Section 524 of title 40 of the United States Code requires executive agencies to maintain adequate inventory controls and accountability systems and continuously survey property under their control to identify excess property. This is accomplished through an Asset Management System. Do not confuse this with a Property System of Record or Accountable System of Record. An agency should select and use a PSR/ASR that will support agency internal controls requirements (OMB Circular A-123).
An AMS is a set of interrelated and interacting elements of the agency whose function is to establish the asset management objectives, policy, and processes. These are typically documented as follows
- Asset management objectives – Normally contained in the agency’s Business Plan.
- Asset management policy – Governmentwide, agency, or Voluntary Consensus Standards. See GSA Bulletin (Federal Management Regulation) FMR B-18 Procedures Covering the Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards in Personal Property Management.
- Strategic Asset Management Plan - Documented information that specifies how agency objectives are to be converted into asset management objectives, the approach for developing asset management plans, and the role of the asset management system in supporting achievement of the asset management objectives.
- Asset Management Plans - Documented information that specifies the activities, resources, and timescales required for an individual asset, or a grouping of assets, to achieve the agencies asset management objectives. An asset management plan is derived from the SAMP.
A complete AMS should:
- Comply with provisions of the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) Property Management System Requirements [PDF].
- Have continuous data collection to support the agency continuous improvement program so that lessons learned are incorporated into (SAMP) (See ISO 55000 Asset Management Standards series standards).
- Facilitate the agency’s analysis of asset performance to include use cycle, repair costs, and down-time to gauge how effectively the assets are supporting the agency’s mission and SAMP, and the identification of excess.
- To the greatest extent practicable, be enterprise-wide to facilitate intra-agency reutilization (excess), transfers, reporting, and management.
- Be capable of identifying key asset information as identified in VCS ASTM E2812, “Standard Practice for Uniform Data Management in Asset Management Records Systems,” and using the data characteristics outlined in ASTM E2604, “Standard Practice for Data Characteristics of Equipment Asset Record.”
U.S. General Services Administration