Equipment Fabrication

• Design Costs - including development/procurement of drawings and schematics, development of component specifications and development/production of operating documents and flow charts:
  • 01-XX Salaries and 07-XX Benefits (including graduate student tuition, if applicable - not common)
  • 03-XX Recharge services and supplies internal to the University (i.e. Facilities services Fabrication Shop charges such as welding/constructing a framework to house electronic components)
  • 03-XX Services external to the University (Service contracts)
  • 05-XX Supplies and Materials
  • 19-10 Prorated Direct Costs (For APL use only)

• Construction Costs - if it meets the fabrication criteria and is to be used for its designed purpose only or if it does not meet the fabrication criteria, but contributes directly to the design of another item that does meet the fabrication criteria:
  

  Note:  Adding new functionality involves something other than expanding on an existing functionality.

  • Same costs as those listed above in "Design Costs"
  • 05-40 Equipment
    

    Note:  If $5,000 or more, for equipment to be purchased outside of the 06-XX object code categories, a note must accompany the purchase request that the item is being acquired on a fabrication budget.  Please add "Fabrication" or "FABR" to the order's Comments so that Equipment Inventory can properly approve the purchase.

  • 05-40 or 03-64 Maintenance contract (first year only) on a sub-component (if in place at the time the asset is initially put into use)
    

    Note:  If a maintenance contract is purchased along with the equipment, it may be coded as equipment.  If purchased alone, it should be coded as 03-64.

  • 05-45 Software
    

    Note:  If $5,000 or more, for equipment to be purchased outside of the 06-XX object code categories, a note must accompany the purchase request that the item is being acquired on a fabrication budget.  Please add "Fabrication" or "FABR" to the order's 'Comments' so that Equipment Inventory can properly approve the purchase.

    • If sole use is for the fabricated item, or
    • If it is a critical part of the equipment (i.e. Equipment wouldn't function without it, and its development is performed only because it is directly associated with the equipment)

• Modification Costs of Existing Equipment (if adding new functionality):
• Same costs as those listed above in "Construction Costs"
• Testing Costs (to confirm proper assembly):
  

  Note: As long as the travel is not to test the completed product, it is most likely allowable.

  • Same costs as those listed above in "Construction Costs"
  • 04-XX Travel (if travel supports both testing and research, the travel costs should be prorated between the two types of effort)
• Modification Costs of Fabricated Equipment (only if prior to initial use or deployment for research):
  • Same costs as those listed above in "Design Costs"

• Installation Costs (if necessary to make sure the fabricated equipment is functioning properly prior to initial use and if directly related to the installation)
  • Same costs as those listed above in "Design Costs"
  • 04-XX Travel (if travel supports both testing and research, the travel costs should be prorated between the two types of effort)

• Cannibalized parts (parts removed from an existing asset that has already been recorded, capitalized, and fully depreciated)
• Maintenance contracts (other than first year or if not in place at the time the asset is initially put into use)
• Modification Costs of Existing Equipment (if not adding new functionality)
• Modification Costs of Fabricated Equipment (if after initial use or deployment for research)
• Repair and Maintenance
• Replacement parts
• Replacement supplies
• Research and Development (R&D)
  

  Note:  If the fabricated item has not been built before and therefore requires significant testing and redesign/modification before an actual working item is obtained, the costs up to the point that there is a proven design are likely R&D and should not be included in the cost of the fabrication.  The cost of building the original fabricated asset should not be significantly different than the cost of building subsequent assets.

• Spare parts
• Supplies (that do not become an actual part of the item, e.g. books, tools, paper towels, test equipment, etc.)
• Testing (if data gathered is to be used in research)
• Travel (if it just supports research or to discuss design issues)

• Determines need to fabricate equipment.
• Includes fabrication in proposal with separate budget.  Typically, there will be one budget number established for the fabrication and a second budget number for non-fabrication.
  

