property Disposal Officers shall be responsible for the 
following:

(1)  Ensuring that unneeded or excess/surplus NASA personal property is 
transferred to Federal and non-Federal eligible organizations, sold, or 
disposed of, as efficiently and promptly as possible, in accordance with
delegated authority pursuant to applicable laws, regulations, and 
international agreements of the United States.

(2)  Establishing controls over the processing of transfer orders for 
acquiring and disposing of property.  

(3)  Establishing and maintaining adequate systems of excess property 
accountability which shall include the detection of improper use, 
unauthorized disposal, or destruction of excess personal property.

(4)  Establishing, maintaining, and pursuing procedures for recovery of 
precious metals, to the maximum extent practicable, from NASA excess or 
surplus personal property, when such property is not transferred or sold
as a useable whole item.
 

6. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

a.  All authority conferred upon the Administrator as the head of an 
agency by Pulic Law 107-217 title 40, United States Code, "Public 
Buildings, Property, and Works", August 21, 2002, previously 40 U.S.C. 
471 et seq., the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 
1949, as amended, and by Subchapter H of the FPMR, is hereby delegated 
to the AA for the Office of Institutional and Corporate Management with 
regard to the matters involving the disposal of Agency personal property 
enumerated in subsections (1) to (10) below, with power of redelegation, 
except for subsections (9) and (10) below which may not be redelegated. 
The determinations referenced in subsections (9) and (10) below require 
the approval of the NASA Headquarters Associate General Counsel for 
Contracts.

(1)  The determination of excess personal property.

(2)  The sale, exchange, exchange/sale, transfer, or donation of excess 
personal property, including transfer of title of a Government vehicle. 

(3)  The recovery of precious metals.

(4)  The disposal of foreign excess personal property (with the exception 
of the authority conferred by 40 U.S.C. 514(c) regarding employment of 
personnel).

(5)  The execution of cooperative agreements with States regarding 
surplus personal property, when the Administrator is designated pursuant 
to 40 U.S.C. 484(n).

(6)  The disposal, or the transfer to other Federal agencies, of 
forfeited, abandoned or unclaimed personal property.

(7)  Any determination that the application of contract disputes 
procedures to contracts for the sale of personal property to foreign 
governments or international organizations is not in the public interest.

(8)  Any determination that a compelling reason exists to permit a 
debarred or suspended contractor to enter into a contract for the 
purchase of personal property.  

(9)  Any determination to correct a bid, any determination to permit a 
bidder to withdraw or correct a bid, or any determination that a bidder 
may neither withdraw nor correct a bid, before award of a contract for 
the sale of personal property.

(10)  Any determination to rescind or reform a contract for the sale of 
personal property after award.

b.  All authority conferred upon the Administrator as the head of an 
agency by 15 U.S.C. 3710(i), Section 11(i) of the Stevenson-Wydler 
Technology Innovation Act of 1980, as amended, concerning excess research 
equipment, is hereby delegated to the AA for the Office of Institutional 
and Corporate Management, with power of redelegation.

c.  All authority conferred upon the Administrator as the head of an 
agency to designate employee programs to receive funds resulting from 
the sale of materials recovered through recycling or waste prevention 
programs is hereby delegated to the AA for the Office of Institutional
and Corporate Management, with power of redelegation.
 

7. MEASUREMENTS

a.  Measurements for NASA utilization and marketing of excess or surplus
and "exchange/sale" personal property functions will reflect the status 
of operations and progress in the achievement of policy goals and 
objectives. Consequently, they will be comprised of accepted standards 
reflected in existing reports and metrics to be developed for 
measurement of improvements and change in logistics infrastructure and 
processes.

b.  Current reports that reflect status of existing operations include 
Timeliness of Disposal Processing.

c.  Reports will be generated and/or submitted by automated data 
processing methods when capabilities exist and will be submitted 
semi-annually by May 15 and November 15 of each year.

d.  New reports, as required, will be initiated and developed jointly by
the NASA Headquarters Logistics Management Office and NASA Center 
Property Disposal Officers.
 

8. CANCELLATION

NMI 4310.4D, dated December 13, 1991 , NMI 4310.5B, dated 
December 16, 1991, NMI 4340.1G, dated December 16, 1991.

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/s/ Daniel S. Goldin
Administrator

ATTACHMENT A: (TEXT)

Timeliness of Disposal Processing Metric 

(URL for Graphic)

Attachment

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