General Equipment Issues

STATE LAW: Concerning all items that are the property of The University of New Mexico, whether they are tagged with Inventory numbers, or not.

The NM State Law regarding UNM Property applies to any and all items that are purchased by UNM, Department, or any Government Agencies through the UNM purchasing system or account numbers. They are State property, and title remains with UNM. They must be used for and by a UNM person, or entity, and must remain on UNM property or sites. If they are no longer needed by the department, they MUST be transferred with documentation to another UNM Department or to UNM Surplus Property Office for re-distribution, or legal disposal. No Property of UNM, tagged, or not, may be given away, sold, taken home, or used for any personal use. All items to be traded in on other items purchased must be done so with all proper paperwork completed in advance of the trade-in (See TradeIn).

Assembly numbers for multiple purchases to build a single property tagged item worth more than $5000 Total value. Click here.

ONR (Office of Naval Research), the official auditors of UNM equipment, have in general, found one major complaint against us in the past, and that is that we move equipment without following proper procedures. Mostly concerning items moved between UNM and Sandia National Labs, and/or Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories, but also with other Government agencies as well. Please see the proper procedures in the UNM Policy and Procedures manual Policy 7710, "Property Management and Control".

Please note, that the major problem is in not reporting the bringing, or the returning of equipment to Tax and Property Accounting (Plant Fund Accounting, or Property Accounting Department) as items are being transferred.

There is also a problem of not returning items to UNM after an experiment is completed, because everyone feels the equipment is outdated and need not be returned. Chris and Steve are here for the purpose of making this easier on you, the users. Please notify us in writing or by email of any items you receive or return to any outside agencies and we will attempt to take care of all the notifying of others that is required. Thank you.

There is no legal method of moving or disposing of, or of transferring of any equipment, at UNM without at least the documentation passing through the UNM Surplus Property Office prior to disposal, transfer, trade-in, or whatever. Please see Chris or Steve for the proper paperwork and documentation required before moving of or disposing of the equipment.

For Insurance purposes, all items on campus, now have a $5000.00 deductible clause. If an item is stolen from a campus location, destroyed, or otherwise is lost, the department will have to pay the first $5000.00 of the replacement cost. The only exception is for any Fine Arts Pieces, which have a $1000.00 deductible. UNM Insurance does not cover, items off campus or on Check-out forms (See below). For this reason, we should all be a bit more security conscious.

For items no longer needed in the department

If you have an item you no longer have need of, please bring it to Chris or Steve, or request that we come and get it. We will take care of processing it and finding a new user for it. There is no other legal method for disposing of equipment at UNM. Any items which are cannibalized, or are sent to Surplus Property or any other entity, and have now, or ever have had, a property tag assigned to it, must be reported to, and approved by, TPA and the Dean, on a "Request For Adjustment To Inventory Form" before or during disposal of the equipment. Chris and Steve have these forms in electronic format as well as hard copies whenever you should need one. Please return them to either Chris or Steve as soon as you have them filled out and are ready to dispose of or cannibalize any piece of equipment. This also applies to any items traded in to a supplier or manufacturer for a different item.

All items to be taken home for use:

  1. It is against State Law to remove any piece of equipment from the UNM Campus for any reason if;
    1. You are not an Employee of the University
    2. You are a Student of the University and do not have documentation signed by an Employee taking responsibility for the equipment you will have off Campus.
    3. You have not filled out an Equipment Check-Out Form and sent it through proper channels (Available from Steve or Chris) or from Tax and Property Accounting.
      1. If you will be taking an item home or off campus for only a brief period (a month or so) then the form need not be sent to TPA, but will be held in the department until you return the equipment.
      2. All forms should be turned in to Chris so that our department database may be updated with the new location of the item(s) and that they may be sent to the proper parties for signatures and registration.
  2. Includes any item belonging to UNM or P&A, regardless of their tagged or not tagged status, or of their cost.
  3. You are responsible for all items you remove from the Campus. If stolen or lost, you will be liable for the listed acquisition cost of an item in the TPA Inventory list. For example, if you take home a 10 year old 386 PC (you and I would value at maybe $50) and it is listed on the Inventory with an acquisition cost of $4500.00, you will be held accountable for the total cost of $4500.00 to the University in a cash settlement. Please note that this applies whether you have filled out a Check-Out form or not. If you have not filled out a checkout form, you may be held legally responsible for the loss as well as financially responsible, since you did not have permission to remove it from the Campus.

Note: Depreciation of equipment is definitely on its way to UNM, but there is no word as to when, or how, yet. Right now, there is no deprecation of equipment allowed at UNM. (Referring to item # 3 above)