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The Office of the Vice President for Research coordinates the Research Equipment Managed Maintenance Program.  This program’s objective is to provide maintenance of critical research equipment throughout the university at a reasonable cost.  Currently, the office of the Vice President for Research has funds to offset the costs of maintaining shared equipment, but any piece of equipment can be added to the program for cost-effective maintenance.  The University has partnered with Specialty Underwriters (SU) to reduce and manage maintenance costs associated with scientific and clinical equipment. SU guarantees your costs and provides a comprehensive package of management services along with detailed reports to help Research manage and control equipment repairs.  Key benefits of Managed Maintenance include:

  • Equipment inventory development
  • Equipment management reporting
  • Reduction and stabilization of costs on a long-term basis
  • Consistent management of equipment under one Program
  • Purchase orders and payment for repairs administered by SU
  • With one call, SU will arrange and track repairs
  • SU can proactively manage covered Periodic Maintenance

Requests to add equipment will be reviewed by the Office of the Vice President for Research.  Depending on funds available, the program may not be able to fulfill all subsidy requests at the level of support requested. Note that equipment that duplicates capabilities available in fee-for-service core facilities is not eligible for maintenance subsidies. 

Requesting a Repair to Covered Equipment

Equipment maintenance is provided through Specialty Underwriters (SU). Departments must request that equipment be added. Please fill out this document to request that equipment be added to the program. 

 

Category Description VPR Pays Department Pays
1 For any service center that has an annual rate sheet approved in Sponsored Projects Accounting 50% 50%
2 Equipment used by several researchers, not in service or recharge center 40% 60%
3 Equipment dedicated to a single researcher - not shared 0% 100%

Equipment not covered

The Maintenance Program does not support the following equipment with matching funds. The department can contact SU to help arrange service with the vendor, but the department is responsible for providing all funding for the service(s). 

  • Centrifuges other than ultra-centrifuges
  • Computers
  • Software
  • Research lasers
  • Spectrophotometers
  • Freezers
  • Clean room
  • Equipment whose maintenance cost is under $1000 per year
  • Equipment over 5 years old (Note: exceptions will be made for equipment that has a long lifetime)
  • Equipment for which cost of service contract is over 20% of the cost of the equipment (Note: justification as to why a service contract is required will be considered)

SU Personnel assigned to UK

SU personnel will assist in all aspects of program operation, including administration of program equipment inventory, facilitation of repair documentation and invoice payments, liaison between all involved parties, and serving as a resource for questions or issues that may occur.

SU personnel can arrange the work on the following equipment:

  • HPLC
  • GC & Headspace
  • UV-VIS & FT-IR
  • Mass spectrometry (LC & GC)
  • Centrifuges
  • Liquid scintillation counters
  • Gamma counters
  • Spectrophotometers
  • Incubators
  • Shakers
  • Water baths
  • Lab Water Systems
  • and much more

The SU personnel can also arrange service to equipment that is not under a service contract. If you have equipment that falls into this category contact SU to have a service rep stop by and evaluate the equipment.