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DGOETZ

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  1. Wow!!! Lot’s of great discussions in this thread – and I hope that I am not toooo late to jump in and help! Also, lot’s of interesting tangential items discussed in the thread – so I will stick to what I believe is the meat of the question. And I only wish I could parse the question and responses down into their simplest statements – but that would take pages and pages. O.k., first – all of the Government property on base needs to be accounted for if it meets the management requirement of DODI 5000.64. So you need to read the thresholds and criteria applied by the DoDI. Not EVERYTHING goes into an Accountable Property System of Record. The base or owning activity is required to establish and maintain an Accountable Property System of Record – an APSR. Managed by an Accountable Property Officer – an APO. And since this is Air Force, the AF uses the Air Force Equipment Management Systems (AFEMS) as its APSR. (Don’t you just LOVE abbreviations?!?!?) J Next step -- If the Government wants to FURNISH all of the property as Government Furnished Property – then it must be LISTED in the solicitation and contract and for those of us in DoD – using the SGFP Attachments required by the DFARS PGI at DFARS PGI 245.103-72 – which mandates and calls out these forms! Oh, and one small item – if the Government is going to FURNISH items that are NOT on an APSR – well, they need to be accounted for… Enclosure 3 of DoDI5000.64 states that, “DoD Components shall establish and maintain records and accountability for property (of any value) furnished to contractors as Government furnished property (GFP).” So, it appears that even if the piddling stuff DID NOT meet the original requirements for an APSR – if furnished to the contractor – a RECORD needs to be established by the Government by the APO. Potentially, the furnishing of this property as GFP could be justified under FAR 45.102 which is amplified by DoD in the DFARS PGI at 245.103-71 – providing some examples of when to do this. Can the Government just “give” this Government Property to the Contractor? NO! FAR 45.6, and its statutory birth through the Federal Property Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, as well as the implementation under the GSA regs at FMR Subchapter B – Personal Property at 102-35 and 102-36 prescribe the REQUIRED ACTION before we can effect disposition of Government Property. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/public/site/FMR/file/SubchB.html/category/21858/hostUri/portal And no, you cannot just abandon the Government property on the base or installation as that would essentially be abandoning the GP to the Government… Doesn’t make sense. And you can’t just “transfer title” to all of the GFP to the contractor to “clean up the Government’s books.” There is NO AUTHORITY to accomplish this act or action. And some of this Government property may be “Incidental” to contract performance – as stated by others in the thread. FAR 45.000. It states, “(b) It [This FAR Part] does not apply to— (5) Government property that is incidental to the place of performance, when the contract requires contractor personnel to be located on a Government site or installation, and when the property used by the contractor within the location remains accountable to the Government. Items considered to be incidental to the place of performance include, for example, office space, desks, chairs, telephones, computers, and fax machines.” And since specific detail as to this “stuff” was not provided – sorta’ tough to address that issue. But, with all of that said – you might want to check out FAR 52.245-2 which was written back in the 2007 FAR Government Property Rewrite for just such a situation. Conditions for use: FIXED PRICE CONTRACT To be PERFORMED on a Government Base or Installation. The GP is EXCESS to the needs to the Activity – in other words the AF no longer needs this Government Property to perform this function. And I would assume that this is a function that might have been performed by Government employees in the past. The GFP is furnished in an “AS IS, WHERE IS” condition (Of course allowing the prospective contractors to inspect it PRIOR to making their offer). It is CRITICAL that a thorough review done to ensure that this Government Property really is no longer needed by the Government – AF in this case, at this location. And is stuff that is truly EXCESS to the Government. For example, the original intent of this clause was for items like Government owned lawn mowers, and leaf blowers and weed whackers. When Government employees were performing this task – then those items were needed by the Government. But when the Government contracted out this function – those items were NO LONGER needed by the Government, could be provided to a COMMERCIAL CONTRACTOR, on that “AS IS, WHERE IS” basis such that the Government obtained an economic benefit, with very little detriment versus if the Government furnished the property WITH the normal warranties of suitable for use and timely delivery of GFP – and the assumption of the limited risk of loss – under the GP Clause at 52.245-1. So, this Government Property WOULD need to be listed in the contract as GFP, managed as GFP in accordance with the Government Property clause at 52.245-1 and associated DFARS Clauses related to GFP. BUT, and here is the interesting part – if that GFP becomes damaged or destroyed or unserviceable – then: The Government bears no requirement to replace or repair the item(s), The Contractor STILL bears the responsibility to PERFORM the work and The Contractor can go out and acquire whatever they need to perform the contract -- And anything acquired is THE CONTRACTOR’s PROPERTY – as this is a FIXED PRICE SERVICE type contract. Lastly, the contractor needs to effect removal from the site and disposal of this unserviceable property. And yes – even though this concern is in the PREAWARD stage – I would DEFINITELY solicit the assistance of a Government Property Administrator – a GS-1103 – to provide guidance in this area. But, since you are on a base or installation DCMA does not pick up contract administration at these locations (See DCMA Instruction 124). So I hope that there IS a Property Administrator at your location – from my experience -- there may not be. Lastly, the issue of the Financial Improvement Audit Readiness (FIAR) is a whole nothing topic that could take pages to try and address – but I believe has minimal impact on the decision to furnish the GFP. It does from a GOVERNMENT RECORDS perspective – internal to the Government – but less so on Contractors in their “stewardship” role. Hope this helps a little!
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