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AUTHORITY TO LEASE TRAILER HOUSES


baierle

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I need a nudge in the right direction:

As a new contract specialist here at Interior, I need to ensure that I have the legal authority to continue contracting for trailer house leases to house government employees of the Interior.

The fact the client has the funds does little to ease me (they have never seen the Redbook--what's that???), and GSA authority does not appear to apply to trailer houses . I am not 100% that my client can legally fund this type of procurement. I am, however, 100% certain the client does not care about my legal authority.

Any info anyone can provide to help me arm myself will be greatly appreciated....

PS: I did not even mention the desired sole source nature of such procurement (folks are housed in the trailers!!!)

I LOVE THIS JOB

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I don't know whay you can't. There may be something I'm not aware of though. I just did a quick FedBizOpps search and found several agencies doing procurement for leased trailers including Energy, Agriculture, Navy, and Defense Commissary.

How is leasing trailer space for hosuing any different that hotel or long term apartment rental?

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I don't know whay you can't. There may be something I'm not aware of though. I just did a quick FedBizOpps search and found several agencies doing procurement for leased trailers including Energy, Agriculture, Navy, and Defense Commissary.

How is leasing trailer space for hosuing any different that hotel or long term apartment rental?

I can't describe how leasing trailer space is any different than hotel or long term apartment rental.

I can only inquire when my gut does not feel right....as in this case. These are leased and placed on Government property vice personal property. That's about the only difference. What is going on here does not seem to be in the best interest of the taxpayers at all. It's expedient for my fellow Government workers who cannot manage their housing program, nor obtain adequate funds for permanent housing; and who have no authority to procure trailers and such.....

...but not in the best interest of the taxpayers... We could have OWNED these trailers years ago. Apparently, there is not authority to procure trailer housing, so we have leased them. Year after year without any ownership....

-eb

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Guest carl r culham

Just some thoughts --

So have you explored the fact that Interior does not have authority to buy the trailers? Is this fact is true and what is the reference? It seems the issue is the lease versus buy and not the fact of using the trailers for housing.

If the matter is the difference of building a stick structure and buying the trailer as relates to one being real property and the other being personal property I am aware where state/local jurisdictions allow for a manufactured home to be considered real property for property tax purposes. In doing a structure is not licensed as a vehicle which used to be the norm but is on the tax roles as structure. Insurance companies then recognize the structure as other than a vehicle as well. To allow for such a conversion (lack of better term on my part) the manufactured home must be put on a permanent foundation along with some other structural effort. I note all this in that exploring state/local allowances may assist in addressing the real/personal property issue if that is the hang up.

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I dont know about Interior, but DOD and each service has rules and restrictions about Relocatable buildings and I believe that it it discussed in the Redbook. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the regulations. Army's regs are contained in AR 420-1. Relocatables are classified as personal property to the bet of my recollection.

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Guest carl r culham

Got to love the acquisition and facilities management policies and regulations! Can not buy a trailer to house a Federal employee on official business but the Government will buy one to house them if they are personally a victim of a hurricane!

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Bairle,

You need to seek the advice of your agency's fiscal/contracts attorney.

Whether or not the agency can use the funds for a particular purpose depends on the language of the appropriation from which the funds come, as well as on whether the agency has express statutory authority to house its employees and if so, under what circumstances. Additionally, are there any agency specific regulations on the subject (as Joel pointed out, the Army, for example, has a regulatory scheme that describes the circumstances under which such leases can occur, including various levels of approving authorities, depending on the length of the lease).

Also, you need to consider whether or not your proposed lease is an operating lease or a capital lease - budget authority required differs - see OMB Circular A-11, Appendix B, for budgetary treatment of leases.

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