TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Topics | Sections |
|---|---|
| OVERVIEW | 1.1 What is the purpose of this chapter? 1.2 What is the scope of and overall policy under Part 310? 1.3 What terms do you need to know to understand the chapters in Part 310? 1.4 What are the authorities for Part 310? |
| RESPONSIBILITIES | 1.5 Who is responsible for personal property management? |
OVERVIEW
1.1 What is the purpose of this chapter? This chapter describes the authorities and responsibilities for all the chapters in Part 310, Personal Property Management, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Manual. Part 310 supplements 410 Departmental Manual (DM) 1, the Department of the Interior Property Management Directives (IPMD) and applicable Acquisition, Arts, and Asset Policy (DOI-AAAP). See Table 1-1 for the organization of Part 310.
Table 1-1: Service Manual Chapters for Personal Property Management
| Chapter | Title |
|---|---|
| 310 FW 1 | Policies, Responsibilities, and Terms for Personal Property Management |
| 310 FW 2 | Acquisition of Personal Property |
| 310 FW 3 | Management of Personal Property |
| 310 FW 4 | Disposition of Personal Property |
| 310 FW 5 | Reporting Stolen, Lost, Damaged, or Destroyed Personal Property |
| 310 FW 6 | Management Controls for Personal Property |
1.2 What is the scope of and overall policy under Part 310?
A. Scope: The chapters in Part 310 of the Service Manual apply to all employees involved in using and managing personal property that the Service owns or leases. See Part 320 of the Service Manual for policies on fleet management.
B. Overall policy: It is our policy to:
(1) Comply with all Federal and Department of the Interior (Department) personal property management policy and directives;
(2) Establish uniformity across the Service’s property management program;
(3) Implement and enforce an effective internal control program for property management to protect Government assets and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse; and
(4) Ensure employees use Government property for official purposes only to carry out the Service’s mission and objectives.
1.3 What terms do you need to know to understand the chapters in Part 310?
A. Accountable property. Non-expendable personal property with a useful life of 2 years or more for which we maintain accountability or property control records, and which may or may not be charged to a general ledger control account. Accountable property includes system-controlled, bureau-managed, capitalized, non-capitalized, sensitive, leased and contractor-held property, and stores property. Leased information technology equipment (e.g., copiers) is not managed as system-controlled property.
B. Accountable Property Officer. A manager, Project Leader, supervisor, or other employee who is responsible for the overall management of personal property assigned to a specific accountable area or cost center. The Accountable Property Officer also must oversee the acquisition, use, maintenance, tracking, and disposal of all personal property for which they are responsible and ensure alignment with Service policy and performance objectives.
C. Acquisition with Automated Offsetting Entry (ABZON). This is a type of transaction we use to create records for personal property items that are donated, found in inventory, purchased with credit cards, or transferred into the Service from another agency. In addition, we use the ABZON transaction to adjust the acquisition cost to account for shipping and delivery costs as well as any property traded in for capitalized personal property purchases.
D. Ammunition. Small arms ammunition or cartridge cases, primers, bullets, or smokeless propellants designed for use in small arms, including percussion caps, 3/32 inch, and other external burning pyrotechnic hobby fuses. The term does not include black powder.
E. Board of Survey. A group appointed to review and investigate all circumstances surrounding lost, stolen, or damaged Government property or its destruction; make impartial decisions concerning the disposition of the property; and, if appropriate, determine financial liability for the employer/employee for the lost, stolen, or damaged property. A Board consists of three or more appointed individuals and one chairperson. The Regional Director (or the Assistant Director – Management and Administration, for Headquarters) appoints individuals for a minimum term of 1 year, but not longer than 3 years.
F. Bureau-managed property. Personal property with an original acquisition cost of $300 to $4,999, excluding sensitive and museum property. We do not record bureau-managed property in the Financial and Business Management System (FBMS), but we track it at a local level. We also refer to this property category as local property.
G. Capitalized personal property. Non-expendable property with a useful life of 2 years or more and an acquisition cost at or above the capitalization threshold of $25,000. It does not include property acquired through loan or museum property. We may capitalize property converted to ownership at the end of a lease period.
H. Cognizant employee. Any Service or contract employee who uses Government property, and therefore is responsible for the proper and reasonable care, use, safekeeping, and disposal/return of such property.
I. Custodial Property Officer. Serves as the Accountable Property Officer’s operating official with daily control and supervision of personal property assigned to a specific accountable area or cost center. This designation may or may not correspond to the individual's job title.
J. Disposition. One of several methods of managing excess personal property, including transfers, sales, trade-ins, donations, destruction, disposals, and recycling.
K. Excess property. When personal property is no longer needed by the activities within a cost center to carry out the functions of official programs.
L. Expendable property. Non-sensitive property with a normal life expectancy of less than 2 years and an acquisition cost of less than $300. It is usually consumed in the normal course of its use or becomes an integral part of another item.
