[General Services Administration Annual Report 1971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

SCIENCE & INDUSTRY
JAN 20 1972
SAN DIEGO
PUBLIC LIBRARY
genera services administration annual report
1971
ADMINISTRATOR
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON. D. C. 20405
The Honorable President of the Senate The Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives
Dear Sirs:
I am pleased to submit to the Congress of the United States the 1971 Annual Report of the General Services Administration.
In its capacity as the business arm of the Federal Government, GSA is chartered to provide a wide variety of administrative services which other agencies of the Government require in order to perform their functions effectively and economically.
In the course of discharging this prime role, however, GSA has increasingly recognized its responsibility to people— both its 40,000 employees and the citizens it ultimately serves. We have discovered new ways to perform many of our administrative functions, ways which reflect a heightened social consciousness and dedication to aid in the fulfillment of our objectives as a nation.
The 1971 Annual Report details our progress over the past year, and provides insight into the current operations of the Agency and our aspirations for the future.
Sincerely,

Robert L. Kunzig Administrator
Richard Nixon, President of the United States
The GSA Management
rear, I. to r.
Dr. James Rhoads, Archivist of the United States Edward E. Mitchell, Director, Office of Civil Rights G. C. Gardner, Jr., Assistant Administrator for Administration William E. Casselman II, General Counsel Lewis E. Spangler, Acting Commissioner, FSS Robert M. O’Mahoney, Commissioner TCS front, I. to r.
Rod Kreger, Deputy Administrator Robert L. Kunzig, Administrator H. S. (Ted) Trimmer, Assistant Administrator Evelyn Eppley, Chairman, Board of Contract Appeals Arthur F. Sampson, Commissioner PBS Douglas K. Kinsey, Commissioner PMDS
SCIENCE & INDUSTRY
JAN 20 1972
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY
THE GSA TASK
CONDUCTING THE BUSINESS AFFAIRS
Providing for the material needs of all government agencies is a formidable assignment It requires a particular flexibility not always observable in governmental enterprises, nor even in the largest commercial entities. It takes an ability to deal with enormous tonnage and square footage, with quantities and specifications that stagger the imagination. Overseeing each of our operations, and directly involved in their success,
are a host of official and unofficial superintendents: other government agencies, the local newspapers, competing corporations, The Congress of the United States, and some 200 million citizens.
The General Services Administration conducts a business enterprise of such vast proportions that the lives of most Americans are touched by one or another of our services. Yet we manufacture nothing, placing our orders in the open free enterprise market. Through this policy we contribute over $2 billion to the national economy each year. A significant portion of this goes to small businesses, to young and struggling entrepreneurs, and to businesses owned and operated by the disadvantaged.
It is an exciting challenge to attempt to fulfill the expectations that have been placed upon us, and to do so with efficiency, speed
and economy. It is a challenge that GSA has met in 1971 with a renewed spirit of earnestness and of public service.
The cover design of this Annual Report symbolizes the functional interrelation and spirit of cooperation which we have tried to achieve this year among GSA's five services— a unity of purpose dedicated to better and more responsive government.
Robert L. Kunzig Administrator
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GETTING THE JOB DONE
The General Services Administration is organized much like a large corporation doing business in a number of different fields. It might be termed a conglomerate.
When GSA was founded in 1949 under the Federal Property and Administration Services Act, it was a fledgling operation. No one knew whether it was possible to combine all the government's business services in one department. The original GSA organization included three services which continue in existence today: the Federal Supply Service, the National Archives and Records Service, and the Public Buildings Service. To the basic structure have been added two more services. Later, in 1949, Congress established GSA’s Transportation and Communications Service and in 1966 the Property Management and Disposal Service
was formed.
These five services have separate and well-defined responsibilities and most of their programs are directly supervised by a commissioner and his staff.
An exception is made for those functions which are common to all services and which can best be managed by well-trained staffs of specialists. Among these are the personnel office, responsible for hiring employees, training them and maintaining their records; the management analysis function, responsible for achieving efficiency in organizational and procedural matters; the administrative services function, providing paperwork management, printing and other common office services; the Office of General Counsel, charged with providing in-house competence in all legal matters; and the necessary budgetary and financial offices.
the administrative function ...getting the job done
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OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS
TO REMOVE ALL REMAINING BARRIERS ...
Soon after his appointment, the Administrator established as a GSA goal the removal of all remaining barriers which might cause discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. This goal was to apply to all aspects of employment, development, advancement and personnel treatment.
Significant progress has been made toward the attainment of this goal. While minorities comprise approximately 17 percent of the national population, approximately 40 percent of GSA employees are from minority groups. This national pattern of GSA employment holds true in each of the 10 GSA regional offices.
