The bottom line here is that the investigator ends up with a single instrument or piece of equipment that can be tagged, inventoried, and audited. In assembling research infrastructure, there are pragmatic reasons investigators need to consider when confronted with the option of selecting between the capital equipment and expendable equipment procurement routes. One downside of capital equipment is that the University must maintain accounting systems to manage all capital equipment. We maintain inventories of the equipment, and HHS does audit the OSU Property Management System. Of course, much of the research conducted at OSU would not be possible in the absence of capital equipment.
Capital equipment is a critically important and necessary component of the research enterprise.
We, as a University, must maintain a robust research infrastructure, but if the job can get done using expendable equipment, we need to look at that option as a potential benefit to our operations.