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Policy and Procedure ManualChapter 350, Supplies and Equipment Responsible Department: Office of Research This section presents policy regarding the shared use of instructional and research scientific equipment. The purpose of the policy is to encourage and facilitate the efficient and equitable use of scientific equipment. A. Available for shared use--equipment that is available, upon request, to the collective secondary users at least 20% of normal working hours and is not isolated by reason of location or restricted access. B. Primary user--the person, laboratory, group, or department that has primary responsibility for housing and maintaining an item of shared equipment. C. Secondary user--the person, laboratory, group, or department that uses the equipment but does not have responsibility for housing or maintaining it. A. General It is University policy that maximum use of existing equipment shall be made before additional equipment is acquired. Every effort shall be made by principal investigators, research groups, laboratories, and departments to make equipment available for shared use. (Equipment rented, on loan, or acquired with extramural funds may require approval of the loaning entity or sponsoring agency prior to sharing.) B. List of high-value equipment 1. The Equipment Inventory Department maintains a list of all high-value equipment (equipment with an acquisition value of $10,000 or more). This list is made available for screening purposes prior to the acquisition of new high-value equipment (see Section 350-24). 2. It is the responsibility of the department head and individual principal investigator to screen the high-value equipment list for the existence of like equipment and, if found, to assess the potential of its shared use prior to ordering new high-value equipment. C. Services of the Facility for Advanced Instrumentation (FAI) FAI is a service unit organized to facilitate the shared use of high-value scientific equipment. FAI provides the following services: 1. Serves as a recharge center and scheduling agent for shared scientific equipment located in primary user departments. 2. Assists groups who wish to develop plans for the cooperative purchase of major instruments. 3. Assists with the training of students and research workers in the use of shared scientific equipment. 4. Administers the funding of repairs due to catastrophic failure of eligible instruments (see Section 350-96). D. Recovery of expenses Unless a service activity has been established as explained in Section 340-10 of this manual, primary users may not directly make intra- or interdepartmental recharges (or expense transfers) to secondary users for use of equipment. Recovery of operational expenses resulting from equipment sharing may be made in the following ways: 1. Direct payment of specific expenses Secondary users may make direct payment of specific repair bills and supply purchases. 2. Recharge through FAI Upon request of the primary user, FAI will recharge secondary users for equipment use. a. FAI recharges the secondary users monthly to recover the primary user costs and FAI administrative costs. Recharge rates are approved by the Vice Chancellor--Research upon advice of the Professional Staff Rate & Service Activities Advisory Group (see Section 340-15). b. The primary user transfers to the FAI expenditure account the portion of actual costs charged to its expenditure account for equipment operation and maintenance related to secondary users. (Refer to Section 330-63 for the cost transfer procedure and forms.) c. The primary user shall keep fiscal year records of the use of the equipment, which shall be made available on request to the Vice Chancellor--Research or the Director of FAI. The records shall include the names and affiliations of all primary and secondary users; date and time of use; and a measure of amount of use, such as film count, running time, or recharge revenue. In order to qualify for funding for major repairs of scientific research equipment as cited in Section 350-96, these records must additionally verify at least 10% use by secondary users during normal working hours. 3. Funding of repairs due to catastrophic failure Special funding is available to protect departments against the full cost of repair or replacement due to unanticipated failure of eligible instruments. Refer to Section 350-96 for eligibility criteria and procedures. E. Assignment of time Normal time periods for use of equipment by secondary users are between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., weekdays. Additional use may be scheduled on evenings and weekends when security arrangements acceptable to the primary user have been made. FAI will assist in scheduling available time upon request. F. Responsibilities of secondary users 1. Secondary users are responsible for acquiring sufficient training and experience to use the shared equipment. The primary user may require operation of the equipment by the primary user's trained personnel. The primary user may require assurance or demonstration of the secondary user's qualifications before use of the equipment is approved. 2. Secondary users shall reimburse the primary user for repair of damage incurred by negligence of the secondary user. 3. Secondary users shall furnish their own consumable supplies when requested. 4. Secondary users shall be responsible for preparing their own specimens and should prepare specimens in their own laboratories. For further information regarding the shared use of scientific equipment, contact the Director of FAI (752-0284). V. References and Related Policy A. Office of the President: Acquisition and Use of Electron Microscopes and Other Expensive Equipment, 7/24/58. B. Office of the President: Screening for Equipment Availability, 5/23/77. C. Section 340-10, Establishment of Service Activities. D. Section 340-15, Rates. E. Section 350-24, Equipment Screening and Sharing. F. Section 350-96, Funding for Major Repairs of High-Value Scientific Equipment. Copyright © 2006 The Regents of the
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