  Note:  All new fabrications need to be processed on a fabrication sub-budget. Any current fabrications will be grandfathered in to the old process until their budget is up for renewal.  At the time of renewal, a fabrication sub-budget will need to be established and fabrications process on that sub-budget.  

• If fabrication is not in proposal, requests sponsor approval, if required.
• Notifies Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA) to establish a fabrication sub-budget (with budget type and class of 05-49) to accumulate costs associated with the fabrication.
• As soon as fabrication work begins, works with departmental inventory contact to:
  • Obtain an equipment tag for the item.  The tag number is needed for the next steps though it may not be affixed to the equipment at this time.  The tag should be placed on the fabricated equipment item as soon as it is feasible.
  • Enter the asset information into OASIS as a "T" status asset or submit information to Equipment Inventory on a UW Equipment Information Form.  The item should be treated the same as a newly purchased piece of equipment.   Please see this page for details on the tagging process. The Requisition Number should be '0000000'. The Acquisition Method should be 'FB' for Fabrication.

• Starts building equipment.
• JV's should be processed at least annually (recommended quarterly) unless quarterly or annual JV costs are less than $5,000 (per piece of equipment) as it is not cost effecective for either the department or EIO to process these smaller JVs more often.  These smaller JVs should be processed once per biennium and at the end of the budget period even if the total is under $5,000.  Final fabrication JV requests should be processed no later than 30-60 days past a budget's expiration date.
  • Sends fabrication JV request to transfer allowable costs to the asset and supporting BARs or MyFinancial.desktop  screen prints to Equipment Inventory at eio@uw.edu.edu.  Please use the fabrication JV request form or similar form of supporting spreadsheet that totals equipment related expenditures by object code and includes the same information requested on the fabrication JV request form. A separate fabrication JV request form must be used for each budget you are transferring expenditures for.
  • Works with departmental inventory contact to update the Date Received field in OASIS, if the original estimate has changed.

Note:  A sub-budget for fabricated equipment does not eliminate the need to submit an annual/quarterly fabrication JV request to Equipment Inventory to move the costs over to the appropriate equipment object code.

Note:  For non-fabrication budgets that incur Facilities & Administrative (F&A) Costs, Grant and Contract Accounting recommends departments process fabrication JV requests quarterly.  This helps minimize excessive cash draw downs on federal awards and also benefits the department by providing a more accurate account of their award expenditures and budget balances.  Additionally, it is incredibly important the final fabrication JV requests be submitted no later than 30-60 days past a budget's expiration date.  Expenditures that are not fabricated at the end of the award are subject to F&A.  To ensure correct application of F&A rates and prevent over/under charging of F&A due to the timing of the fabrication JV, recommended timeframes should be strictly adhered to.

• Upon notification from department to establish a fabrication sub-budget (with budget type and class of 05-49), verifies equipment ownership code to make sure equipment is properly coded (University, Federal, or Agency owned) and establishes sub-budget.  The equipment title of the fabrication sub-budget should be the same as the prime/parent budget.
• Upon receipt of approved fabrication JV request and JV from Equipment Inventory, submits the JV for processing. 

• Upon initial fabrication asset set up in OASIS, reviews the entry for complete information.
• Upon receipt of annual fabrication JV request from department, reviews it to ensure that an asset is correctly established in OASIS.
• If asset is:
  • Correctly established, approves the fabrication JV request, creates JV, and forwards both JV request and JV to GCA's CATS team for processing.
  • Incorrectly established, works with department to get asset correctly established, then approves the fabrication JV request, creates JV, and forwards both JV request and JV to GCA's CATS team for processing.

Note:  The JV debits the appropriate equipment object code (06-11, or 06-91) and credits the cost transfer object code 21-50 instead of the original cost category.  This results in an F&A cost reduction while retaining the identity of the original transactions.

• After JV processes:
  • Adds the new 06-XX expenditures to OASIS;
  • Adjusts the total cost of the fabrication asset; and
  • Approves the asset (if 1st JV).