The department of administration is hereby designated as the state agency to participate in and administer federal surplus property made available under the provisions of the federal property and administrative services act of 1949, Public Law 152, 81st Congress First Session, as amended, hereinafter referred to as the "federal act". Any such property shall be administered under the provisions of this act and not in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 12 of the Public Acts of the First Extra Session of 1942, as amended, being sections 3.541 and 3.542 of the Compiled Laws of 1948.

     The department may:

    (a) Receive from the United States under and in conformance with the provisions of the federal act such personal property, including any equipment, materials, books or other supplies as shall have been determined to be surplus property and as may be usable and necessary within this state for purposes of education, public health or civil defense, or for research for any such purpose or for any other purpose which may be authorized by federal law.

    (b) Warehouse the property.

    (c) Distribute the property within the state to tax supported medical institutions, hospitals, clinics, health centers, schools, colleges and universities, and to other nonprofit medical institutions, hospitals, clinics, health centers, schools, colleges and universities which have been held exempt from taxation under section 501 (c) (3) of the United States internal revenue code of 1954, as amended; to civil defense organizations established pursuant to state law, and to such other types of institutions or activities as are eligible under federal law to acquire the property.

     The department may receive applications from eligible institutions for the acquisition of federal surplus real property, investigate the same, make recommendations regarding the need of the applicant for the property, the merits of its proposed program of utilization, the suitability of the property for such purposes, and otherwise assist in the processing of applications for acquisition of real and related personal property of the United States under the provisions of the federal act.

     The department may make such certifications, take such action, make such expenditures, require such reports and make such investigations as may be required by law or regulation of the United States in connection with the disposal of real property, and the receipt, warehousing and distribution of personal property received by the department from the United States. The department may enter into contracts, agreements and undertakings for and in the name of the state, including cooperative agreements with any federal agencies providing for utilization by and exchange between them, without reimbursement, of the property, facilities, personnel and services of each by the other, and agreements with other state agencies for surplus property and with associations or groups of state agencies.

     The department may act as a clearing house of information for the public and private nonprofit institutions, organizations and agencies referred to in section 2 of this act and any other institutions eligible to acquire federal surplus real property, to locate both real and personal property available for acquisition from the United States, to ascertain the terms and conditions under which the property may be obtained, to receive requests from the institutions, organizations and agencies and to transmit to them all available information in reference to the property, and to aid and assist the institutions, organizations and agencies in every way possible in the consummation of acquisitions or transactions.

     The department in the administration of this act, shall cooperate to the fullest extent consistent with the provisions of the federal act, with the departments or agencies of the federal government and shall file a state plan of operation, operate in accordance therewith, and take such action as may be necessary to meet the minimum standards prescribed in accordance with the federal act, and make such reports in such form and containing such information as the federal government or any of its departments or agencies from time to time may lawfully require. It shall comply with the laws of the federal government and the rules and regulations of any of the departments or agencies of the federal government governing the allocation, transfer and use of, or accounting for, property donable or donated to eligible donees in this state.

     The department may make charges to the eligible recipients for the acquisition, warehousing, distribution or transfer of any property of the United States. The charges shall be reasonably related to the costs of care and handling in respect to the acquisition, receipt, warehousing, distribution or transfer of surplus personal property by the department and, in the case of real property, shall be limited to the reasonable administrative costs of the department incurred in effecting transfer.

     All moneys received by the department in payment of such charges shall be credited to a restricted account in the general fund and are hereby appropriated to the department to defray the cost of the administration of the provisions of this act. Any balance remaining at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall continue to be available for the purposes authorized in this act.

     The department shall promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with Act No. 88 of the Public Acts of 1943, as amended, being sections 24.71 to 24.82 of the Compiled Laws of 1948 and take such other action as is deemed necessary and suitable in the administration of this act, to assure maximum utilization, within the state, of property distributed under this act to eligible health, educational, and civil defense institutions and organizations and to such other types of institutions or activities as are eligible under the federal law.

     The controller of the department of administration, with the approval of the state administrative board, may bond any person in the employ of the department of administration handling moneys, signing checks, or receiving or distributing property from the United States under authority of this act.

     Except to the extent expressly provided in this act, nothing contained in this act shall authorize the department to obligate the state. Nothing contained in this act shall authorize the department to construct, acquire, change the location or discontinue the use of any warehouse until approved by the legislature in the annual capital outlay appropriation act.