Asset management systems

Federal agencies are required by 40 USC 524 to keep good track of all the personal property they own. This means having proper inventory controls, accountability systems, and regularly checking personal property to find anything the agency doesn’t need anymore (excess property).

Agencies do this using an Asset Management System.

Important: Don’t confuse an AMS with a Property System of Record or an Accountable System of Record. An agency must choose and use a PSR/ASR that meets its internal financial control needs, as required by OMB Circular A-123,  Management’s Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control [PDF].

An AMS is the overall framework of connected parts within an agency that sets the goals, policies, and processes for managing its personal property. These are usually documented in the following ways:

• Asset management goals – Usually found in the agency’s main Business Plan.
• Asset management policy – Rules set by the government, the agency, or industry-recognized Voluntary Consensus Standards (see FMR Bulletin B-18, Procedures Covering the Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards in Personal Property Management, for using these standards).
• Strategic Asset Management Plan, or SAMP - A document that explains how the agency’s general goals will be turned into property management goals, how the property management plans will be created, and the role the AMS plays in reaching those goals.
• Asset Management Plans - Detailed documents that specify the actions, resources, and timelines needed for a single item of personal property, or a group of personal property, to meet the agency’s overall property management goals. These plans are based on the SAMP.

A complete AMS should:

• Meet the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Federal Financial Management, including OMB Circular A-127, Financial Management Systems [PDF].  
• Continuously collect data to support the agency’s effort to constantly improve, making sure that “lessons learned” are included in the SAMP. Agencies can look at the industry standard ISO 55000 Asset Management Standards for guidance.
• Help the agency analyze how well its personal property is performing, including its useful life, repair costs, and downtime. This helps measure how effectively the personal  property supports the agency’s mission and the SAMP, and identifies anything that is excess.
• Cover the entire agency (enterprise-wide) as much as possible to make it easier to reuse (excess), transfer, report, and manage personal property across different parts of the agency.
• Clearly identify the most important information about each piece of personal property. Agencies can look at the industry standards ASTM E2812,  “Standard Practice for Uniform Data Management in Asset Management Records Systems,” and ASTM E2604,  “Standard Practice for Data Characteristics of Equipment Asset Record” for guidance on data management and personal property record characteristics.