Obtaining surplus equipment

Each year federal agencies give away millions of dollars of surplus equipment. Excess apparatus and supplies from one agency are first made available to other agencies and departments of the federal government. What is left over amounts to $8–$10 million a year in excess property that the agencies donate to the academic community. The Atomic Energy Commission, for example, donates $5–$6 million a year of such apparatus as cyclotrons, oscilloscopes, power supplies, scintillation counters and computers. More than half of this apparatus is in excellent condition—35% unused and another 35% usable without repairs.