Nor is this emphasis on ending employment discrimination limited to GSA’s lower job levels. In fiscal 1971 the number of minority employees in GSA grades 10 and above increased from 314 to 372. During the same period, persons of minority origin were appointed to 1,697 vacancies out of 6,175 vacancies, for an overall percentage of 27.4. Also during that period, 1,457 individuals representing minority groups were promoted to higher positions. The figure represents 35.2 percent of the total promotions (4,134)
Index of Consumer Product Information is presented by Administrator Kunzig to Mrs. Virginia Knauer, Special Presidential Assistant for Consumer Affairs
The second mission of the Office of Civil Rights is to promote and ensure equal employment opportunity for persons employed by or seeking employment by private and corporate contractors or subcontractors doing business with the government. The scope of GSA’s contract compliance program includes 15 industries, in addition to GSA’s own construction and lease program.
The function is performed through reviews of minority hiring both before and after the awarding of government contracts. The results have been encouraging, both in the increased proportions of minorities in the work forces of government contractors, and in average wage improvements of minority workers as compared to total wage improvements. A goal of 1,122 reviews of contract compliance cases was set by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance for GSA. The final tally showed that GSA’s Office of Civil Rights actually reviewed 1,267 cases, exceeding its goal by 13 percent
OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL ADVOCATE FOR THE PUBLIC INTEREST
As GSA’s attorney, the Office of General Counsel exercises primary responsibility for all legal matters involving the agency. In so
doing, the office frequently assumes an important additional role, that of advocate for the public interest.
The broad spectrum of GSA activities gives rise to some of the most interesting litigation problems of any government agency. Lawsuits involving First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, the release of information from the National Archives, the rights of Indians and Eskimos in disposal actions involving real property, tort actions against the United States, and the environmental and socio-economic impact of GSA decisions are among these. The General Counsel is responsible for representing the government before the GSA Board of Contract Appeals and for the management of a wide variety of other litigation generated by GSA activities. The major portion of the litigation before both the Board of Contract Appeals and the Federal courts arises from the procurement, construction and management operations of the agency.
The Office of General Counsel is also charged with the responsibility of assisting with negotiations of area-wide utility contracts, so that the Federal government is assured of economical rates. An important byproduct of its function of representation in public utility rate proceedings is that private consumers in these areas benefit by the rate levels achieved.
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CONSUMER PRODUCT INFORMATION COORDINATING CENTER
GSA's broad range of responsibilities were further increased this year by the President's creation in GSA of the Consumer Product Information Coordinating Center. Establishment of the Center recognized GSA’s existing role as chief purchaser of civilian type items, together with the existence of a ready made distribution network for consumer publications represented by 29 Federal Information Centers in major metropolitan areas across the country.
Established by Executive Order 11566 on October 26, 1970, the Center is charged with two major responsibilities: encouraging the development by the various Federal departments and agencies of meaningful consumer product information as a by-product of research, development and procurement; and promoting greater public awareness of existing Federal publications of interest to consumers.
In its first year of operation, the Center established a working relationship with Federal agencies that have the data required for the development of consumer product publications. Through interagency coordination, the Center reviews all Federal publications of consumer interest and identifies gaps in consumer product information, recommends subjects for appropriate publications, eliminates duplicate efforts, and assists agencies in the development and publication of consumer information. The Center is conducting research to determine what areas of product information are of prime interest to the consumer; how best to communicate with the consumer; how well government publications are performing in this communication area and how they can be improved to do a better job.
The Center publishes quarterly a Consumer
Plans for the nation’s Bicentennial, a time of pageantry and celebration
Product Information Index listing about 200 selected publications of a dozen Federal agencies. Most of the booklets give information on how to buy, use and care for consumer products.
THE NATION’S BICENTENNIAL PREPARING FOR THE 200TH BIRTHDAY
When he appointed the Administrator of GSA as a Special Assistant to coordinate physical arrangements for Washington’s bicentennial celebration in 1976, President Nixon ordered him to see "that all plans move to their completion in a timely and satisfactory fashion." Immediate steps were taken to carry out the President’s directive. Within two days, the establishment of the Bicentennial Coordination Center was announced. It was to plan a unified, complete bicentennial program for the District of Columbia. The close cooperation of the White House Office of Management and Budget was promised.
Meetings were held with the heads of all Federal and District of Columbia agencies and their representatives. Each was asked to submit a list of its bicentennial plans to the Center. By early April, the Center had compiled a detailed list of all actual and proposed physical plans for the Capital. Projects were plotted on large, wall-size maps in the Center offices for quick visual reference.
Efforts were then initiated to coordinate development of a unified, complete bicentennial program for the Capital, working closely with White House officials. A high-level policy committee, consisting of the GSA Administrator, the assistant director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the deputy mayor of the District of Columbia, was formed to oversee project reviews and direct policy formulation. Close working relationships were formed with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and the Bicentennial Commission of the District of Columbia, Inc., as well as the National Capital Planning Commission, to ensure that a well-integrated and balanced bicentennial program, incorporating the proper blends of physical, social-action and ceremonial activities, will be developed for the Washington, D.C. area.
