7-3101: Computer Equipment and Storage Media Disposal

Purpose

This policy establishes the standard for preparing County-owned computer equipment and storage media for disposal. Appropriate methods for disposal are outlined in the Surplus Property Policy. 

Authority

• Chief Information Officer

Scope

This policy applies to the disposal of all County-owned computer equipment or storage media. For the purpose of this policy, disposal of computer equipment or storage media is defined as the removal of equipment or media from service for a particular County department. Computer equipment includes but is not limited to desktop computing units, laptops, notebooks, tablets and smart phones. 

Policy

Computer equipment moved between departments via an Equipment Movement Request (EMR) will be cleaned/wiped with an application or tool that meets or exceeds Department of Defense (DoD) 5220.22-M standards. 

In 2013, the Board of Supervisors approved the Surplus Property Disposal Policy which allows surplus property, including computer equipment, to be sold through public surplus auction or donated. Donations of County-owned surplus equipment with a fair market value estimated at $250.000 or less may be donated to special districts and local schools, public nonprofit charitable organization and members of the community at the discretion of the Purchasing Agent or designee. For the purposes of the Surplus Property Disposal Policy, charitable organizations shall mean a nonprofit organization exempt from taxation under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3), whose primary purpose is public service. 

Computer equipment identified as surplus for donation will be cleaned/wiped with an application or tool that meets or exceeds DOD 5220.22-M. Computer equipment donated could include but is not limited to computers, laptops, and monitors. The County Chief Information Officer (CIO) will be responsible for setting the standards for computer equipment to be donated, ensuring County related information is removed, and coordinating the donation process. This includes removing all County software, labels, and restoring the equipment to its original generic configuration. 

Computer equipment identified as surplus for sale will not be cleaned according to the DOD 5220.22-M standards but will have its computer storage media removed and destroyed using the DGS contracted media shredding vendor, so that the media is broken beyond repair or recovery. 

A department may opt to have the entire computing device shredded which would make it unavailable for department re-use, public surplus auction or donation. Devices destroyed through the use of an external organization are not available for sale as surplus material by the Department of General Services (DGS). However, Department of Technology (DTech), with concurrence from DGS, agreed that any loss of revenue associated with the destruction of PCs would be offset by the Countywide labor savings associated with not preparing those same devices for surplus. 

The IT staff responsible for preparing the device for disposal through reuse, public surplus auction, or donation will remove the County Service Desk sticker and affix another sticker to the front face plate certifying that it has been cleaned or computer storage media removed in accordance with this policy, or clearly marking the device for destruction.​