equipment return at the end of a grant

[tk]

I have never had to deal with equipment returns at the end of a grant.   Per the PI:

"For equipment bought on the Memphis/IARPA contract, the sponsor has the option of requesting us to return that equipment when the contract is completed.  When we purchased ipads, tablets, and computers, I followed the university's advice on the following: 
" Because computers are rarely used 100% for research on a project (they are used for administration, email, word processing for other things besides the grant, web browsing), it is imperative that the justification include language to ensure the allowability and allocability as a direct cost to the project. SPA now recommends that at least 1% of the cost be charged to a non-sponsored account string to allow for a small portion of non-grant related work such as email.'
In fact, a significant portion of each item was charged to my nonsponsored in addition to the contract. These items have now seen a year of use.  If we are asked to return the equipment, what are our options? "

What happens to the costs on the nonsponsored......does that stay?  does it get prorated based on a reasonable life?   What steps are involved at closeout?  What questions do I ask?

Appreciate your help.   The grant ends 6/30/18.

[Nicole Pilman]

The items you mention are not considered equipment unless they each cost at least $5000.  If that's the case, you should contact Accounting Services if/when the sponsor contacts you about returning the equipment to them.

[tk]

Thanks Nicole......one of the things the PI is doing is asking the Sponsor for their definition of equipment, as I mentioned the $5K threshold for our definition.  This sponsor has so many quirky rules, she may not have an issue, but we want her to be sure.

[caac Certified Approver Program]

Given that the sponsoring agency has terms outside of the norm, getting a clear definition of equipment seems imperative in this situation.

The grant appears to be related to U.S. intelligence gathering. Is the sponsor looking to retain purchased devices that collected data pertaining to the grant?

If the sponsor has terms related to ownership of devices//equipment used to collect project data, it seems that the sponsor should be billed for the portion of device expenses on the PI's non-sponsored account. I would also check with your SPA GA to begin the process of confirming the ownership rights of the devices. Nicole also provided a great suggestion of contacting Accounting Services for concrete details surrounding the procedure of transferring the equipment and billing the sponsor.