Excess and Surplus Property Management (ESPM)

• The university established the Excess and Surplus Property Management (ESPM) program to coordinate disposal of excess and surplus property. The Materials Management department has responsibility for the program.

• The primary means by which university property of any kind can be sold to the general public, transferred between departments, cannibalized, salvaged, or scrapped is through the ESPM program. The program applies to equipment or materials purchased or donated with gift, grant, or contract funds or unrestricted general fund money, with title vested in the university.

• For general information and a list of services provided by the ESPM office, visit the ESPM webpage.

• Unauthorized removal, disposal, or expropriation of any university owned property, regardless of estimated value, constitutes a breach of university policy and can be construed as misappropriation.

• Departments may declare property excess and transfer control of it to ESPM. The releasing department will benefit financially, either by income from an outright sale of property or by transfer of funds from the university department purchasing the property.

• The ESPM program will not accept hazardous waste. 

Within this policy the following definitions apply to the ESPM program:

1. Owning department: the department having the authority to declare property excess.
2. Excess: property that is not needed by the owning department.
3. Surplus: property that is not needed by any department or organization within the university.
4. Recycle: generally means to sell paper, batteries, oil, glass, metals, etc., to an external entity for reprocessing and remarketing.
5. Salvage: surplus material that is not a complete operating unit but is a component of equipment that has been cannibalized (switches, bearings, etc.) or a structure that has been dismantled (doors, sinks, etc.). Although not a complete unit, salvage
6. has utility and economic value in its present form.
7. Scrap: surplus material such as metal shavings, broken components, or inoperable equipment that has no utility or economic value in its present form.
8. Internal sales: excess property that is sold and ownership transferred from one university department to another, while the university retains title.
9. External sales: surplus property that is sold to any entity and title or ownership is transferred to that entity.

• Initially, excess property will be available for sale to other university departments. In the event there is no market within the university, the property may be made available for purchase by the general public.
• A service fee will be retained by ESPM from sale proceeds as listed below:

  Sale Price	ESPM Service Fee
  $0 to $4	0%
  $5 to $200	25% to a maximum of $30
  $201 to $2,000	15% to a maximum of $200
  $2,001 to $8,000	10% to a maximum of $400
  $8,001 and up	5% to a maximum of $1,500

• Routine cleaning of excess property will be done by ESPM. Additional fees may be deducted from the owning department's sale proceeds for repair expense and/or for extraordinary handling or moving tasks incurred by ESPM.

• ESPM is not responsible for deleting software from computer equipment that is to be surplused. When a department prepares to surplus computer equipment, the owning department must contact the Electronics Shop (069 Allyn Hall) in the College of Science and Mathematics prior to placing the item for sale. The Electronics Shop will certify that the computer is ready for sale through ESPM by:

  1. removing all software, except the operating system, from the computer.

  2. removing all network and peripheral cards that are not being sold with the computer. The cards will be returned to the disposing department.

  3. installing the operating system being sold with the computer.

  4. determining the operational condition of the computer.

  5. preparing a description of the computer.

• To request certification that a computer is ready for resale, the owning department should contact the Electronics Shop. There is a charge for this service.

• Any questions about preparing surplus computer hardware for disposal should be referred to the Electronics Shop (775-2554).

1. University property is any item, whether or not operable or a complete unit, purchased by the university or donated to the university.

2. Chairs, directors, or designees of the owning department of record may declare university property as excess. The more advance notice given to ESPM, the better the opportunity for ESPM to help a department receive greater revenues or redistribution of property.

3. A university department is responsible for verifying ownership of all equipment and material before proceeding with disposal.

• To declare property as excess, the ESPM Disposal Requisition must be completed and signed by the appropriate department head.

• If the item is large or bulky and/or the value requires consultation, ESPM staff will inspect the item on location before it is moved.

• If the value of an item is difficult to establish, ESPM office staff will determine a fair market price. ESPM will make every effort to obtain the best sale price. However, after 30 days from receipt of the property, ESPM will lower the sale price of an item. Within 45 days after receipt of the property, ESPM will dispose of all property in a manner that is most advantageous to the university. Limited ESPM warehouse space precludes holding an item more than 45 days.

• Owning departments should not send or take items to the ESPM Office. ESPM employees will transfer items as space becomes available.

• The owning department of any excess property that has been contaminated by chemical or biological agents is responsible for decontamination of the property prior to release to ESPM. The department also is responsible for the expense of decontamination. In addition, the owning department must provide written documentation to ESPM and to the Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) prior to release to ESPM. If the excess property contains or has been used in a radioactive materials use area, a survey for radiation contamination must be performed prior to release to ESPM. The university's Radiation Safety office shall perform the survey upon request. If the excess property contains a hazardous material integral to the operation of the equipment (i.e., asbestos, oil, mercury, refrigerant), it shall be approved for release by a representative of EHS, prior to its release to ESPM. The owning department is responsible for removal of all hazardous materials as directed by EHS.

• If a department is replacing an item with an identical or like item, trade-in must be considered.

• The appropriate agent in the Purchasing department will contact the ESPM office and the owning department and discuss disposal alternatives.

• Generally, the potential ESPM sales price for a trade-in item must be 20 percent or higher than the trade-in price to be cost effective to the department and the university.

• The ESPM program receives no commission for trade-in transactions.

