NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants

In recognition of the longstanding need in the biomedical research. Used Equipment When an institution is awarded a government research grant or contract to perform work for which equipment must be obtained, it is a good idea to inquire whether the necessary pieces may be available through the Excess Property program of the particular agency for which the work is being done. Federal agencies that award research grants and contracts to profit-making organizations usually retain title to any scientific equipment purchased with agency funds. When the work is completed, the property reverts to the granting agency, which may pass it along to another contractor or grantee. When the agency has-no need for the equipment, it is reported to the General Services Administration (GSA) as excess property. At regular intervals, GSA publishes a list, distributed to all federal agencies, of excess-property items. Any federal agency may request transfer to it of equipment listed. An agency may take title to property from this list and assign it to grantees or contractors to use it in federally sponsored research, usually at a cost to cover only the transportation to the research site. Educational institutions may acquire excess property under a variety of federal programs, the Higher Education Act, Vocation Education Act, and others. After a specified time, items not taken over by another federal agency are declared to be surplus property and made available free of charge to eligible recipients. State and local governments, educational institutions, and most nonprofit organizations are eligible to receive surplus property. Most surplus property goes to state governments, which then redistribute it to their state-supported institutions. States have what are known as state agents for surplus property, who keep abreast of available used equipment and acquire whatever is useful for institutions in their states. The National Science Foundation retains title to a great deal of property because it offers grants to profit-making organizations. As a result, it can provide grantees with used instruments fairly often. The NSF also accumulates some pieces as excess property, which are reported to GSA and are published on the excess-property list. In 1986, grantees acquired more than $18 million in excess scientific equipment through NSF’s Grantee Excess Property Program. The National Institutes of Health, the largest funder of biomedical research, provides grants and contracts mostly to nonprofit organizations, which are usually given title to equipment acquired in connection with the projects. Therefore, NIH has very little used equipment returned by grantees and contractors. But NIH does have a large number of intramural research laboratories from which excess property may be derived. Apparatus declared excess from these intramural labs may be given to NIH grantees or contractors, or may be reported to GSA and appear on the excess-property list. GSA is a central clearinghouse of the government for all excess and surplus property including, in addition to scientific instruments, office machines, automobiles and trucks, and other general-use equipment. Upcoming sales of government property are announced in the Commerce Business Daily, published by the Department of Commerce every weekday. It stands to reason that the chances of getting a recent model or a sophisticated state-of-the-art scientific instrument through the surplus-property distribution chain are very slim, but there is a good chance of finding an older piece of equipment suitable, perhaps, for use in teaching. Much of the property donated by GSA goes to educational institutions through the responsible state agent. There is also a good chance of finding a discarded instrument or machine with good spare parts which otherwise may be expensive or even unobtainable in the marketplace. Instruments obtained as surplus property are frequently cannibalized by scientists, and the parts used in assembling unique apparatus that cannot be purchased.

NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants

The Scientist Staff

Used Equipment

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