Office of
Procurement Services

Institutional Purchasing Policies

Policies » Disposal and Redistribution of University Property

Disposal and Redistribution of University Property

• SOURCE: University Director of Purchasing
• POLICY NO: P - 14.0
• DATE ISSUED: February 18, 1992
• DATE REVISED: October 15, 1995; October 23, 1997; March 1, 2000; October 24, 2002; July 19, 2004, August 11, 2005, April 2009 (Updated information removal instructions; departmental responsibilities)

Rationale

To provide a mechanism to relieve or redistribute the university of surplus or unusable assets.

The objectives of this Policy are:

1. To assure that the university receives the greatest possible return for its property;
2. To assure that free and open competition shall exist for all sales if IU property;
3. To assure that the decision to sell property, and the method of disposal shall not be the responsibility of a single person; and
4. To assure that surplus property is used wherever there is a need within the IU community.

Policy

When an item no longer is wanted by a user department, the campus purchasing department or the appropriate property designee of the campus, will attempt to redistribute the item within the university, based on equitable criteria and utilizing the appropriate mechanisms. Should there be no need for the item within the university, then it may be sold or traded outside of the university. Unusable property or parts that can be sold for junk will be accumulated and sold by the campus purchasing department or through IU Surplus Stores. Usable property which cannot be relocated with a university department will be disposed of in accordance with the following procedures.

Departmental Responsibility:

Goods may be moved and relocated within the IU system without campus purchasing department involvement. However, the department relocating or transferring this equipment must assure compliance with the information removal requirements prior to transfer or sale to another IU department. Capital Asset Management should be apprised of the relocation of any capital equipment from one department to another.

Action:

1. Any department may list the sale or availability of items, or solicit other IU departments for goods through the “Resource Redistribution Server”
2. Departments may contact IU Surplus Stores at IUB or IUPUI to determine if surplus can be sold through their facility. If the property is not considered viable merchandise for sale, and the property is too large or too numerous to be disposed of in your normal Building Services process, or is defined as hazardous material, the Operations Center of the Physical Plant should be contacted to dispose of the property.
3. IU property may not be given or donated to any student, staff, faculty or individual or entity within or outside of the Indiana University system without prior approval from the Assistant Vice President of Purchasing.
4. Documents: Before disposal or transfer of property used for the storage of information, all documents or holdings must be removed from the storage equipment. You may not dispose of documents by leaving papers, film, photos, microfilm, facsimiles, copies or any other type of institutional information in the property used for storage.
5. Computing Technology and Electronic Storage Devices: Regardless of how computing equipment is disposed of, all IU personnel are liable for institutional information contained on any storage device. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the department and their personnel to see that all information residing on any type of storage device is removed from the computing technology prior to the equipment leaving their possession. The central IT organization on campuses other than IUPUI and IU Bloomington are responsible for assuring compliance with this Policy for all computer equipment on those respective campuses.

Before a department may relinquish computing equipment to another entity, and such equipment is, or contains a storage device, all information must be removed from the storage device(s). Minimally, information removal shall be achieved by using a product or products that have erase or wiping capabilities that meet or exceed the guidance provided by the IU Information Security Office. The actual method or process for removing institutional information from storage devices over and above that of meeting the IU Information Security Office guidance for removal of information shall be at the discretion of the individual campus. Some campuses may require more stringent regulations with regard to the removal of institutional information before property may be relinquished.

References: http://itso.iu.edu/Securely_Removing_Information

Purchasing Department Responsibility:

The sale of any IU property to a non-IU entity must be managed under the agency of the Purchasing Department.

Action:

The Purchasing Department may choose to:

1. Sell items through the IU Surplus Stores.
2. Advertise for public auction at a time and place specified by the Purchasing Department.
3. Consign to a public auction house for sale.
4. Sell by invitational bid, widely circulated in the trade or public advertisement where there is a potential market for the property.
5. Computing equipment may only be sold or transferred from the university campus with the approval and involvement of the Purchasing department of that campus, and then only by the current, approved methods for disposal of property.
6. Under the authority of the campus purchasing department or the appropriate property designee of the campus, surplus equipment may be released to not-for-profit organizations. The following conditions should be documented before releasing any assets:
   1. The property has no utility to the institution
   2. No appreciable market value for resale

Compensation may be shared or given to the department releasing the property if they have adhered to the guidelines of policies and procedures governing the disposal of property.

Definitions

• Property – Is defined as anything acquired through an institutional process including gifting. Unless the specific source of acquisition states otherwise, everything acquired through an institutional process becomes IU property and by definition is State property.
• Documents – : Any institutional information or information in the form of papers, film, photos, microfilm, facsimiles, copies or other non-electronic forms of retained information.
• Information – The word “information” is used to refer generally to all tangible documents and data – in both electronic and other format.

Procedure Reference:

• IUB Hard Drive Destruction Procedures
• IUPUI Surplus Hard Drive Shredding Program

Cross Reference

• P-14.1 Sale of Computer Equipment
• University Information Security Office – http://itso.iu.edu/Securely_Removing_Data
• University Information Policy Office – http://informationpolicy.iu.edu/data/

Responsible Organization

• University Purchasing Department

Last Reviewed: April 22, 2009 (Updated Policy)