Agree comlpletely with this analysis.
Chuck

At 10:03 PM 7/24/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>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
>>
>>
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Herbert B. Chermside, CRA
Director, Sponsored Programs Administration
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO BOX 980568
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