Ruth:

I would not capitalize it, or at least would argue that it shouldn't be
capitalized.  Scientific data does not often have a useful life of 2
years.  It is also not tangible and wouldn't fall under the A-21
definition of equipment.  Data is an intangible item.  Disk drives
certainly don't cost $5000.  The disk drive is also merely the vehicle
of delivery of the data to the researcher.

Greg

Ruth Tallman wrote:

>Good afternoon,
>
>I have a question regarding equipment capitalization.  Our equipment
>capitalization threshold is $5,000.  We have a situation where one of
>our scientists want to buy scientific data which is shipped on a disk
>drive (computer hardware).  The combined cost of the data and disk drive
>is in excess of $5,000.  The scientist is asking that the purchase be
>considered equipment and be exempt from indirect costs.  Assuming the
>data and disk drive would have a useful life of 2 years or more, I would
>appreciate your opinions on how you would respond to this request.
>
>Ruth Tallman
>Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
>Lehigh University
>526 Brodhead Avenue
>Bethlehem, PA  18015
>Phone:   (610)758-3024
>FAX:    (610)758-5994
>E-mail:   xxxxxx@lehigh.edu
>
>
>======================================================================
> Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
> subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
> via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
>======================================================================
>

======================================================================
 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
======================================================================