THE AGENCY’S YOUTH EXPANDING THEIR ROLE
“Youth has in high degree the ideals, vision, sensitivity and energy that assure our future,” President Nixon said in a 1970 memorandum to government agency heads.
The President urged these agencies to utilize the youth of the nation in their endeavors, and to increase the participation of young people in government. GSA accepted this challenge and, on July 30, 1970, established the GSA Advisory Committees for
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Youth Affairs in the 10 regional offices and a National Committee in the central office.
These committees developed a GSA Week on the Environment designed to encourage all employees to participate in solving the nation’s pollution problems. The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency was the principal speaker for the week. A GSA automobile equipped with a dual-fuel system to reduce pollutants was on display. Films and a variety of displays alerted the public and the GSA staff to problems of pollution.
BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS SETTLING DISPUTES
From minimal dollar amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars, from contracts to paint a small town Post Office to contracts to construct a high-rise Federal building—the range of contract disputes between GSA and its contractors is wide. The Board of Contract Appeals, headed by the highest ranking woman in the history of GSA, is a sevenmember group which decides appeals out of such disputes when they cannot be settled through administrative channels.
The efficiency of the GSA Board in reducing the number of unresolved cases despite a significant increase in appeals in 1971 has caused other agencies to seek help from it. In March 1971 an agreement was finalized whereby the Board is to hear and decide appeals by contractors under Department of Labor regulations. Since 1967 the Board has had a similar agreement with the Department of the Treasury.
FEDERAL INFORMATION CENTERS BRINGING THE GOVERNMENT CLOSER
Millions of citizens are baffled by the spectre of an overwhelming Federal bureaucracy. Where do you get information about flood insurance? Which agency provides on-the-job training for ex-servicemen? How do you apply for a specialized government program? To what office do you make a complaint about the use of harmful insecticides on farmland leased from the Federal government?
Nearly four million such inquiries were made last year to employees of the 29 Federal Information Centers located across the country. Trained personnel already know many of the answers. For many others, they are able with a single referral to direct the caller to the source of information. Bilingual staff members are employed by the Centers when possible.
In 18 other cities, people with questions can dial a local number and be connected by tieline to a Federal Information Center in another city. Such calls have every appearance of being local calls. Seven new centers will be opened before the end of this fiscal year and 21 other cities will be connected to the centers by tieline. With these expansions, nearly 50 percent of the nation’s population will have direct access—by local phone or in person—to a Federal Information Center.
The San Diego Information Center, opened the past year, is an excellent example of the fulfillment of President Nixon’s charge to government agencies to cooperate with state and local jurisdictions in mutually beneficial projects. The center is jointly operated by GSA, the state, the county and the city.
ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS REQUIRING COMPLIANCE
As the administrative arm of the Federal government, GSA has an impact on a variety of business practices which relate directly to the protection of our environment. GSA bought more than $2 billion worth of materials, managed 10,000 Federally owned or leased buildings and disposed of real property valued at $216 million in fiscal 1971.
These statistics reveal a potential for leadership in environmental protection that GSA fully acknowledges. Its year-old Office of Environmental Affairs directs and coordinates the efforts of all GSA services in the struggle for environmental quality.
GSA has taken a number of significant steps in the fight for environmental improvement Among them are:
—requiring increasing percentages of recycled fiber in paper products bought by GSA;
—revision of product and construction procurement specifications to eliminate pollutants;
—expansion of our low polluting dualfuel fleet to more than 1,100 government vehicles;
—designation of surplus government property for park use;
—introduction of legislation for purposes of preserving our nation’s architectural and historic heritage.
Four million inquiries a year prove the value of GSA’s Federal Information Centers
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SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSIONS SAVING TIME AND MONEY
Drug abuse becomes a serious problem at home and among Gl’s stationed abroad. President Nixon responds by establishing a Special Action Office on Drug Abuse Prevention.
The difficulties senior citizens face in obtaining adequate health benefits and housing become nationally prominent, and a White House Conference on Aging is assembled.
Nationwide attention is riveted on the consequences of rapid population growth. A Presidential Commission on Population Growth and the American Future is established.
Such conferences, special offices and short duration agencies become the responsibility of GSA as far as providing administrative and executive management, budget, payroll, legal, accounting, auditing and personnel support services.
Approximately 45 such commissions and small agencies presently depend upon GSA for these types of support, and the number grows steadily.
THE HANDICAPPED AND THE DISADVANTAGED
GSA continues to hire and train physically handicapped and mentally retarded persons for permanent jobs within the agency. The 160 physically handicapped appointments made by GSA during 1971 placed it third among all large agencies making more than 8,000 appointments. The most recent figure for mentally retarded employees shows 348 currently at work, performing production tasks successfully.
