Federal Property Disposal: Information on DOD's Personal Property Disposal Process

The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (P.L. 81-152), as amended, placed responsibility for the disposition of government real and personal property with the General Services Administration (GSA). GSA delegated disposal of DOD personal property to the Secretary of Defense, who in turn delegated it to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Under DLA, the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) carries out the disposal function. Personal property not disposed of by DRMS, for example, nuclear devices and cryptographic equipment, which are disposed of by the military services themselves, are not discussed in this report. DRMS has about 170 Defense Reutilization and Marketing Offices (DRMO) worldwide that receive and dispose of personal property for DOD activities. In fiscal year 1996, DRMS disposed of millions of items with a reported acquisition value (the amount originally paid for the item or most recently paid for a like item) of almost $24 billion.