NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 4200.1G Effective Date: March 30, 2010 Expiration Date: March 30, 2015

Subject: NASA Equipment Management Procedural Requirements

Responsible Office: Logistics Management Division

Appendix A: Definition of Terms

A.1 Administrative Property - Property that is not specifically scientific or technical in nature. The equipment is being used primarily for administrative purposes.

A.2 Activate -Term used to create or establish a new Equipment Master Record in the NASA PP&E System.

A.3 Alternative Future Use - Having a planned use on a project other than the one for which it is originally purchased which is identified and objectively measured at the beginning of a project or at the time the purchase occurs or fabrication commences. This determination is not an Equipment Management responsibility, but is a Financial Management process.

A.4 Artifacts - Artifacts, as applied to NASA, are unique objects that document the history of the science and technology of aeronautics and astronautics. Their significance and interest stem mainly from their relation to the following: historic flights, programs, activities, or incidents; achievements or improvements in technology; our understanding of the universe; and important or well-known personalities.

A.5 Asset Master Record (AMR) - A financial record in SAP that identifies capital equipment.

A.6 Auxiliary or Accessorial Automatic Data Processing (AADP) Equipment - Auxiliary or accessorial ADP equipment including plotters, tape cleaners, tape testers, data conversion equipment, source data automation recording equipment (optical character recognition devices, microfilm, and other data acquisition devices), or computer performance evaluation equipment designed for use with digital, analog, or hybrid computer equipment, either cable or modem connected, wire connected, or stand alone, and whether selected or acquired with a computer or separately.

A.7 Borrows - Temporary loan of equipment which is strictly internal to NASA. There are two types of borrows in the NASA PP&E System: "Center Borrow" for loans between NASA Centers and "Same Center Borrow" for loans to employees, or to onsite contractors.

A.8 Business Warehouse (BW) - Part of the NASA PP&E System where the user performs equipment searches and generates reports upon request.

A.9 Calibration - The process of determining the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors for measuring instruments.

A.10 Cannibalization - The removal of serviceable parts, components, or assemblies from one piece of equipment to be used as replacement parts in other equipment or to fabricate another item.

A.11 Capital Equipment - Equipment with a value of at least $100,000 and subject to the financial control, accounting, and reporting capitalization requirements of the Property, Plant, and Equipment and NPR 9250.1, Operating Materials and Supplies.

A.12 Center Equipment Manager - The key individual(s) within the Center equipment management organization interfacing with the property custodians and equipment users. Maintains and controls equipment records and assists custodians and users in property procedures for and documentation of equipment transaction.

A.13 Component Equipment Item - An item of equipment that is used as a subassembly to a larger assembly. Parts are not to be considered component equipment items.

A.14 Condition - A code assigned to indicate the physical condition and usability of equipment.

A.15 Configuration Control Board - A permanent technical control group that is responsible for maintaining system configuration control. Membership is comprised of representatives from Centers and NASA Headquarters. The Board chairperson convenes the group as necessary.

A.16 Contractor Acquired Equipment - Equipment procured or otherwise provided by the contractor for the performance of a contract, title to which is vested in the Government.

A.17 Contractor Inventory - Personal property furnished to, or acquired by, and possession of a contractor pursuant to the terms of a contract, title to which is vested in the Government.

A.18 Contract Number - A unique identifier assigned to each NASA contract, pursuant to the NASA FAR Supplement 1804.71.

A.19 Contracting Officer (CO) - Any person with the authority to enter into, administer, and/or terminate contracts and make related determinations.

A.20 Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) - An authorized representative of a CO acting within the limits of his/her authority.

A.21 Control - The ongoing function of maintaining physical oversight and surveillance of personal property throughout its life cycle using various management tools.

A.22 Controlled Equipment - All equipment which has been identified by the Agency and/or Center as sensitive (flagged high risk in the NASA PP&E System), and all non-sensitive equipment with an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more with an estimated service life of two years or more and is not consumed or expended in an experiment.

A.23 Custodian Records - Memoranda in any form, written or electronic, that documents the life cycle of property.

A.24 Deactivate - Term used to make the Equipment Master Record in the NASA PP&E System inactive or retired.

A.25 Disposal - The processes involved in the removal of personal property from use and from the property accounting system because of trade-in, utilization by another Federal agency, donation, sale, or abandonment/destruction. NASA's disposal policy is located in NPD 4300.1, NASA Personal Disposal Policy.

A.26 End User Procedures (EUP) - Written procedures located in the Enterprise Performance Support System (EPSS) that provides detailed directions for users of the NASA PP&E System.