Illustrative of the courage and enthusiasm displayed by some handicapped employees is the 22-year-old custodian in Utah who wears prosthetic legs, and yet who rides a bicycle, drives a car, plays golf, repairs automobiles as a hobby and is a husband and father.
Through a variety of other programs, GSA extends new hope to the disadvantaged— those persons whose backgrounds characterize them as physically, economically, educationally or socially deprived. Among these are members of minority racial groups, school dropouts, the unemployed, and the handicapped.
—Under the Summer Aid Program, GSA hired 1,480 youths from low income families for temporary employment.
—Disadvantaged youths were hired under the Stay-in-School Campaign to provide them with the economic means necessary to prevent dropping out from school. By the end of the 1970-1971 school year, a total of 534 students were thus employed.
—At the close of fiscal 1971 a total of 525 unemployed youths were being trained and educated in programs designed to improve their employability.
—The Public Service Careers Program is a vehicle for the disadvantaged to begin career jobs with GSA. It welcomes the person of limited education and experience and even cuts red tape to hire mental retardates. More than 400 such persons were thus employed during 1971.
OFFICE OF AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS CUTTING COSTS
To serve more effectively as GSA's guardian over billions of taxpayers’ dollars, the Office of Audits and Investigations was reorganized in 1971 on an inspector general plan. It performed criminal and noncriminal investigations, security clearance investigations, as well as internal audits of GSA operations and audits of contractors’ claims and financial data.
Among accomplishments in 1971, the auditors and investigators:
—Discovered a computation error on the part of an office equipment contractor, and reduced the government's bill by $450,000.
—Recommended $1 million annual savings if the Defense Commercial Communications Office (DECCO) were merged with the GSA communications function.
—Through careful checking found an inexpensive product identical to one being offered the government at twice the price.
—Recovered over $200,000 as a result of fines, recovery of stolen property, and labor violations in GSA construction projects.
—Recommended savings amounting to $27.1 million for fiscal 1971.
Handicapped employees: an important part of the GSA work force
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‘THE NEWEST OF NEW IDEAS . .
The concrete ready-mix trucks are a half hour late. Thirtyeight laborers, carpenters, cement finishers, crane operators and foremen stand around idly chatting, awaiting their arrival. Another 15 minutes pass, and finally there is a message from the ready-mix supplier. A sudden equipment breakdown at his plant on the edge of town has made it impossible for him to furnish the 20 truckloads of concrete scheduled for placement that day.
Because the project, a Federal building addition, is in a small Midwestern state’s capital, there is little likelihood that another company could furnish the concrete on short order. However, an entire crew of highly paid construction workers will not stand idle.
On many jobs the crisis would worsen as the day progressed. The Public Buildings Service of GSA, however, is prepared for such eventualities. Skilled construction person-
nel from a construction management firm hired by GSA are on the site, supervising at all times. Alert to the possibility of a costly delay caused by the equipment breakdown at the ready-mix company, these supervisors immediately call their home office in Seattle. There, alternate solutions are weighed and a new plan of action is developed, with careful attention to scheduling. A call is then placed to the PBS project manager in GSA headquarters in Washington. The new proposal is quickly explained. The project manager, who has the total authority to get the job moving again, re-
views the plan and gives the ‘‘go’’ sign. Total elapsed time is minimal, and soon the construction crews
are assigned new priorities with a negligible waste of manpower and time. The project continues on schedule and within its construction budget.
public buildings service
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Value Engineering
In addition to project management and construction management, GSA initiated a concept called “value engineering.’’ It gives promise of becoming PBS’s single most effective money saving device. Value engineering is the application of systems analysis principles to each specific function of PBS. It requires decisions based on provable facts, and guarantees detailed attention to economic factors. The end product of value engineering is a completed project that corresponds exactly to the criteria that were established for it. In other words, a building that combines economy, durability, easy maintenance, function and aesthetics.
New Concepts
What happens in a large western community when Federal courtrooms are jammed, prospects for a new courthouse are several years distant, and related offices, such as that of the U.S. Attorney, are becoming increasingly crowded?
GSA has designed model courtrooms for experimental use. They are smaller than conventional courts, yet by incorporating the latest designs in interior space use, they are
more functional. These attractive, well-lighted and secure courts have flexible features which make them adaptable to a variety of uses. Their efficiency and economical use of space and materials are models for future courtroom design.
Other GSA solutions to space use include the experimentation with prefabricated, modular office space. These units can be placed virtually anywhere and they are spacious, well-lighted, aesthetically pleasing offices in which to work. They can be assembled like building blocks to form large buildings. These modular units are prefabricated to GSA specifications and transported by truck to the building site, where they are ready for use in a couple of days.
Bomb Threats and Vandals
PBS’s function does not end with the completion of a new building. Nor is it limited to the building itself. The protection of buildings and the protection of the people who work in government buildings is an important phase of the PBS function.
