Eleanor,

Is it possible that what you need is a UCC-1 form.  The UCC is the Uniform
Commercial Code and the UCC-1 Form is a financing statement used to record
liens with the county probate judge.  (at least that is what we used it
for).  That is about all I know.  Maybe someone with a better understanding
can provide more info.

The University Attorney said that as a public state institution, we should
not have to complete the UCC-1.  We had a private company request one
because they were loaning us equipment.  Aside from the form being
inappropriate for that purpose, it was inappropriate for the University to
be shown as a debtor to that company.  Our attorney duked it out with their
attorney and decided that the form was not necessary.  HOWEVER,  anyone who
has ever received funding for equipment from the US Dept of Commerce,
National Telecommunications and Information Agency, Public
Telecommunications Facilities Program has had to complete the form AND file
it with the county probate judge.  I solicited the Resadm list for
discussion when we were required to complete this form for a grant we
received from USDOC.  I only found one other university that had completed
it and has not had problems since but had tried to fight it originally.  It
gives the Federal Government a lien on the equipment for 10 years - even
the portion that is cost shared.  It is not a good position to be in as an
instrumentality of the state.

If anyone has additional comments about this, I think the discussion for
the list about the risks (or not) involved in completing a UCC-1 would be
helpful.  If my entire discussion has been unrelated to the original
question, I apologize to the list but am still interested in comments.
Thanks.

----------------------------------------------------------
Martha M. Taylor, Director               (334) 844-4438
Contracts and Grants Administration         FAX (334) 844-5953
307 Samford Hall
Auburn University,  AL  36849-5112
xxxxxx@mail.auburn.edu