A.27 Enterprise Performance Support System (EPSS) - Provides procedures, job aids, and help content via the Intranet.

A.28 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - An integrated system in which all of the modules are designed to share information and automatically create transactions based on various business processes.

A.29 Equipment - A tangible asset that is functionally complete for its intended purpose, durable, and nonexpendable. Equipment is not intended for sale and does not ordinarily lose its identity or become a component part of another article when put into use. Equipment includes all items of NASA personal property that are configured as mechanical, electrical, or electronic machines, tools, devices, and apparatuses that have a useful life of two years or more and is not consumed or expended in an experiment.

A.30 Equipment Control - The section within the Center equipment management operations which manages all the processes, records, and documents used to achieve the objective of equipment management.

A.31 Equipment Control Number (ECN) - The identification or barcode number assigned and affixed to each item of equipment for control purposes by a tag.

A.32 Equipment Control Number Register - A written or electronic record of the assignment of ECNs.

A.33 Equipment Master Record - A record in the NASA PP&E System that identifies and provides selected information about each item of controlled equipment.

A.34 Equipment Pool - The collection, at a central point, of equipment under control for issue to individuals or organizations.

A.35 Equipment Systems - Assemblies of component equipment items designed and operated to accomplish specific functions.

A.36 Equipment Utilization - A program to ensure maximum effectiveness in the management and utilization of NASA equipment.

A.37 Excess - Personal property determined unnecessary for the need and discharge of the holding organization and, therefore, returned to the Center Property Disposal Officer for reutilization or disposal.

A.38 Fabricated Item - Personal property that is manufactured for, or constructed by, the using organization. Fabricated items meeting the controlled equipment criteria are controlled.

A.39 Federal Supply Group (FSG) - A four-digit property identification code describing commodity classification. See Federal Cataloging Handbook H2.

A.40 Flight Hardware - Property that is certified for use in space flight operations.

A.41 Found on Station (FOS) - Any equipment meeting the criteria for control for which records accountability has not been established.

A.42 Government Furnished Property (GFP) - Equipment furnished to a contractor (to include Government Furnished Equipment - GFE), or acquired by the contractor, as in Contractor-Acquired Equipment.

A.43 Government Office Equipment Including Information Technology - Includes but is not limited to: personal computers and related peripheral equipment and software, library resources, telephones and wireless communications devices (e.g., cell phones, blackberries, pagers, etc.), facsimile machines, photocopiers, office supplies, Internet connectivity and access to Internet services, and e-mail. This list is provided to show examples of office equipment as envisioned by Personal Use of Government Office Equipment Including Information Technology Equipment, NPD 2540.1.

A.44 GSAXcess^® - The customer interface to the Federal Disposal System (FEDS). GSAXcess^® is a totally Web-enabled platform that eligible customers use to access all customer functions of FEDS: reporting, searching, and selecting property. GSAXcess^® provides agencies a means of electronically reporting their unrequired personal property to GSA. GSAXcess^® is also used as a source of supply for customers seeking property that has been reported and is available for transfer.

A.45 Heritage Assets - Heritage assets are property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) that are unique for the following reasons: historical or natural significance; cultural, educational, or artistic (i.e. aesthetic) importance; and significant architectural characteristics. This determination is not an Equipment Management responsibility, but is a Financial Management process.

A.46 Inactive Equipment -The nature of NASA operations occasionally makes it desirable to retain equipment, not in current use, for a specified time for other potential needs before further disposition (see Section 3.6.8).

A.47 Inactive Reason Code - Code used to provide the reason for deactivating an Equipment Management Record in the NASA PP&E System.

A.48 Information Technology - Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information.

A.49 Installation - Terminology used in the NASA PP&E System for "Centers."

A.50 Inventory - The sighting, tagging or marking, describing, recording and reporting the property concerned and reconciling the property recorded with the property records.

A.51 Inventory Adjustments - Changes made to the official property record when physical inventories and official records do not agree. All changes require approval and some type of documentation trail for audit purposes.

A.52 Leased Equipment - Equipment that has been conveyed by or to NASA by contract for a certain consideration of payment of rental fee.

A.53 Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) - A fairly expensive spare part that is refurbished or repaired quickly (after each use) to restore a large system to service.

A.54 Loaned Equipment - Equipment in temporary use to or from non-NASA entities (outside of NASA). In the NASA PP&E System, execute a "Loan In" or "Loan Out" to the Equipment Master Record, as applicable.

A.55 Maintenance and Repair of Equipment - Recurring day-to-day, periodic, or scheduled activity required to keep equipment in working condition or to resolve it or its components to a condition substantially equivalent to its originally designed capacity and efficiency.

