How to Handle Fabrications of Inventorial Equipment

Fabricated equipment (a "fab") is defined as a specialized piece of equipment that is constructed in-house by University personnel. Funding sources may include awards (sponsored projects) and/or campus funds (general projects).

Fabricated equipment is non-expendable, tangible personal property that:

1.  has been physically constructed by a University activity
2.  has a total acquisition cost of $5,000 or more
3.  has a normal life expectancy of more than one year
4.  is expected to be used by the University upon completion

Consult the UC Business and Finance Bulletin BFB-BUS-29, pages 2 and 25, for more detailed information about fabrications. For information on accounting for fabrications, see the UC Accounting Manual, AM-P-415-32.

Create a Project and Task for the fabrication in OFC PPM through PADUA. If you have questions, depending on funding source, work with Sponsored Projects Finance (SPF) for Awards or Internal Controls & Accounting (ICA) - Capital Projects team for non sponsored funding.

•   To Create New Fabrication Project
  • Initiate the request for a new fabrication project in PADUA
    • How to Update Project & Award Data Using PADUA
  • For sponsored projects, be sure to include the budget amount for your fabrication(s) in the request details
  • All new requests on sponsored projects will route to SPF to ensure allowability on the award.
  • All asset information on fabrication projects will be reviewed by EQM upon fabrication close out
  • Fabrication General Projects will be created immediately upon completion in PADUA.

• To Add Fabrication Task to Existing Fabrication Project
  • Initiate the request for a new task on an existing project in PADUA
    • How to Update Project & Award Data Using PADUA
  • All new requests on sponsored projects will route to SPF to ensure allowability on the award.
  • All asset information on fabrication projects will be reviewed by EQM upon fabrication close out
  • Fabrication General Project tasks will be created immediately upon completion in PADUA.
  • Rebudget your task(s) as needed after approved and created.

Note: For each unique equipment fabrication, a specific task ("fab-task") needs to be created on a Fabrication Project. Additionally, fabrications of multiple pieces of identical equipment (e.g. quantity of 10 microscopes) may be tracked under a single task under a Fabrication Project.

• Purchase components, materials and/or supplies from outside vendors using a Procurement Card or through Oracle Procurement. Such goods may also be acquired internally via recharge.
• Purchase fabrication services from recharge operations such as the Campus Research Machine Shop, the Marine Physical Laboratory Machine Shop, or the Marine Science Development Center.

Note: Fabrication/construction work should be performed at least in-part by UCSD departments, and not solely by outside vendors. Custom equipment fabricated by an outside vendor and delivered to UCSD as a complete item ready for use should be treated as a purchase of standalone inventorial equipment.

• It is important to account for equipment fabrication expenses in accordance with the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) regulations. Contact your General Accounting or SPF award/project accountant if you need assistance selecting the correct account and expenditure types when purchasing components, materials and/or supplies.
• Include references to the legacy "FAB" number and/or Project and Task numbers wherever possible.

Click here and select the "UCSD Equipment" expenditure category to see a list of expenditure type options.

• Ensure that all transactions are charged to these expenditure types in PPM.

Please submit/forward inquiries regarding expenditure type selection and/or equipment accounting to the Capital Projects team using one of these Services & Support routes:

• Submit an Equipment Fabrication Closeout Request Form to Equipment Asset Management using the Services & Support portal.
  • You can also find this form by navigating as follows:
    • Services & Support > Budget & Finance > Get Help
    • From Categories, select Financial Accounting > Equipment Fabrication Closeout Request Form 
• Once reported as complete to Equipment Asset Management, the equipment will be recorded in Oracle and CAMS, assigned an asset/UCID number and added to the inventory of the responsible department.
• An asset tag will be mailed to the Departmental Equipment Custodian or designee.

Note: Cancelled equipment fabrications that received a pre-Oracle FAB number should be reported to our office to ensure proper updating of CAMS records.

If a fabrication is cancelled or does not reach the $5,000 minimum cost threshold, you must submit cost transfer requests to move the transactions to non-equipment expenditures and COA accounts. This may result in IDC incurrence.