Home | Contact Us

Keeping Track of NOAA's Accountable Personal Property

As long as you are a government employee, you are stewards of the personal property that has been furnished to you to perform your work. To help manage this property and to ensure that management knows what property it has, where it is, and who is responsible for it, certain property is designated as "accountable" and is tracked in the Department of Commerce's Personal Property Management System, Sunflower Enterprise.

• Property is anything that may be legally owned.
• Real property is land, and improvements to the land.
• Accountable personal property is any property that is not real property.

What property should be bar coded and recorded in Sunflower?

An item must be bar coded and tracked in the Personal Property Management System when responses to the following questions apply to the item in question.

• IS IT ACCOUNTABLE PERSONAL PROPERTY?
  
  Accountable Personal Property Determinator Tool
  
  
  • Is it land, a permanent building, or permanent structure built on government land? If YES, it is not accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Is it a trailer, garage, modular building, prefabricated structure, or generator? If YES, it is accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Is it a fixture (temporary improvement) constructed on leased land (federal, state, or private) regardless of applicable state laws? If YES, it is accountable personal property. Federal appropriations law prohibits the construction of permanent facilities or fixtures on leased land.
    
    
  • Is it permanently attached to the land, a structure, or a building? Such property (e.g., non-portable air conditioners or furnaces) is called "related personal property" and it is not accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Is it a complete unit that performs a function in and of itself (and by itself)? If YES, it is accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Will it become a non-severable component of another item? If YES, it is not accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Does it retain its identity as a self-contained unit while in use? If YES, it is accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Is it of a durable nature with a normal life expectancy of more than one year? If YES, it is accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Is it consumed in use? If YES, it is not accountable personal property.
    
    
  • Does it cost $5,000 or more (except for software which must cost $25,000.00 or more)? If YES, it is accountable personal property.
    
    
  • If not costing $5,000, is it on the list of sensitive property (see the list of sensitive property at: http://www.pps.noaa.gov/acctobj.htm)? If YES, it is accountable personal property.
    
    
  • If not costing $5,000, does the Property Custodian want to track it? If YES, it is accountable personal property.