A.56 Mass (Global) Changes - Updates that affect a large number of Equipment Master Records, usually associated with records organizational realignments, custodian and assigned user changes, building locations, and room changes.

A.57 Modification - A basic or functional change made to an equipment item to give it a new orientation or allow it to serve a new purpose.

A.58 NASA FAR Supplement - A document that, with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), establishes uniform policies and procedures relating to the procurement of property and services. The NASA FAR Supplement applies to all purchases and contracts made by NASA for property and services that obligate appropriated funds.

A.59 NASA Property, Plant, and Equipment (PP&E) System - The Integrated Asset Management (IAM), Property, Plant, and Equipment (PP&E) System, herein referred to as the NASA PP&E System used throughout the Agency to identify, control, and account for Government-owned equipment acquired by or in use by NASA and its onsite NASA contractors under the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.245-71 (Installation Accountable Government Property). The PP&E System is an Agency-wide tool hosted at the NEACC at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and consists of the following components: Systems, Applications, and Products (SAP); N-PROP (the Web based front end), DSPL, (the disposal component), and Business Warehouse (BW). The SAP component contains the following modules: Asset Accounting (containing the Asset Master Records (AMR)), and Plant Maintenance (containing the Equipment Master Records (EMR)).

A.60 Non-Capital Equipment - Equipment with a value of at least $5,000 and not subject to the capitalization requirements of Property, Plant & Equipment, and NPR 9250.1, Operating Materials and Supplies.

A.61 Non-Controlled Equipment - Equipment having an acquisition cost of less than $5,000 (excluding items which have been designated as sensitive items); including equipment acquired and used under outsourcing initiatives, managed under procedures established by the holding Center, in accordance with this NPR.

A.62 Negligence - Simple negligence is the failure or omission to observe, for the protection of Government interests, that degree of care, precaution and vigilance, which the circumstances justly demand and that an ordinarily prudent person in the same or similar situation would exercise to protect Government property from loss, damage, destruction, or theft. Gross negligence is the intentional failure, misconduct, willful negligence, or reckless disregard to safeguard Government property.

A.63 N-PROP - The Web-based front end of the NASA PP&E System. Users access N-PROP via i-View or via direct Internet access. N-PROP provides users the ability to: accept or reject receipt for equipment and to cancel a pending property action; view assigned property, as well as history; update property location; transfer property from one custodian account to another property custodian account; generate a property pass; request property control tags; request excess of controlled equipment.; or report any changes of status, location, or user to the responsible property custodian.

A.64 Personal Property - Property of any kind, including equipment, materials, and supplies, but excluding real property.

A.65 Physical Inventory - The verification of existence, location, and quantity of property.

A.66 Plant Clearance - All actions related to the screening, redistribution, and disposal of contractor inventory from a contractor's plant or work site. Contractor's plant includes a Government facility when contractor operated.

A.67 Plant Equipment - Personal property consisting of equipment, machine tools, test equipment, furniture, vehicles, and accessory and auxiliary items but excluding special tooling and special test equipment that is used, or is capable of use, in the manufacturing of supplies, in the performance of services, or for any administrative or general plant purpose. Note: This definition applies only to contractor-held property so classified for contract purposes.

A.68 Pre-Screening - The examination of existing equipment documentation for the purpose of fulfilling equipment requirements through reassignment. This is accomplished through the Business Warehouse module of the NASA PP&E System.

A.69 Property Accountability - A record of transactions, systematically maintained, which at any given time discloses item identification, quantity, cost, location, and custodial responsibility of personal property controlled by a Center or a contractor.

A.70 Property Administrator - An individual duly designated by the CO to administer contract requirements and obligations relative to Government property. The Property Administrator is an authorized representative of the contracting officer (See NASA FAR Supplement Subpart 1845.72).

A.71 Property Custodian - An individual organizationally or geographically assigned who is responsible for all controlled equipment assigned to a designated property management area.

A.72 Property Disposal Officer - The official appointed by the Center Director who is responsible for managing the Center's screening, redistribution, and disposal functions.

A.73 Property Management Area - An area of property management responsibility by organization or by a geographic area, selected by the Supply and Equipment Management Officer in conjunction with the head of the organizational unit, for the assignment of a property custodian for property control.

A.74 Property Plant & Equipment (PP&E) - Tangible assets, including land, that meet the following criteria: (1) have estimated useful lives of 2 years or more, (2) are not intended for sale in the ordinary course of operations, and (3) have been acquired or constructed with the intention of being used or being available for use by the entity.

