ACQUIRING NEW PROPERTY

Introduction

At first glance, the acquisition process may seem daunting and intimidating. However, when the various steps are examined and explained separately, then each one's necessity and logic becomes clear. The following is a discussion of some of the steps that the Property Accountability Officer or Property Custodian must follow to expedite this process. Questions should be directed to the appropriate Personal Property Representative.

Necessity of This Process

The information about the purchase that the Personal Property Custodian provides to the NOAA Personal Property Office is vital and will be entered into the Personal Property System in order to become part of the official inventory record. Accuracy is crucial, and timeliness is indispensable.

Procurement Request

Prior to submitting the requisition - When it becomes necessary to purchase a particular personal property item, regardless of the acquisition methods being used, money must be available in the budget. Prior to purchasing an accountable item of personal property, it is recommended that the requisitioner contact the NOAA Warehouse Manager for assistance in determining if the item might be available as excess. In periods of tight budget constraints, if the desired or required item is available in excess, NOAA and the Government will save money. After it has been determined that there is no excess property that will meet the need and that adequate funds are available, if not using a purchase card the requisitioner completes the Procurement Request using the C*Request on-line system. For information on how to complete a CRequest request, please contact the NOAA Acquisition and Grants Officer.

Completing the C*Request screens - Special attention must be given to the following areas. In the Place Deliver To block, the requisition must contain the exact delivery address. In the Place Supplemental Address Information block, enter the Custodian Code for the entity which will be responsible for receiving and tracking the items and the name of the Personal Property Custodian and his/her phone number(s). This is the person who will have the responsibility for tagging the property and ensuring that the completed acquisition forms are forwarded to the Property Office after the property is received and accepted.

On all requisitions, the correct object class code must be included. A list of "Object Classification Codes and Descriptions" is included on this web site. When choosing these, it is wise to remember the accountable property threshold is $5,000. There is no dollar threshold limit for sensitive items. They are tracked regardless of cost. A listing of Sensitive Items and "commonly used object class codes" are listed here:http:www.pps.noaa.gov/acctobj.htm

The Approval Process

After the C*Request has been approved by the appropriate personnel, it will be forwarded to the appropriate procurement office to prepare the Form OF-347, Order for Supplies and Services or the contract.

Form OF-347, Order for Supplies and Services

The Form OF-347, Order for Supplies and Services is commonly referred to as the Purchase Order. It is prepared by the Procurement Office.

The requisitioner's copy and Property's copy of the Form OF-347 are important from a Property perspective. After the property is received and accepted, the requisitioner's copy of the OF-347 is signed and sent to the Finance Office giving authorization for payment of invoices received. The NOAA Personal Property Office uses the Property copy to supplement the documentation received from the office acquiring the property.

Purchase Card

Prior to purchasing an accountable item of personal property with a Purchase Card, it is recommended that the requisitioner contact the NOAA Warehouse Manager to determine if the item might be available as excess. In periods of tight budget constraints, if the desired or required item is available in excess, NOAA and the Government will save money. After an item of personal property is purchased with a Purchase Card, it should be received, unpacked, inspected, operationally checked, and a bar code label applied.

When the Purchase Card statement arrives from the bank, process it as usual and create a photocopy. On the photocopy of the Purchase Card statement or on an attached sheet, the requisitioner must describe the item purchased and note all accounting information as well as the object class code for the new item. Send the original Purchase Card statement to the Finance Office for payment.The NOAA Property Offices use information that is extracted out of CBS and so the CBS bank card statement is the statement that is required by the Personal Property Offices.

From the NOAA Personal Property Home Page, log in to Sunflower and navigate to the CD50 - Create a New Asset web form. Complete the form according to the information requested and the instructions that are furnished by the NOAA Personal Property Office. Provide a photocopy of the annotated CBS Purchase Card statement to the NOAA Personal Property Office.

Purchase Card Checklist

• Determine funding resources availability.
  
• Contact the NOAA Personal Property Office to see if the item is available as excess.
  
• Purchase the item.
• The item is received, unpacked, inspected, operationally checked, and a bar code label applied.
• When the Purchase Card statement arrives, process it as usual and create a photocopy.
• Annotate the photocopy of the Purchase Card statement with a description of the items and all accounting information for the requisitioner organization as well as the object class code for the new item.
• Send the original Purchase Card statement to the Finance Office for payment.
• Complete the web-based CD-50. Provide a copy of the photocopied Purchase Card statement to the NOAA Personal Property Office.
  

Remember that the reconciliation in the Personal Property system is no later than 15 days after payment has been made in CBS (The date that appears on the UPR).

Separation of Duties

To prevent even the appearance that there is a possibility for waste, fraud, or abuse, it is essential that there be a clear separation of duties between the person who requests the property be acquired, the person who acquires the property, the person who receives the property, and the person who enters the property into the personal property system. Whenever possible, these duties should be performed by different individuals to ensure that the risk of loss through undetected diversion of property is minimized. When office size does not permit separation of duties, internal procedures should demonstrate clear oversight of the process. The office manager will provide to their supervisor in writing a justification for the assignment of duties made. This is considered an internal control.

