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**Department of the Interior**

# **Departmental Manual** 

## **Effective Date**: 11/5/02 

## **Series**: Property Management 

**Part 410**: Personal Property Management

**Chapter 2**: Limited Personal Use of Government Office Equipment and
Library Collections

**Originating Office**: Office of Acquisition and Property Management
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2.1 **Purpose.** This chapter establishes the policy for limited
personal use of Government office equipment and library collections.

2.2 **Authorities.** This policy neither supersedes existing statutes or
regulations governing the use of specific categories of Government
property, nor does it apply to the use Government motor vehicles or
aircraft (31 U.S.C. 1349(b)), boats, or other means of transportation.
Related authorities are:

A. 5 CFR 2635 - Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the
Executive Branch

B. Executive Order 12674, Part 1 - Implementing Standards of Ethical
Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch

C. 5 CFR301 - Departmental Regulations - authority to establish
regulations for management of the Department

D. 41 CFR 101-35.201 - Telecommunications Management Policy E. IRM
Bulletin 1997-001 - Internet Acceptable Use Policy

F. Executive Order 13011, Federal Information Technology, Section
39(a)(1) - Chief Information Officer Council Authority to provide
recommendations to agency heads relating to the management and use of
information technology resources.

2.3 **Definitions.**

A. [Broadcast Transmission]{.underline} is a message or e-mail note sent
at once from a single user to many users and/or sites.

B. [Commercial gain activity]{.underline} is defined as any activity
involving or relating to buying, selling, advertising, soliciting,
leasing, or exchanging products or services for an employee\'s personal
financial profit or gain. Commercial gain activity includes, but is not
limited to, day trading of stocks and bonds, buying or selling real
estate for commercial purposes, operating a business, or soliciting
business opportunities.

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C. [Limited personal use]{.underline} means activity that is conducted
for purposes other than accomplishing official or otherwise authorized
activities, does not adversely affect the employee\'s job performance,
is of negligible cost, and is limited to those situations where the
Government is already providing equipment or services. Limited personal
use activities are further defined in 2.5 below.

D. [Negligible]{.underline} is an amount sufficiently small that the
quantity or cost may be disregarded.

E. [Non-duty time]{.underline} is time when the employee is not expected
to be performing official business, such as before or after a workday
(subject to local office hours), lunch periods, authorized breaks,
weekends or holidays (if the employee\'s duty station is normally
available for employee use at such times).

F. [Information Technology]{.underline} means any equipment or
interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the
automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement,
control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of
data or information.

2.4 **Policy.** Employees may use Government office equipment and
library collections only for official business or as otherwise
authorized by the Government. This policy authorizes limited personal
use of certain Government property as long as it occurs on non-duty
time, does not interfere with official business, is not a commercial
gain activity, is not otherwise prohibited, the equipment is not needed
for official purposes, and the expense to the Government is negligible.

A. In using Government property, employees should be fully aware of
their responsibility to protect and conserve such property, including
the responsibility of every computer user to know and adhere to
Departmental computer security guidelines, and to use official time in
an honest effort to perform official duties. See 5 CFR 2635.101(b)(9),
2635.704(a) and 2635.705(a).

B. Managers and supervisors may place additional restrictions on their
employees\' use of Government office equipment and library collections
for personal purposes only in instances of abuse of this policy or in
order to meet management needs and mission objectives.

C. Prior to adopting and/or implementing this policy, local management
must fulfill its labor-management obligations with their employees\'
exclusive bargaining representative(s) as appropriate, paying particular
attention to any applicable collective bargaining agreement containing
language on the use of office equipment and library collections. Such
language prevails over this policy until such time as the contract
provides that this policy applies or other language concerning these
issues is agreed to by the parties.

D. E-mail messages (and other electronic information) are Government
resources that may be covered by the Federal Records Act, the Freedom of
Information Act, and the Privacy Act. Further, employees have no
expectation of privacy in these communications resources (e.g., e-mail,
faxes, Internet, cell phones, or computers, whether or not these
resources are authorized for personal uses or are, covered by this
policy). By use of Government communications resources for personal
purposes, employee consent to monitoring and recording with or without
cause is implied.

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2.5 **Allowable Uses.** The following limited personal use of Government
office equipment and library collections is hereby authorized for all
employees. Supervisors should be consulted prior to any personal use of
Government office equipment and library collections if there is any
question whether such use is appropriate under the terms of this policy.

A. [Office Equipment:]{.underline} Employees on non-duty time are
allowed limited use of office equipment for personal uses that involve
only negligible expense to the Government (such as electricity, sheets
of paper, ink, and ordinary wear and tear) and do not interfere with
official business. For purposes of this policy, office equipment
includes copy machines, computers, printers, and fax machines. Copy
machines, fax machines, and printers, like all Government equipment, are
for official business; however, personal use of less than ten pages per
week is permissible on occasion.

