GSA Bulletin FPMR H-36
Utilization and Disposal

TO: Heads of Federal agencies

SUBJECT: Reporting personal property for disposal

1. Purpose. This bulletin is issued to remind agencies of the importance of providing complete and accurate descriptions when reporting personal property for disposal.

2. Expiration date. This bulletin contains information of a continuing nature and will remain in, effect until canceled or superseded.

3. Background. Misdescribed items have caused agencies to question the reliability of excess listings thereby curtailing transfers, Furthermore, the number of complaints being filed by bidders due to misdescriptions of prop­erty in sales offerings has been increasing. For the most part, GSA regional offices must develop descriptions from the agency reporting documents. If the descriptions provided are incomplete or inaccurate, disposal integrity is sacrificed and GSA is subject to receiving claims of misdescription. Processing these claims is costly to the Government.

4. Responsibilities of reporting agencies.

a. It is important that reporting agencies provide complete and accurate property descriptions on Standard Form 120, Report of Excess Personal Property, and Standard Form 126, Report of Personal Property for Sale.

b. All available information of interest to customer agencies or poten­tial bidders should be included for every item of property being described. Physical inspection of property should be made by the reporting agency, whenever possible, to confirm property record descriptions. If there are any questions concerning complete and accurate descriptions of property, the supporting GSA personal property office should be contacted for assistance. Some examples of the types of information (when known) to be reported are listed below:

(1) Name of item (in commercial terms),
(2) Brand name,
(3) Original acquisition cost or estimated value,
4) Quantity,
(5) Year of manufacture,
(6) Serial number,
(7) Stock number,
(8) Manufacturer's part or model number,
(9) Any known modifications,
(10) Voltage,
(11) Capacity,
(12) Accessories,
(13) Units per pack,
(14) Material content,
(15) Dimensions,
(16) Condition code (see par. 5), and
(17) Any known malfunctioning parts or damage, including hidden defects.

c. The following additional information (when known) is to be provided when reporting vehicles for disposal:

(1) Manufacturer (Ford, Chevrolet, Chrysler, etc.),
(2) Model (Fairmont, Hornet, Nova, etc.),
(3) Type (sedan, coupe, station wagon, truck, etc.),
(4) Number of cylinders,
(5) Weight,
(6) Color,
(7) Horsepower,
(8) Additional equipment (A/C, P/S, P/B, stereo, etc.),
(9) Any missing or broken parts,
(10) Whether the vehicle is operable or inoperable,
(11) Any accident damage,
(12) Mileage (complete instructions on reporting mileage are issued under separate cover), and
(13) Any other information that would be of interest to bidders.

d. Misdescriptions may result in unnecessary expenditures by transferee agencies to bear the cost of transportation for the wrong item. If it becomes necessary for GSA to make after sale refunds to purchasers because of misdescriptions, Federal agencies will be required to reimburse GSA if the funds from the sale have been turned over to the agency.

5. Condition codes. The following condition codes should be used when reporting personal property for disposal. A condition code should be provided for each item of property reported.

6. Procedures.

a. Upon receipt of Standard Forms 120 and 126 in the GSA property disposal activity, these forms will be reviewed to determine if all required information is included and complete and adequate descriptions are provided. Inadequate or incomplete reports will be returned to the reporting agency for correction and resubmission.

b. Agencies will be provided copies of excess catalogs and bulletins and sales offerings which list their property. Each line item should be reviewed to verify that the descriptions are accurate and the property is still available. Since the last opportunity to correct any errors is before sale, the GSA sales activity should be notified immediately of any errors or necessary changes on sales offerings so that corrective action can be taken. If necessary, the item can be withdrawn from sale and reoffered at a later date.

7. Agency action. Federal agency heads are requested to provide these property reporting guidelines to all their field offices and activities responsible for preparing reporting documentation.

ROY MARKON
Commissioner
Federal property Resources Service