Flipi

Quartermaster Commentary

Durable Property Accountability

     Recently, the Army G4 (Logistics) published a message to change the property accountability threshold from $2,500 to $5,000. The major point in the message was that property book officers can now drop formal accounting of some equipment costing less than $5,000 and classify the equipment as durable property. This change aligned the Army with the other military services and also complied with Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 5000.64 dated 13 Aug 02. NOTE: Equipment that must stay on the property book is listed in paragraph 2-5 in AR 710-2 (Supply Policy Below the National Level).

     As action officer for the Army G4 message, I have received hundreds of telephone calls asking for clarification. Most questions are related to information technology (IT) equipment (computers) costing less than $5,000 and to the perceived weaknesses in Army accountability processes. Most callers assumed that if computers were no longer on the property book, they would come up "missing." I do not believe this is true unless someone purposely steals the computers, which they would do even if the computers are on the property book. I would like to explain my reasoning.

     I will begin with the definition of durable property. AR 735-5 (Policies and Procedures for Property Accountability) states that durable property is "property that is not consumed in use, does not require property book accountability, but because of its unique characteristics requires control when issued to the user." That definition does not make clear which items are "durable." I will give hand tools as an example.

     The one durable item familiar to most Soldiers is a hand tool. Hand tools are considered durable because they are not used up by Soldier use, as are cleaning supplies, for example. Hand tools are not on the property book. They do require a signature when issued, whether from the tool room or the supply room. When hand tools...