A wave of national emergencies, affecting Federal employees with bombs and bomb threats, vandalism and personal attacks, has necessitated more and better-trained security personnel. Under an intensified program more than 2,500 qualified trainees have competed with one another to meet the rigid new requirements of the Federal protection officer. Special instruction by training teams of the Federal Protective Service has been carried on nationwide.
Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs
Almost $8 million worth of service, leasing and construction contracts have been awarded by GSA to minority businesses since President Nixon’s December 1969 program directive.
Similar to the Federal Supply Service program of contracting with minority firms, GSA endeavors to stimulate the development and growth of minority businesses so they can compete in the open market as viable enterprises. This is done by providing procurement opportunities from the contracting agency and by offering financial, technical and managerial assistance from the Small Business Administration.
The $8 million worth of contracts with minority firms represents 157 GSA contracts, of which 141 were signed in fiscal 1971. These firms have provided a variety of tasks ranging from topographic surveys to bomb damage repair.
The PBS commissioner is chairman of the National Task Force on Minority Business Concessions. Under this program, GSA aids minority businessmen in setting up such concessions as travel agencies, florist shops and gift shops on Federal property.
Assistant Administrator Trimmer participates in opening ceremonies for minority-owned floral concession in Federal building
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Relocation Assistance
News that a Federal complex was to be built in West Palm Beach, Florida, was predictably well-received by the business community. Community leaders praised the site selection and newspaper editorials reviewed the economic impact of such a project.
But for the 32 families living on the property soon to be condemned for the Federal complex, there was considerable doubt about the whole project.
GSA took initiative to assuage the doubts. Residents of the area were soon informed that GSA, acting for the first time under the new Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1971, signed by the President on January 2, 1971, would spend approximately $70,000 assisting these families to relocate. The service was in the form of paying moving expenses, reimbursing for losses caused by the moving, and helping to find comparable or superior housing. A contract with the State of Florida Community Relations Department provided continual on-the-scene counseling and assistance to the affected families.
Function and aesthetics in courtroom design
GSA Deals With Housing
The shortage of nondiscriminatory low-income housing has long stymied public officials. The contribution of GSA to solution of this problem is tied in with the location of new Federal buildings and major leased space. A Presidential Executive Order, originally sponsored by GSA, requires that before a major facility can be located in an area, consideration must first be given to the availability of adequate nondiscriminatory housing for families of low and middle income. The housing must be adequate to meet the needs of the agency occupying the facility. Furthermore, the willingness of the community to meet the problem of low cost, nondiscriminatory housing generally is a strong, favorable factor in locating government buildings.
In recognition of the expertise of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, an agreement has been worked out between GSA and HUD to implement the Executive Order. Under this agreement, GSA will endeavor to place Federal projects in areas which HUD indicates offer ample supplies of open, low and moderate income fair housing. The two agencies will also work together to insure specifically that communities offer adequate nondiscriminatory low and middle income housing to meet the needs of Federal employees.
Recruiting Volunteer Soldiers
Few citizens who hailed President Nixon's plan for an all-volunteer armed forces by July 1973 are aware of the logistics involved in so radical a departure from tradition. GSA played a major role in furthering the plan by locating suitable recruiting stations around the country. Within a 90-day period more than 800 new stations were acquired and assigned to DOD to assist in implementing the President’s plan.
As many as 125 GSA personnel were in the field across the nation at one time. The program was an excellent example of the new PBS flexibility where assignment and utilization technicians, leasing officers and building managers joined efforts to accomplish a program previously believed to be impossible.
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Very Tall Ladders?
A problem that has plagued fire safety engineers for a long time is what to do about making a high-rise building safe from fire. Obviously, ladders are obsolete equipment when it comes to high rise.
In April 1971, GSA convened the International Conference on Fire Safety in High Rise Buildings in Warrenton, Va. More than 70 experts from private industry and government focused their talents on the problems of fires in high rise buildings.
A basic conclusion was that total evacuation of a high rise building is not an adequate answer. Instead, the conference urged, there must be developed a systems approach that concentrates on limiting the potential of a maximum expected fire. The limitation factor then becomes the base for the development of all fire reacting systems and elements.
Another important conclusion was that
communication—capable of surviving and operating under emergency conditions—was of critical importance in fire safety. Thus, each building must have an emergency control center as a chief tool for avoiding panic during fires.
As a result of recommendations made at the conference, the new Federal office building in Seattle, Washington, will have the first total fire safety system to be installed in any high-rise Federal building. The 36-story structure will have an emergency control center and a total sprinkler system which will make it one of the safest high-rise buildings in the nation and also a prototype for future high-rise buildings throughout the world.
City of Light
The Corcoran Art Gallery, the Pan American Union Building, two Red Cross buildings and the entire Daughters of the American Revolution complex, including Constitution Hall, were added to a growing list of government and strategically located nongovernment buildings to be illuminated at night.
