Equipment, Supplies and Travel

Equipment and Supplies

All Equipment and Supply purchases must be clearly and directly in support of funder-approved grant activities. When making such purchases, project directors should always maintain a written record in their official project files to justify that every dollar spent is reasonable and necessary, including a brief explanation of how the item purchased is used in relation to project activities/outcomes.

Equipment purchases, like most expenses in a grant project, should be specified in your approved grant proposal. Each approved equipment item will be allocated to a specific general ledger (GL) code in your grant budget, and the assigned GL will vary depending upon the cost of the item. Also, some equipment must be tagged and inventoried under property control - visit the Property Control website for more information. All equipment purchased with grant funds must follow the established College and funder procurement policies and procedures, including requirements for bids, quotes and property control. A detailed Purchasing Manual for Seminole State College is available on the Purchasing Department website.

In accordance with 2 CFR 200.313(c)(2) of the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, for the year in which the equipment is purchased, the Project Director works closely with the property custodian to oversee the usage of the property, to ensure that the proper protocol is applied to the current award period for which the grant has purchased equipment. Specifically, instructional equipment is secured by the property custodian who has the primary responsibility to use the equipment for instructional purposes for the grant program for which the item was purchased. Should the use of the equipment be requested by a non-grant program, this request will follow the order of precedent defined by the regulation:

• Equipment will be made available for use on other projects or programs currently or previously supported by the Federal Government, provided that such use will not interfere with the work on the projects or program for which it was originally acquired;
• First preference for other use must be given to other programs or projects supported by the Federal Awarding Agency that financed the equipment, and second preference must be given to programs or projects under Federal awards from other Federal awarding agencies;
• Use for non-Federally-funded programs or projects is also permissible. User fees should be considered if appropriate.

The custodian will approve such a request, providing there is no conflict for the instructional use required by the participants of the grant. If the custodian is not the Project Director, the custodian will notify the Project Director in writing of the approval. The custodian will remain responsible for the use and condition of the equipment during this period. 

Any item not meeting the funder or College definition of Equipment is typically classified as Supplies.

If you have any question about whether an Equipment or Supply purchase is allowable, first, call William Osborne in the Grants Department at ext. 2631. He can help you understand the basis for making such decisions. In addition to the support provided by the Grants Department, the College provides a variety of internal individual and small group grants management training programs that are available to project managers and staff.

Travel

Your approved proposal will detail who is authorized to travel under your grant, and for what purpose. As with all grant expenditures, all travel made with grant funds must be detailed and justified by project directors in their official project files; this justification should include the specific benefit of each trip in terms of the purpose of the grant project. This is especially important for grants that originate at the federal level based on new grant compliance regulations that took effect on Dec. 26, 2014. The new regulations require that grantees document that all travel is necessary.

All grant travel is subject to funder and College travel policies and procedures. Detailed information regarding travel procedures can be found in the Seminole State Travel Manual. In addition, all travel forms and documents are available on the Office of Finance and Budget travel Web page.