For the official University policy on Disposals, refer to the University of California 's Business and Finance Bulletin, Disposal of Excess Material and Transfer of Federally-Funded University-Owned Material BUS-38(link is external).
When the excess material is of no immediate useful value to the University, disposal is administered through Excess and Surplus.
Excess material may be disposed of in one of the following ways, whichever is considered to bring the highest net return or benefit to the University:
- Trade-in on new equipment purchases.
- Public sale to the highest bidder, via the Excess & Surplus unit of Property Management.
- Sale on a "first come, first served" basis if a fair market value has been established by the Property Manager and the availability and the price of the item(s) are made known to the general public through newspaper advertising and /or other announcements.
- Private sale to an individual when the cost and effort involved in arranging for a sale by methods 1, 2 or 3 would be disproportionate to the return expected, and the Property Manager has determined that the sale price is reasonable.
- Donation of excess material by the Director of Business Services to an organization outside of the University is permitted on a very LIMITED basis if:
- the market value of the excess material is below the cost required for handling, record keeping, storage and the other costs associated with trade or sale; and
- specific approval has been received from General Counsel.
The Director of Business Services, only, may approve donations of specific categories to educational institutions, other governmental bodies or non-profit organizations.
- Excess material, available at a University of California campus or laboratory, with an individual or per lot value estimated to be greater than $10,000, must be made available for purchase to other University of California locations, before it is placed for public sale, (automotive equipment excluded).
- Material with a current value less than $10,000 may still be offered to other campuses and laboratories, provided that costs of handling and transportation are not excessive in relation to the value of the material.
For more information see University Donation Policy.
Before sending any items that may store information, Departments should Submit an IT Ticket(link is external) to have the items cleared before sending them to Salvage.
Found & Unclaimed Property
General campus authority to dispose of surplus University property is delegated to the Property Manager according to University of California systemwide policy for disposal of excess property and BUS-38(link is external).
In regard to found and unclaimed property, the Property Manager offers it for sale at auction to the highest bidder after it has been held unclaimed for three months at the University of California Police Department(link is external)