B. [E-mail:]{.underline} Employees on non-duty time are allowed to use
Government e-mail systems and computers for limited personal use with
the following restrictions:

\(1\) The cost to the Government for the personal use of e-mail must be
negligible. Personal use of e-mail must not overly burden, delay or
disrupt service to any Government system or equipment; e.g., the
transmission of large attachments is not permitted. Employees must
follow guidance provided by their Bureau or Office Systems
Administrator.

\(2\) Employees may use e-mail for personal point-to-point electronic
transmissions not to exceed 5 addressees per e-mail. This applies to
employee-generated personal messages and those in response to personal
messages received by the employee. Personal broadcast transmissions,
mass mailings or bulletin boards are prohibited unless specifically
authorized by a Bureau or Office Systems Administrator.

\(3\) Employees using e-mail for personal purposes must not represent
themselves as acting in an official capacity.

\(4\) Employees are reminded to use caution when giving out their
Government e-mail address for personal purposes, particularly when
\"registering\" at various Internet sites. These types of registration
may result in an employee receiving unwanted e-mail, which in turn could
strain the DOI network resources with increased e-mail traffic.

C. [Library collections:]{.underline} Employees on non-duty time are
allowed to use DOI library collections, such as books, microfiche,
newspapers and other materials, for personal purposes.

2.6 **Prohibited Uses of Government Office Equipment.**

A. Employees are strictly prohibited from using Government office
equipment, at any time, for activities that are illegal (e.g., gambling
(5 CFR735.201)), inappropriate, or offensive to co-workers or the
public, such as the use of sexually explicit or discriminatory material,
or communication that ridicules others on the basis of race, creed,
religion, color, gender, disability, age, national origin or sexual
orientation.

B. Employees are prohibited from using Government office equipment at
any time for outside fund-raising activity, soliciting money for gifts,
endorsing any product

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or service, participating in any improper lobbying activity, or engaging
in political activities. Note: Different rules for lobbying and
political activity apply to employees appointed by the President and
confirmed by the Senate. Those employees should consult the DOI Ethics
website (<http://www.doi.gov/ethics/index.html>) for guidance.

C. Employees are prohibited from using Government office equipment at
any time to make purchases for personal commercial gain activity. See
definition of commercial gain activity in 2.3B.

D. Employees are not authorized to remove Government property from the
office for personal use.

E. Employees are prohibited from using Government-provided access to the
Internet to present their personal views in a way that would lead the
public to interpret it as an official Government position. This includes
posting to external news groups, bulletin boards, or other public
forums. An acceptable disclaimer when posting messages in any forum,
including e-mail, is \"The contents of this message are mine personally
and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government.\"

F. Employees are prohibited at any time from using the Internet as a
radio or music player. Such live stream use of the Internet could strain
the DOI network and significantly slow communications, inhibiting DOI
employees from conducting business.

G. Employees are prohibited at any time from using "push" technology on
the Internet or other continuous data streams, unless they are directly
associated with the employee\'s official duties and responsibilities.
Push technology from the Internet means daily, hourly or continuous
updates via the Internet; e.g., news, stock quotes, weather, and similar
information. Continuous data streams could degrade the performance of
the entire network.

H. Employees may not use official stationery, envelopes, or postage for
personal purposes under any circumstances.

I. Employees are prohibited from installing personally-owned software
(including tax preparation programs, computer games) on Government
machines. Employees may not, for personal purposes, download, copy, or
store any files or programs on Government servers, hard drives, or share
drives. Supervisors may approve the storage of small files such as,
screensavers, backgrounds, etc., by their employees.

J. Employees are prohibited from using Government systems to gain
unauthorized access to other systems. .

2.7 **Government Equipment Prohibited From Personal Use:** Government
equipment not covered by this Limited Personal Use Policy includes, but
is not limited to:

A. Color copy machines; color printers when used for color printing;
scientific equipment; heavy equipment; photographic equipment; computer
projector equipment (i.e., LCD projectors); slide projectors; overhead
projectors; TVs; VCRs; specialized testing, measuring or engineering
equipment; machine shop tools and equipment; firearms; map reproduction
machines; lawn mowers; chainsaws; and any other similar equipment.

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B. Government Charge Cards are not to be used for personal use under any
circumstances. The DOI Integrated Charge Card Guidelines are provided at
<http://www.doi.gov/pam/>. Additional information on charge card uses
specific to each bureau is also available from each bureau
Agency/Organization Program Coordinator.

C. Telephone use is covered by 377 DM.

2.8 **Penalties.** Disciplinary action for non-compliance with the
policy in this chapter will be administered in accordance with
Departmental personnel policies and the DOI Personnel Handbook on
Charges and Penalty Selection for Disciplinary and Adverse Actions.
While supervisors generally should attempt to select the least severe
penalty they believe necessary to correct the misconduct and to
discourage repetition, supervisors retain full authority to set
penalties, as they deem appropriate, based on the particular
circumstances and specifications of the offense. Corrective action
covers a full range of remedies, which may include oral and/or written
warnings or reprimands, suspension without pay, or removal from Federal
service. In the case of a serious offense where a formal action may be
taken, supervisors should consult with their Human Resources office
immediately.