Department of Natural Resources Policy -
Equipment Inventory
Policy Number: 94:10
Effective Date: May 1, 1994 (Reviewed: May 2003)
See signed policy - Adobe Acrobat file
I. Purpose
To establish procedures to insure that all capital equipment is placed on inventory, tagged and monitored for safekeeping.II. Scope
This policy applies to all units within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).III. Policy
Capital equipment is any new or replacement equipment item or furnishing having a probable useful life in excess of one year and a procurement cost of five hundred [$500] dollars or more per unit, such as furniture, machinery, instruments, and other apparatus. This includes all motor vehicles regardless of cost. It also includes sensitive items, other than firearms and other law enforcement weapons, having a procurement cost of two hundred fifty [$250] dollars or more and a useful life of one year or more. Sensitive items are capital or non-capital equipment items such as any computer and the like that are prone to theft. Equipment items that are too large for concealment such as chain saws, tools, camera equipment, radios or GPS units and the like, must be classified as sensitive items if there is a history of loss or theft within a particular unit. Firearms and other law enforcement weapons, regardless of cost, are considered sensitive capital equipment.IV. Procedure
The following are procedures for maintaining inventory.
- Property Officer
Each unit will designate an individual to serve as their Property Officer. All capital equipment purchased should be reported on a DNR 24 (Award and Information Form) to the appropriate unit Property Officer. Upon receipt of the DNR 24, the unit Property Officer will assign a property tag, forward the property tag to the appropriate location and place the item on inventory. Fiscal and Supportive Services will provide each unit’s Property Officer, on a monthly basis, a “Report of Equipment Expenditures” generated by the Equipment Inventory System. Next to expenditures, the report should be noted that the item was picked up on equipment inventory by indicating the DNR number. An explanation should be placed next to any expenditure that was not capitalized, indicating why the expenditure did not represent an addition to the Equipment Inventory System. In addition, any items added to the Inventory System that were not on the “Report of Equipment Expenditures” should be returned to Supportive Services within thirty [30] days of receipt of the report.
- Equipment Identification:
Department of Natural Resources, pre-numbered tags shall be placed on all equipment. In situations where a tag cannot or it is not practical to affix to an equipment item, the inventory number from the tag and the word’s “Property of the State of Maryland” should be engraved or indelibly marked on the item. The tag or marking shall be conspicuously located on the item so as to be readily visible and applied in a neat manner.
- Monitoring of Equipment
A complete physical inventory must be taken at least once a year of capital equipment designated on the Equipment Inventory System as Sensitive. A complete physical inventory must be taken at least once every three years of non-sensitive items. It is not necessary that the physical inventory be taken in its entirety on a given date. Periodic checks may be made throughout the period between inventory cycles; however, by the end of each cycle, all items shall have been physically checked.
- Reporting of Equipment
All equipment acquisitions, transfers and requests for disposal must be reported to the unit’s Property Officer.
Posted February 12, 2004