M. Firearms (sensitive property). Any weapon that is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the energy of an explosive. Training firearms, firearms suppressors, and destructive devices, such as flash-bang distraction devices, are treated as firearms.
N. Less lethal device. An instrument, device, or weapon designed to be used in a manner not likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. Examples include, but are not limited to, Conducted Electrical Weapons (CEW), also known as electronic control devices, electronic control weapons, and TASER devices; impact weapons; and certain chemical agents. These are also commonly referred to as “intermediate force” or “less than lethal” weapons or devices.
O. Museum property (sensitive, non-capitalized). An assemblage of museum objects collected according to a rational scheme and maintained so they can be preserved, studied, or interpreted for public benefit. Museum objects include prehistoric and historic objects, artifacts, works of art, non-record archival documents, and natural history specimens that are part of museum collections. Museum property does not include those items necessary to display a collection, such as exhibit cases, dioramas, special lighting, graphics, replicas, etc.
P. Non-expendable property. Property that has a continuing use, is not consumed in use, is of a durable nature with an expected service life of 2 or more years, has an acquisition cost of $300 or more, or is identified as sensitive property.
Q. Personal property. Property of any kind or an interest in that property. Specifically, personal property includes all equipment, materials, supplies, and museum objects. The definition excludes real property and any property incorporated into or permanently affixed to it (e.g., a building), records of the Federal Government, and naval (military) vessels.
R. Property accountability. The assigned responsibility and liability associated with the management of Government property. It includes the responsibility for establishing and maintaining property records, safeguarding property, and ensuring its proper use, as well as submitting required reports. It also includes the liability associated with loss, theft, damage, or destruction of Government property.
S. Property irregularities. Repetitive losses of a particular type of property or recurring losses at a given location; losses of a suspicious nature; evidence of serious misconduct or irregularity (e.g., fraud, falsification of records); known, suspected, or alleged fraud, waste, or abuse, or misappropriation of Government property; or loss or theft of a firearm or weapon, ammunition, explosives, hazardous materials, or a controlled substance.
T. Reviewing authority. A management official designated by the head of the bureau/office or the Property Management Officer to provide technical and procedural guidance to Boards of Survey/Survey Officers.
U. Sensitive property. Property that is system-controlled, regardless of value, by detailed accountability records. Sensitive property must, at a minimum, include firearms and museum property. Bureaus and offices may develop additional categories of property that they determine to be sensitive and for which they will maintain detailed property accountability records (see 310 FW 2, Table 2-1 for a list of the Service’s sensitive property).
V. System-controlled property. Property with an original acquisition cost of $5,000 or more and sensitive property, regardless of cost. System-controlled property must be recorded and controlled in a bureau/office property management system.
W. Unclaimed or abandoned property. Personal property that is found on premises that the Service owns or leases. The Service may retain it for official use and process it for utilization and disposal.
1.4 What are the authorities for Part 310?
A. Departmental IPMD, 410 Addition, Supplement to the Federal Property Management Regulations (41 CFR 102).
B. DOI-AAAP, Acquisition, Arts, and Asset Policy documents, including:
(1) DOI AAAP-0013, Implementation of Mandatory Training - Firearms Accountability Course;
(2) DOI-AAAP-0035, Purchase Requests;
(3) DOI AAAP-0041, Mandatory Use of FBMS for Personal Property Disposal;
(4) DOI AAAP-0111, Stolen, Lost, Damaged, or Destroyed Personal Property;
(5) DOI AAAP-0120, Classifying Property, Plant, and Equipment;
(6) DOI AAAP-0121, Property, Plant, and Equipment Acquisition Cost Determination;
(7) DOI AAAP-0122, Property, Plant, and Equipment – Capitalization Criteria;
(8) DOI AAAP-0125, Property, Plant, and Equipment Depreciation; and
(9) DOI-AAAP-0146,Transfer of Excess Equipment and Supplies for Wildfires.
C. Exchange or Sale of Similar Items, Property Management, Procurement and Warehousing (40 U.S.C. 503).
D. Federal Information Resources Management Regulation (41 CFR Subtitle E).
E. Federal Management Regulation (FMR), 102-36, Disposition of Excess Personal Property (FMR 102-36).
F. Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. 1346, 1402, and 2671 through 2680).
G. Government Performance Results Act of 1993 (5 U.S.C. 305 et. seq.).
H. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-123, Management’s Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control; and No. A-130, Managing Information as a Strategic Resource.
I. Public Contracts and Property Management (41 CFR 101).
J. Public Money, Property, or Records (18 U.S.C. 641).
K. Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, as amended (15 U.S.C. 3710).
L. 410 DM, Personal Property Management; 411 DM, Identifying and Managing Museum Property; 446 DM 10, Firearms Standards; and 374 DM 6, Donations.
