Real Property

Jurisdiction
Virginia
We are a subcontractor on a government contract. The Contract was to remove the exiting audio visual system and design and install a new audio visual system. As part of the contract we were required to remove the existing equipment. We were going to resell the equipment removed, to make some extra money. We were told the other day that the equipment has to be destroyed and made unuseable. Is this a steadfast requirement that if you remove equipment from a government facility as part of your contract and take it back to your own facility, not a government warehouse, tbat it has to be destroyed? My question in general is if you obtain equipment from a federal facility and take ownership of it, can you then resell it?
 
The first place you look is in your contract to see if there is anything about the disposition of property removed. If the contract says destroy you destroy.

If the contract is silent you then ask your client (the government agency) to cite you the federal statutes regarding the disposition of the property removed. If federal law mandates destruction you destroy.

And if neither your contract nor statute address the issue I suggest you follow the orders of the client because, when all is said and done, it's the client's property and unless your contract says you can keep it and resell it, you don't.
 
We were told the other day that the equipment has to be destroyed and made unuseable.

Told by whom? Based on what? Does your contract say anything about this?

Is this a steadfast requirement that if you remove equipment from a government facility as part of your contract and take it back to your own facility, not a government warehouse, tbat it has to be destroyed?

No. Every contract is different.

My question in general is if you obtain equipment from a federal facility and take ownership of it, can you then resell it?

General answers won't be useful. The only way to know if this is a legit requirement is to read your contract, the contract documents, and any federal regulations that are applicable to your contract.

when all is said and done, it's the client's property and unless your contract says you can keep it and resell it, you don't.

Agree. The removed property belongs to whomever owned it before it was removed, and that entity gets to dictate the disposition of the property, unless there is some express transfer of ownership in the contract.
 
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