(a) General policy. Title to tangible property that a recipient acquires under an award (whether by purchase, construction or fabrication, development, or otherwise), and title to intangible property that a recipient acquires other than by developing or producing it under an award, generally vests in the recipient subject to the conditions in PROP Articles II-IV and Section D of PROP Article VI, which protect the Federal interest in the property.
(b) Exceptions to the general policy when there is statutory authority—(1) Exempt property in general. If a DoD Component has statutory authority to do so, it may vest title in recipients to property acquired under awards either unconditionally or subject to fewer conditions than those in PROP Articles II-IV and VI. This subpart refers to acquired property for which a DoD Component has such statutory authority—and elects to use it—as “exempt property.”
(2) Research awards. (i) Under 31 U.S.C. 6306, a DoD Component may vest title to tangible personal property (i.e., equipment and supplies) in a nonprofit institution of higher education or nonprofit organization whose primary purpose is conducting scientific research—without further obligation to the Federal Government or subject to conditions the DoD Component deems appropriate—if the property is bought with amounts provided under a grant or cooperative agreement for basic or applied research.
(ii) As a matter of policy, to enhance the university infrastructure for future performance of defense research and research-related education and training, DoD Components must make maximum use of the authority of 31 U.S.C. 6306 to vest title to equipment in nonprofit institutions of higher education subject to only the following three conditions:
(A) The recipient uses the equipment for the authorized purposes of the project or program until the property is no longer needed for those purposes.
(B) The recipient manages the equipment as provided in PROP Article II of the general terms and conditions (see Subpart B of this part). This includes maintaining property records that include the percentage of Federal participation in the costs of the project or program under which the recipient acquired the exempt property, so that the recipient may deduct the Federal share if it wishes to use the property in future contributions for cost sharing or matching purposes on Federal awards.
(C) The DoD Component reserves the right to transfer title to the equipment to another recipient entity if the Principal Investigator relocates his or her research program to that entity.
(c) Award terms and conditions—(1) General. Unless a DoD Component has a statute authorizing it to identify acquired property as exempt property, as described in paragraph (b) of this section, it must use the wording appendix A to this part provides for Section A of PROP Article I.
(2) Exceptions. (i) If a DoD Component has statutory authority such as described in paragraph (b) of this section, and elects to use that authority for awards subject to its general terms and conditions, it must insert wording in paragraph A.2 of PROP Article I to:
(A) Identify the type or types of property it is exempting from the standard requirements for title vesting, use, and disposition contained in PROP Articles II through IV and VI and reporting requirements contained in REP Article III of the general terms and conditions.
(B) If it is exempting the property from some, but not all, of the standard requirements, identify the requirements to which the exempt property will be subject.
(ii) Paragraph A.2 of PROP Article I in general terms and conditions used for research awards to institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations whose primary purpose is conducting scientific research generally should provide for vesting of title to acquired equipment and supplies in those types of entities when they are conducting basic or applied research subject only to the three conditions described in paragraph (b)(2)(ii) of this section.