The President's "City of Light” program has a dual purpose: to make the downtown area safer at night, and to enhance the beauty of the nation’s Capital. The first phase of the project was the lighting of the Federal Triangle. For the District’s Independence Day celebration this year, the exterior lighting of the U.S. Courthouse was accomplished. This attractively lighted building completes another link in the chain of flood lighted buildings along the historic Pennsylvania Avenue corridor.
Officescaping
It is apparent by now that PBS is involved in much more than the construction of new buildings. The service is concerned with the inside of buildings, the outside of buildings, the people who work in buildings, the preservation of buildings. For several years, the concept of office landscaping has intrigued PBS designers. This year, a pilot project was designed and built in the General Accounting Office building to study the idea of office landscape.
By replacing fixed walls with movable screens and by installing acoustical protection, it is often possible to create small, functional work stations. Simultaneously, the communication between an executive and his assistants is improved because the executive remains in the center of activity, not isolated by four walls. He is easily available to all members of his staff, yet sheltered by screens and planters to allow for the necessary privacy.
PBS, as the world’s largest manager of office space, has expanded the office landscaping concept to a plan that is tailor made for Federal offices. The plan is one of the high priority items GSA utilizes to improve the working environment of all Federal employees.
The “City of Light,” for a safer and more beautiful Capital
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Getting It All Together
How does a service as large and varied as PBS, which handles over $1 billion worth of construction and maintenance contracts yearly, keep track of all its commitments? How does management attain, process, store and retrieve the assortment of facts and figures it needs to make economical and functional decisions?
The answer is that the latest concepts in management, such as construction management, project management, phased construction and the application of operations research techniques, help PBS perform this function. These concepts were developed during the last decade to meet specific program needs. They are independent systems that could provide conflicting information to top management unless they are somehow coordinated. The coordination has been achieved for PBS through an integrated management information system.
Still in the developmental stages, the system depends on remote terminals installed at key locations around the country. A GSA clerk in a Western branch office can press the input button and provide the central data storage base with updated information, and from these terminals queries can be sent to the central computers for retrieval of facts and figures.
Once operative, this information system is expected to match the management system it will serve in reliability, speed and flexibility.
Movable partitions increase office efficiency
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EFFICIENCY, ECONOMY AND PUBLIC INTEREST
For an experienced machinist it would have been a fairly routine operation. Sensitive hands skillfully set up the rough metal tube in the precision lathe. The carbide-tipped cutting tool is inserted into its holder and locked into place. The operator starts his machine and the tube begins turning, its rough surface submitting to the cutting tool within exacting tolerances measurable to thousandths of an inch by a precision micrometer.
But the demands of this job are not routine for the 18-year-old man who is performing hin final exam at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Oregon.
The youth is blind.
Yet, when the tube is removed from the machine and inspected by the instructor, it is found to be flawless and the student is congratulated. More important, he is recommended for full-time employment as a machine tool operator.
The Property Management and Disposal Service of GSA played an important role in this success story. PMDS administers the National Industrial Equipment Reserve Program, in which nearly 10,000 items valued at $74 million are maintained to supply the needs of the armed forces in time of a national emergency. GSA is authorized to loan this equipment to educational and vocational training institutions when the Secretary of Defense deems the loan to be in the interest of national security.
The first school loan was made in 1958 and by the end of fiscal
1971 nearly 7,000 tools had been loaned to 336 schools in 42 states. In all, the tools are valued at $34 million, and 38,000 students have the benefit of their use each year.
property management and disposal service
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Copper and the Environment
Modern copper mines are a miracle of ingenuity. Ore containing such tiny traces of copper that some years ago it would have been considered worthless is now routinely mined, refined, reduced and smelted into high grade copper.
The miracle, however, is accompanied by a couple of serious problems. For one, the reduction process releases sulphur dioxide, a pollutant which assaults the atmosphere both visually and in terms of potential harm to living beings. For another, huge piles of waste material are accumulated, providing an eyesore. Most copper mining is done in rugged, mountainous areas of Arizona and Utah, where defacing the rugged terrain’s natural beauty is highly objectionable.
At the time GSA officials negotiated the domestic copper expansion contract with Duval Sierrita Corp., a copper mining operation in Southern Arizona, several discussions were held concerning an environmental control program at the facility.
As a result, the standard mining procedures are accompanied by a series of environmental caretaking operations which are continually monitored by PMDS’ Office of Property Management.
Parks Are For People
On October 22, 1970, President Nixon signed legislation enabling the General Services Administration to turn land over to state and local governments for parks and recreational uses. The law provided GSA with the authority to transfer the land at no cost.
A few months later, in February 1971, in his message to Congress on the environment, the President spoke of the Federal government’s “Legacy of Parks.”