• It is not the intention of the ESPM program to discourage lending and/or the internal transfer of property. From time to time, it may be desirable to borrow or reassign property from one unit to another. In those instances, it is unnecessary to declare the property as excess.

• Since past policy did not permit a university department to share in the proceeds of disposal, a considerable amount of property was loaned, traded, and/or transferred among departments. It is not the intention of the ESPM program to force a department utilizing borrowed equipment to purchase the property. If property presently held by one department was purchased by another, the owning department must declare the item excess. Funds realized will be remitted to the unit that purchased the item.

• When ownership of capital equipment is transferred from one WSU department to another, Property Records must be notified using a Property Status Change form. Only internal sales or transfers of capital equipment may be reported on the Property Status Change Form. The transfer of funds related to an internal sale or transfer of capital equipment should be done using a Banner journal voucher. All external sales must be reported on an ESPM Disposal Requisitions (Form 1500).

• University property that is designated capital equipment should not be cannibalized until consultation with the ESPM office. The ESPM office and the owning department will jointly determine if cannibalization is in the best interest of the university.

• If the property is cannibalized, the ESPM office will advise the Office of the Controller to delete the property from university records.

• Unique Account code 778200, in the miscellaneous series, will be used for all buying and selling transactions in the ESPM program. A department that wishes to make a purchase from the ESPM program must buy from Account code 778200. Cost includes capital equipment, as well as supply items. Funds can be transferred into Account code 778200 from any other Account code except faculty, unclassified, classified, and graduate assistant personnel services and staff benefits accounts.

• The selling department will receive the proceeds from the sale of its excess property, and such proceeds will be recorded as follows: income from items sold internally shall be placed in Account code 778200 and external sale income credited to Account code 705410. The funds in these accounts can be transferred to any other Account code.

• Funds remaining in Account code 778200 and/or Account code 705410 at the end of the fiscal year will be carried over into the next fiscal year, only if a department has a positive budget balance available at year-end.

• When an excess property item is sold internally, fund and property transfer records must be completed. The fund transfer will be accomplished with a ESPM Invoice. The department buying an item must complete the form, showing its department number, item purchased, cost, and authorized signature. The Fund Organization Program number of the department receiving the funds also will be shown on ESPM Invoice.

• The ESPM office will determine the amount of commission to be allocated to ESPM and the remaining amount to be allocated to the selling department.

• The Office of the Controller must be informed of the sale of excess capital property. The Office of the Controller shall receive a copy of the original ESPM Disposal Requisition following an internal sale. The selling department is responsible for initiating and completing a Property Status Change Form.

• In some cases, property that was originally purchased as capital equipment will be sold internally to a university department for less than the university's capital equipment amount. In those instances, the equipment will move to the recipient department inventory report at the original purchase price.

• If no internal buyer for an excess item can be found, the property will become surplus and, consequently, available for sale externally to private entities. An external buyer will be required to print his/her name and address on the ESPM Invoice.

• The following policy will apply to external sales:

  1. Sales are on an as is and where is basis with no warranties of any kind.
  2. All sales are final with no returns or refunds allowed.

• An ESPM Disposal Requisition (Form 1500) must be submitted for the disposal of all excess and surplus university owned property. The form must also be used for items to be traded in, scrapped, or cannibalized.

• The ESPM Disposal Requisition is a prenumbered four-part form. The last two copies (pink and goldenrod) should be retained by the releasing department, and the remaining two copies (white and yellow) should be sent to ESPM (031 Allyn Hall). If the releasing department needs information concerning the status of an item, it should contact the ESPM office and reference the requisition number.

• The name and Fund Organization Program number of the releasing department must be entered in the space provided, as well as the name, title, office, and phone number of the person in the releasing department who can be contacted by the ESPM office concerning price, location, description, etc., of the item(s) shown on the ESPM Disposal Requisition.

• The ESPM Disposal Requisition must be signed by the appropriate department chair, director, or designee.

• The Fund Organization Program number of the department that will receive the proceeds of a disposal must be shown in the space provided on the ESPM Disposal Requisition. Generally, this number will be the same as the releasing department number.

• The releasing department should check the appropriate box on the ESPM Disposal Requisition to indicate if the property is excess, scrap, or to be cannibalized. Items such as old batteries, metal, or items of no utility or monetary value are labeledscrap.

• Only one capital item may be placed on the ESPM Disposal Requisition. If an item to be excessed has an inventory tag, it is considered capital for the purposes of ESPM, regardless of its current estimated value. However, any number of non-capital or supply items may be shown on one requisition. If a quantity of different supply items is placed on one ESPM Disposal Requisition, they should be itemized as 1, 2, 3, etc., under the item number column. For large quantities of non-capital items, a separate sheet of paper can be attached to the requisition.

• The releasing department should complete the item description column on the requisition as thoroughly as possible. Make, model, serial number, color, and any outstanding features should be indicated. A description of missing parts, extra or accessory equipment, operating condition, estimated cost to repair, or other pertinent data should be noted. The location of the item must also be shown, as well as the university capital tag number, if the item is capital equipment.

• The owning department may suggest a selling price; however, ESPM may or may not use the suggested price in order to sell the item.

Immediately after a department identifies an item as surplus, the department head must initiate an ESPM Disposal Requisition. When ESPM personnel pick up an item from the owning department, they will sign all four parts of the form and leave the last two copies (pink and goldenrod) with the department. The owning department is responsible for sending the pink copy of Form 1500 to Property Records, which will delete the item from the department's inventory records.