RESPONSIBILITIES
1.5 Who is responsible for personal property management? See Table 1-2.
Table 1.2: Roles and Responsibilities for Personal Property Management at the Headquarters and Regional Level
| These employees… | Are responsible for… |
| A. The Director | (1) Providing strategic direction for the Service’s personal property management program in accordance with Departmental policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines; and (2) Ensuring resources are available to administer the personal property program. |
| B. The Deputy Director | (1) Overseeing the Service’s personal property program, and (2) Ensuring overall compliance with personal property policies and processes. |
| C. The Assistant Director – Management and Administration (AD-MA), also known as the Chief Financial Officer | (1) Serving as the Property Management Officer and administering the Service’s personal property program and system of record in accordance with Federal and Departmental policies and procedures, and (2) Certifying that the Service’s internal control reviews are conducted on a cyclical basis as the Department requires. Refer to section 1.5E below for performing the Regional Director responsibilities for Headquarters. |
| D. Supervising Directorate members in Headquarters (e.g., Assistant Directors, Chief – Office of Law Enforcement (OLE)) | (1) Ensuring program compliance with personal property policies, procedures, and reporting; (2) Appointing Accountable Property Officers (see FWS Form 3-2408A), ensuring controls are in place to protect personal property, and notifying employees annually of their responsibilities for personal property; (3) Maintaining chain of custody for program equipment while it is in the possession of the Information Resources and Technology Management (IRTM) Helpdesk (applies to Associate Chief Information Officer (ACIO)); and (4) Designating program national firearms coordinators (applies to the Chief, National Wildlife Refuge System and Chief, Office of Law Enforcement). |
| E. Regional Directors and the AD-MA for Headquarters | (1) Appointing Accountable Property Officers. Responsibility may be delegated to Assistant Regional Directors (see FWS Form 3-2408A); (2) Ensuring that Accountable Property Officers implement and have oversight of the personal property program in accordance with Departmental and Service policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines; (3) Certifying their Regional cost center’s annual inventory of system-controlled personal property; (4) Establishing and maintaining Regional Boards of Survey and ensuring timely resolution of issues; (5) Ensuring controls are in place to protect personal property from fraud, waste, and abuse; (6) Notifying employees annually that they are responsible and accountable for the proper use, safekeeping, and disposal of personal property and for reporting incidents of serious misuse of Government personal property; and (7) Certifying that Regional Property Management Control Reviews (MCR) of all offices and field stations with accountable property are conducted on a cyclical basis, as the Department requires. |
| F. Joint Administrative Operations (JAO) Division Chief, Acquisition and Property Policy Management (APPM) | (1) Overseeing the Service’s personal property program; (2) Ensuring controls are in place to protect personal property from fraud, waste, and abuse; and (3) Serving as the reviewing authority for the Board of Survey processes. |
| G. JAO Division Chief, Acquisition and Property Operations | (1) Ensuring overall compliance with personal property policies, processes, and procedures; and (2) Providing guidance to property operations staff on managing personal property programs. |
| H. JAO, APPM, Branch Chief – Property Policy | (1) Developing and implementing personal property policy; (2) Ensuring Departmental internal control reviews, data calls, and audit requests are completed on all personal property programs; and (3) Serving as the Management Control Evaluator (national level), as described in the annual plan. |
| I. JAO, Branch Chief – Property Operations | (1) Developing standard operating procedures and processes for property operations; (2) Developing training plans for property operations and stakeholders (Accountable and Custodial Property Officers); (3) Ensuring personal property policy and procedures are available to stakeholders; (4) Serving as the reviewing authority for the disposition of unserviceable personal property, or delegating this authority, as appropriate; and (5) Serving as the Management Control Evaluator (local level), as described in the annual plan. |
| J. JAO, Personal Property Supervisor and Team Leads | (1) Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Personal Property Team, including workload distribution and priorities; (2) Providing overall administration, coordination, and control of the Personal Property Team; (3) Ensuring policy, procedures, and systems applicable to the Personal Property Team are followed and maintained; and (4) Providing guidance, training, and technical assistance to the Personal Property Team. |
| K. JAO, Personal Property Team (Personal Property Specialists) | (1) Issuing instructions and providing guidance as required for implementation of Service policy and procedures; (2) Providing technical assistance regarding personal property to Accountable Property Officers (APO), Custodial Property Officers (CPO), Boards of Survey, and end users; (3) Ensuring that established procedures for the acquisition, receipt, issuance, identification, accountability, control, and disposition of personal property are followed; (4) Ensuring that all system transactions, documentation, and records for personal property are completed in accordance with policy; (5) Coordinating and communicating with the APO or CPO, or both, on the status of property transactions; (6) Maintaining required roles in FBMS to perform duties; and (7) Certifying annual cost center inventory. |