In the brief time since these events, GSA has assigned 20 parcels of government land to the Department of the Interior for conveyance to state and local authorities. From Border Field in the extreme southwest corner of California to a tract in Brunswick, Maine, new properties have been added to a growing legacy of recreational and park land. Mrs. Nixon and Julie Eisenhower have headed an impressive list of Presidential representatives at ceremonies marking these conveyances.
In a parallel move, President Nixon ordered GSA to survey land held by executive agencies for the purpose of pinpointing excess acreage which could also be released. A total of 20,000 acres have been so identified and labeled excess by the President’s Property Review Board as a result of 48 surveys completed in 1971. Much of this property has then become part of the Legacy of Parks program. Additional surveys are being made to find other land that can be sold, leased or converted for other purposes to benefit the nation’s taxpayers.
Mrs. Nixon chats with young ballplayers at Legacy of Parks ceremony
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The National Stockpile
The National Stockpile, the collection of key commodities stored by the Federal government in 134 locations throughout the country, is administered by PMDS’ Office of Property Management. One and a third million tons were loaded and shipped from depots and storage sites, which is the largest quantity shipped during any period to date.
GSA transferred 25.5 million ounces of silver from the stockpile to the Department of the Treasury during the current year. This silver, located in vaults at the U.S. Bullion Depository in West Point, was designated for the minting of the new, 40 percent silver, Eisenhower dollar coins.
Releasing Commodities
The Office of Stockpile Disposal of GSA submitted proposed legislation to the first session of the 92d Congress, authorizing the disposal of 30 commodities from the national and supplemental stockpiles. The materials in question were judged by The Office of Emergency Preparedness to have accumulated in excess of foreseeable needs. Total current market value for the commodities was set at more than $1 billion.
Project Home Run
In August 1970 the S.S. American Racer arrived in Stockton, Calif., carrying supplies and equipment of a noncombat nature from Vietnam. The material, original cost of which was $4.4 million, was part of “Project Home Run," developed by the GSA Administrator in cooperation with the Department of Defense. The program is designed to distribute property to Federal civilian agences or to donate it to schools, hospitals and other eligible recipients.
Home Run grew out of President Nixon's continuing reduction of U.S. military activity in Vietnam. First the President ordered a cutback of U.S. forces in South Vietnam. Equipment and supplies that economically could be returned for use in this country followed.
More than $40 million worth of goods have been returned through Project Home Run
19
Other ships have brought more of the same type of material in containerized loads, resulting in enormous savings to the taxpayer. In total, through December 1971, $42.7 million worth has been retrieved from Southeast Asia. Transportation costs are borne by the agency ultimately receiving the property.
Skilled GSA personnel are now in Vietnam and other strategic locations to screen usable property for return to the U.S. Three shiploads of such property arrived in the U.S. in early fiscal 1972. The Office of Personal Property Disposal in GSA has established additional receiving and distribution facilities at Edison, N.J.; Gadsden, Ala.; Baton Rouge, La.; Fort Worth, Tex.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and temporarily at Kansas City, Mo. to accommodate the increasing quantities of excess property that will become available in the next several months. From these points, as well as from the original facility at Stockton, Calif., the property is made available to interested agencies.
Something for Everyone
Entire pecan harvests, gold bars, cardiac pacemakers, felled timber, portable altars, helicopters, scrap canvas mail bags—if someone wants it, the Sales Division of PMDS probably has it.
Individuals, organizations and business firms of all sizes can inspect and bid on the millions of dollars worth of surplus personal property the government sells each year. A convenient, computerized mailing service is available to interested customers.
Rehabilitating Property
A total of $20 million was paid in fiscal year 1971 to independent business firms for the maintenance, repair and rehabilitation of the
government’s personal property. With few exceptions such contracts are awarded on a competitive basis. About 2,000 small business firms are currently serving the government in this capacity.
More than $1 million of the total dollars spent by the government was awarded in 1971 to firms owned by members of minority groups. Such items as electric typewriters, furniture, automotive vehicles, generators, etc. are maintained or rehabilitated under such agreements, thus reducing the government's need to purchase new equipment.
One example of the GSA program of rehabilitation and recovery is its continuing progress toward the removal of silver and platinum from used aircraft spark plugs and magneto assemblies. During 1971 9,713 ounces of silver and 4,883 ounces of platinum were recovered at a cost of $16,082. These precious metals have a market value of over $600,000.
Carson City Dollars
Nearly three million silver dollars minted at the short-lived Carson City, Nevada Mint
The Carson City dollars will be offered for sale to the public
20
in the late 1800’s have been transferred to the PMDS arm of GSA by the United States Treasury. Purpose of the transfer is for GSA to prepare the coins for sale to the public. During 1972 the coins will be sorted, packaged in attractive plastic cases and eventually offered for sale to collectors and the public alike. Many of the coins are estimated to be worth as much as $200 in the numismatic marketplace. Coin collectors have given advance indication that as many as 15 million orders may be placed for the silver dollars.