Receiving Report

It is essential that the receipt and acceptance of property on behalf of the Government is documented. This documentation provides an audit trail so it is clear when title to the property was assumed by the Government and who the person was who accepted the property for the Government. ALLOW NOTHING TO ENTER THE GOVERNMENT'S POSSESSION WITHOUT PROPER DOCUMENTATION! Receiving documentation includes freight bills, bills of lading, packing sheets, Government ship bar coded documents, and discrepancy reports covering losses and damages, and registers or logs for recording incoming freight, parcel post, air and local delivery shipments. An unresolved error in receiving, tagging or bar coding can result in an extensive and expensive waste of organizational resources throughout the entire process. The NOAA employee receiving the property must sign and date the receiving report for the Government, noting any discrepancies, damages, or shortages. They should also ensure that their name is printed on the receiving report if the signature is not legible. The receiving report can be the final invoice that is signed by the recipient of the property or the Contracting Officer's Representative.

Recording the Acquisition in the Personal Property System

Immediately after the property has been received, inspected, and accepted, or within 15 days after payment has been recorded in CBS, a bar code label must be attached to the personal property and reported by way of the web-based CD50 Create New Asset online form. This shows that the government has assumed ownership of the personal property. A paper form signed CD509 is required for all Leased and Capitalized Personal Property, to include an original of the form CD509 or CD50 signed by the Property Custodian.

Supporting documentation includes: a copy of the purchase order, contract, CAMS/CBS bank card statement, invoice, or other documentation that supports the acquisition of the asset.

ALL other new purchases that are not Capitalized Personal Property must be entered using the Sunflower CD50/52 Forms along with uploaded attachments of the supporting documentation in the ADD records at the time the requests are made.

Recording the New Asset using the Web form CD50 Creation of a New Asset via the Sunflower web application is required for all new acquisitions that are under $200K and all "found" assets. The required uploaded documentation includes the purchase order, Contract, CAMs/CBS bank card statement, invoice, or other supporting documentation. ALL "found" personal property must include the "found certification" that is located here: http://www.pps.noaa.gov/FoundCertification.pdf The property record must be created in Sunflower no later than 15 days after the date the invoice was paid as recorded in the Commerce Business System (CBS).

Instructions for uploading Supporting Documentation in the Sunflower (Create New Asset) CD50 online Form:

1. NOAA Sunflower users will need to scan and save the supporting documentation as a PDF on your desktop or hard drive. (Either in "my documents" or on your computer desk top).

2. The invoices, purchase order, contract and/or CBS bankcard statement and any other pertinent documents, need to be in one PDF document. Documents must be saved on your computer in order to upload them into the Sunflower Add request. Note: Please save the documents as the barcode number for the file name. For multiple add entries, you have to save one document per barcode that you enter. If you enter multiple entries on the same online CD50 Add Form/Request, a PDF file needs to be saved and uploaded for each barcode. NOAA PPMB suggests that the barcode number should be used as the file name, because, there is only one barcode number that can be used in Sunflower.

3. Directly under the section of the CD50 form that says: Refresh Global UDF, where you enter the barcode numbers, click ATTACHMENT

4. A pop up screen is displayed, Click on ADD.

5. A pop up screen is displayed that says: Picture Upload

6. Click Browse, to search your computer for the file to upload.

7. Once you find the file, press OPEN.

8. Click Upload

9. When the file has been uploaded, the pop up box will display: Successfully uploaded file YOUR FILE NAME. Click Close.

10. You will see a pop up box that will show your uploaded document file. You can view it, or press Close.

11. You now see the ADD form. Press SAVE.

The PPMB staff member will see the supporting documentation file, when they look at your ADDs in the Edit Interface. You will not be required to send additional supporting documentation by hard copy, if the documents are uploaded in your ADD request(s).

The Vital Necessity of Timeliness

The Hand Receipt

It is now mandatory that all laptops, PDAs and SmartPhones be assigned to a particular designated individual. This individual will be identified in the NOAA Property management system as the Current User of the asset. In addition, the Property Custodian will ensure that the designated individual complete a NOAA Form 37-40, Personal Custody Property Record / Hand Receipt. In the case of not one individual Current User, the Property Custodian must be assigned in the Personal Property System as the Current User.

Capitalized Personal Property, use the Form CD-509, Property Transaction Request Completion Instructions

The paper CD-509 form is normally no longer accepted by the Property office as a means of conveying requests for recording personal property transactions in the DOC Property Management System. However, it is used to record a Capitalized Asset in the Personal Property System. Please complete a hard copy CD509 or CD52 with a signature of the Property Custodian. Please use the CD50 / 52 Web forms or the HTML Transaction Pages for items that are valued under $200,000.00. The CD50 web form is used to enter a new piece of personal property and a Change Asset Detail Request. A CD52 is used to create a Retirement of an Asset Request or an Excess Receival Request in the Personal Property Management System. These instructions are provided for those rare instances when it is impractical to use the web-based forms. For a complete list of what request you should submit in Sunflower, please refer to the Task Matrix, located here: http://www.pps.noaa.gov/matrix.html