A.75 Property Survey Officer - An individual appointed to investigate the circumstances and make findings and recommendations relating to lost, damaged, destroyed, or stolen Government property listed on a Property Survey Report.

A.76 Property Survey Board - Composed of two or more members (with alternates as appropriate) and a chairperson to investigate and make recommendations to division directors and other appropriate Center officials concerning the loss, damage, or destruction of controlled equipment exceeding $5,000 in acquisition value. Also, it is recommended that a representative from the Chief Counsel and the Security Officer be members of the Property Survey Board.

A.77 Proximate Cause - The employee's acts or omissions that were the cause in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by a new cause, resulting in the loss, damage, destruction, or theft and, without which, the loss, damage, destruction, or theft would not have occurred.

A.78 Purchase Request or Purchase Order - A document utilized to state requirements for and to authorize purchase of goods and services.

A.79 Reactivate - Making an inactive or retired Equipment Management Record in the NASA PP&E System active again.

A. 80 Receiving - The process of equipment being accepted into an organization or facility and the point at which an organization's obligation, liability, and accountability begins.

A.81 Reconciliation - Comparison of the property located during the physical inventory against the official property records. To include actions to reconcile overages and shortages with the official property records, using the appropriate adjustment instrument or documentation to make the records whole and accurate.

A.82 Reutilization - The program that identifies excess, idle, or items no longer needed by one discipline within an organization and manages the transfer of the assets to another location that has a requirement.

A.83 Salvage - Property that has a value greater than its basic material content but for which repair or rehabilitation is clearly impractical and uneconomical.

A.84 SAP - Software product capable of integrating multiple business applications, with each application representing a specific business area. SAP is categorized into three core functional areas: Logistics, Finance, and Human Resources.

A.85 Sensitive Equipment - Equipment, due to its pilferable nature or the possibility of it being a hazard, requires a stringent degree of control. Sensitive items are items listed in NPR 4200.1, NASA Equipment Management Procedural Requirements, Appendix C: Agency (NASA) Minimum Standard Sensitive Items List, with a value of $500 or more; weapons and hazardous equipment or devices are controlled regardless of their value; and equipment determined to be pilferable by the Center SEMO.

A.86 Screening - To review or compare property on hand against a known or anticipated requirement.

A.87 Shipping Document/Request for Shipping - The authorization and acceptance document that accompanies equipment when it is being sent to another location.

A.88 Spare - An item peculiar to a system or an end item and held in reserve.

A.89 Special Test Equipment - As set forth in the FAR Subpart 45.101, either single or multipurpose integrated test units engineered, designed, fabricated, or modified to accomplish special purpose testing in performing a contract. A testing unit consists of all electrical, electronic, hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, or other items or assemblies of equipment including standard or general purpose items or components that are mechanically, electrically, or electronically interconnected so as to become a new functional entity. This causes the individual item or items to become interdependent and essential in the performance of special purpose testing in the development or production of particular supplies or services. The term "special test equipment" does not include the following: material, special tooling, buildings and non-serviceable structures (except foundations and similar improvements necessary for installing special test equipment), and plant equipment items used for general plant testing purposes. Note: This definition applies only to contractor-held property so classified for contract purposes.

A.90 Subinstallation - Center data that has been further divided into subs, based on Government-held property, contractor-held property, or location of property.

A.91 Supply and Equipment Management Officer - The SEMO is responsible for managing the NASA Center's equipment program - providing functional management, leadership, and necessary resources to ensure the implementation of an effective equipment management program (See 1.2.4).

A.92 Surplus Personal Property - Personal property not required for the needs and the discharge of the responsibilities of all Federal agencies.

A.93 Survey Report - A report of administrative action taken to investigate and review the loss, damage, destruction, or theft of Government property and to assemble pertinent facts and determine the extent of such loss, damage, destruction, or theft.

A.94 Transaction - Refers to document identifiers IE01 and IE02 type transactions to the Equipment Management Records in the NASA PP&E System.

A.95 Unconditional Donations - Equipment provided to NASA as a cost-free donation from a non-Federal source.

A.96 Utilization - The identification, reporting, and transfer of excess personal property among Federal agencies to fill current or future authorized requirements in lieu of new procurements.

A.97 Unique Equipment - Specialized equipment items, or equipment systems normally not commercially available, that are identified as unique when the equipment becomes idle.

A.98 Virtual tagging - the concept of assigning a NASA property tag when the tag cannot be attached.

A.99 Willful Misconduct - Any intentional wrongful or unlawful act or omission relating to Government property.

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