| L. National Program Firearms Coordinators | (1) Serving as the Headquarters firearms subject matter experts for the Office of Law Enforcement and Division of Refuge Law Enforcement, (2) Providing advice and guidance on firearm purchases and disposals, (3) Approving transfer of firearms to other bureaus or offices, and (4) Determining disposition of surplus firearms. |
| M. Boards of Survey Appointees | (1) Reviewing Board of Survey documents; (2) Conducting comprehensive investigations; (3) Documenting findings and recommendations for relieving the accountability for property listed on personal property records; and (4) Determining financial liability (if appropriate) of the employer/employee for stolen, lost, damaged, or destroyed personal property. |
| N. Accountable Property Officers (APO) [appointed, in writing, by the Regional Director (or delegated to the appropriate Assistant Regional Director), AD-MA, or other Assistant Directors for Headquarters] | (1) Initiating the FWS Form 3-2408A, Designation of Accountable Property Officer, and sending it to the responsible official (e.g., Regional Director, Assistant Regional Director, AD-MA, or other Assistant Directors for Headquarters); (2) Supervising the management of personal property for a specific accountable area or cost center. APOs are typically a Project Leader, supervisor, or other management official; (3) Authorizing documentation for acquiring, transferring, or disposing of accountable personal property and ensuring documents are submitted for processing to the Personal Property Team; (4) Designating and appointing, in writing, CPOs within their property accountability area, to assist in managing personal property. APOs with large areas of responsibility may designate more than one CPO (see FWS Form 3-2408B); (5) Requesting FBMS access for appointed CPOs and ensuring they complete training for the assigned FBMS roles; (6) Ensuring CPOs conduct an inventory of personal property prior to their transfer or separation; (7) Determining new property requirements and analyzing alternatives and options for acquisition (e.g., availability of property from another station or Federal agency); (8) Certifying the completion of annual personal property inventories and ensuring deficiencies are corrected for system-controlled property; (9) Ensuring personal property is inspected to account for proper use, maintenance, and safekeeping and establishing procedures for repair; (10) Reporting instances of loss, theft, or damage of system-controlled personal property to the Property Operations Team; (11) Ensuring staff complete all training relevant to the personal property program (e.g., Firearms Accountability Course (FAC)); (12) If they are leaving, continuing responsibility for the property within their assigned cost center until a successor is appointed; (13) Ensuring Government property is used for official purposes only to carry out our mission and objectives; and (14) Conducting a 100 percent annual physical inventory and ensuring that property records are reconciled when relieved of duty. |
| O. Custodial Property Officers (CPO) [appointed, in writing, by the Accountable Property Officer] | (1) Initiating the FWS Form 3-2408B, Designation of Custodial Property Officer, and sending it to their APO; (2) Serving as the APO’s operating official with daily control and supervision of personal property assigned to a specific accountable area or cost center. CPOs are typically administrative assistants or in non-supervisory positions. CPOs cannot be an APO for the same cost center. This designation may or may not correspond to the individual's job title; (3) Following appointment, completing required training for assigned FBMS roles; (4) Preparing and providing all required documentation for the APO for all actions and transactions affecting the property, including, but not limited to, acquisitions, transfers, and disposals; (5) Screening personal property to identify and report excess property to the APO; (6) Coordinating reuse, transfer, loan, sales/exchange, recycling, disposals, and donations of excess personal property through the APO to the Personal Property Team; (7) Conducting the physical inventory of system-controlled personal property as directed by the APO; (8) Receiving and inspecting new property arrivals to ensure the property is not damaged; (9) Ensuring that personal property is used for official purposes only; (10) Informing the APO of any activity within their cost center that affects the status, disposition, or condition of that property; (11) If they are leaving, continuing responsibility for the property within their assigned cost center until a successor is appointed; (12) Completing and sending all personal property transaction documents to the Personal Property Team; (13) Updating and maintaining cognizant employees’ names in FBMS; and (14) Conducting a 100 percent annual physical inventory and ensuring that property records are reconciled when relieved of duty. |
| P. Contracting Officer’s Representatives | (1) Coordinating with the cost center's APO and CPO to ensure purchased system-controlled property is added to FBMS, and (2) Ensuring collection of Service personal property from contractors upon conclusion of contract or exit clearance (see Exit Clearance Procedures for Service and Non-Service Employees). |
| Q. Managers, Supervisors, and Employees | (1) Ensuring employees are aware of their responsibilities and held accountable for use and care of Government–owned or leased property; (2) Using property safely, efficiently, and only for official purposes; (3) Ensuring employees sign a Form DI-105, Receipt for Property, for assigned system-controlled and bureau-managed personal property; (4) Ensuring proper and reasonable care, safeguarding, and return of property; (5) Reporting instances of loss, theft, or damage of system-controlled personal property to their supervisors; and (6) Following requirements for personal property while teleworking. |