Title 40 › SUBTITLE I — FEDERAL PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES › CHAPTER 1 — GENERAL › SUBCHAPTER I — PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS › § 102
Use the listed words below in chapters 1–7 of this title and in division C of subtitle I of title 41, unless subchapter VII of chapter 5 or sections 3302, 3501(b), 3509, 3906, 4710, or 4711 of title 41 say otherwise. Care and handling means work like fixing, packing, storing, moving, protecting, insuring, operating, or otherwise caring for excess or surplus property, and making dangerous items safe or destroying them. Contractor inventory means extra property a contractor has under a government contract where the government owns title, or property the government must or can take when plans change or a contract ends early. Excess property means property a federal agency controls but no longer needs. Executive agency means an executive department or independent agency in the executive branch, and any wholly owned government corporation. Federal agency means an executive agency or an office in the legislative or judicial branch, but not the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the Architect of the Capitol (or activities run by the Architect). Foreign excess property means excess property located outside the States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Virgin Islands. Motor vehicle means a powered highway vehicle for people or goods, except vehicles made for military combat/training or used mainly inside a military post, and except vehicles that an agency uses for law enforcement or intelligence when the agency head says exclusive control is essential. Nonpersonal services means contract services the Administrator of General Services labels as nonpersonal, not including personal or professional services. Property means any interest in property but does not include the public domain; certain lands reserved for national forests or parks or withdrawn from the public domain (and certain minerals as decided by the Secretary of the Interior); certain withdrawn lands the Secretary and Administrator decide are unsuitable to return to the public domain; naval vessels that are battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers, or submarines; or government records. Surplus property means excess property the Administrator decides no federal agency needs.
Full Legal Text
Public Buildings, Property, and Works, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
40 U.S.C. § 102
Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110