It is standard industry practice for a contractor to periodically conduct a physical inventory of company assets for the purposes of material management and production control. Contractors normally accomplish physical inventory of material on an annual basis. However, contractors may have various inventory frequencies for different types of property as authorized in FAR 45.508. The University of Washington performs physical inventories annually on property titled to the Government and biannually on state property. Equipment Inventory prepares and submits federally titled inventories in January.

All property inventoried must be signed, recorded, reported, and reconciled with the property records. Upon completion of the inventory, the department reconciles those items where there exists a discrepancy between the actual physical count obtained during the inventory and the "balance on hand" last posted to OASIS or the figures provided from Equipment Inventory. Discrepancies are to be submitted to the Equipment Inventory in writing.

All inventory discrepancies reported by the contractor will be evaluated by the Property Administrator to determine actual losses of governmental property. Reporting loss, damaged, or destroyed (LDD) property to the granting agency is the responsibility of the Equipment Inventory Office in accordance with the information provided by the department where possession of the property lies.