Armor Plates
The thick armor plate that protects U.S. Naval vessels from enemy attack often finds a radically different use in later years. Once
naval vessels are decommissioned they are sold as scrap. PMDS routinely transfers large quantities of armor plate from these ships for use by the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research for' use in radiation shields in atomic energy research.
All property that is still serviceable but no longer needed by one Federal agency is made available for transfer to others. In fiscal 1971 such transfers reached the highest dollar figure in the history of the program, amounting to $751.2 million. The figure is based on the original acquisition cost of the equipment. Many agencies privately administered through Federal grants are also eligible for such excess property. The National Science Foundation received more than $70 million in such materials in fiscal 1971, most of it designated for use under NSF grants in colleges and universities.
Material not requested by the Federal government, including its grantees, is available for donation as surplus for educational, public health, civil defense, and public airport purposes. Donations of surplus government personal property totaled $400 million (based on original costs) for these purposes during 1971.
An unusual piece of GSA surplus property: the giant all-wood Hughes Flying Boat
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FROM PAPERCLIPS TO HELICOPTERS
federal supply service
An urgent message clattered into the administrative offices of GSA’s Federal Supply Service. That morning Congress had passed legislation authorizing retroactive increases in benefits for Social Security recipients. The checks would require _	specially designed envelopes for mailing. The catch was that
23 million envelopes would be needed; and needed fast. There were only seven weeks between the bill's passage and the specified delivery date.
Envelopes were designed, bids called for, a contract signed and a tight deadline established. GSA saw to it that the delivery date was met.
This kind of urgency is not quite daily fare at GSA headquarters, but it was by no means unusual, for GSA is the organization that procures and distributes office furniture, civilian aircraft, vehicles, and much of the paper and thousands of other commodities used by the Federal government in the conduct of its daily business throughout the nation. Paper alone presents enormous logistics problems. How does an agency guarantee that it will get the right paper to the right office at the right time? The question looms men-wl acingly when it is remembered that if all the paper purchased by GSA H in 1971 were placed in railcars, the train would stretch approximately / 92 miles. Any breakdown in communications or transportation might / prevent a large group of government workers from performing their tasks. During fiscal 1971, GSA purchased 65,000 motor vehicles for Federal agencies located at home and abroad. In addition to GSA Motor Pool vehicles, GSA provides administrative type sedans for nearly all Federal agencies, including the Peace Corps and the Armed Forces.
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How much money does it take to fill the personal property needs of Federal government agencies? In fiscal 1971 it took $2,182 billion. A staggering sum, certainly, but it is a mark of FSS skills that over-the-counter prices for these same items would have been 17 percent higher. Large quantity purchasing plays a major role in this taxpayer savings.
The scope and efficiency of the GSA procurement and distribution system depend on rapid processing of paperwork, immediate location of stored commodities, continually updated inventory, and ease in locating bidders. These processes have been computerized, with centrally located memory banks that can perform all the bookkeeping tasks and, in addition, determine the best shipping routes for particular items.
But besides these uses, FSS offers its computers to other Federal agencies and provides computer information processing services to a variety of interested groups.
During fiscal 1971 GSA procured automatic data processing systems for other Federal agencies amounting to $123.3 million with resultant cost reductions of $72.3 million.
Dealing With Uncle Sam
Eight years ago, Gordon Clausen, president of Bryn Mawr Products Co., Villanova, Pa., walked into the Region Three Business Service Center of GSA with a raw idea for a highly durable, minimal maintenance floor mat. He wanted to know what to do with it: could the government buy such an item? If so, what
Computerized procurement and inventory control speeds supply service
would government specifications require?
He had come to the right place. The Business Service Centers that operate in 12 major cities as arms of the GSA regional offices have as purpose to counsel small businessmen on how to deal with the government. Last year, these Centers assisted approximately 160,000 small businesses by furnishing specifications for products the government buys, issuing instructions to prospective bidders and other aids. The service is free.
Through in-depth, continuous counseling, Gordon Clausen’s raw idea was examined, tested and found superior to old, flammable cotton mats that were then being used. The company’s product was bought by the government in large quantity and is still being installed in Federal buildings nationwide.
The mutual benefits of the contract with Bryn Mawr Products are apparent: The Federal government has saved substantial dollars in maintenance costs, while the company has increased its sales from $250,000 annually to well over $1 million.
In 1971 the Centers initiated a "circuit rider” program to inform and instruct businessmen in smaller cities on methods of obtaining Federal supply contracts and to assure fair competition for such contracts. During the year, some 900 contractors were sought out and counseled in 84 cities.
Procurement Policy
Among the duties of Federal Supply Service is the development of procurement and supply policies as guidelines for Federal agencies. The vast variety of products the government buys, coupled with the exhaustive list of specifications developed by the agen
cies and the astonishing array of products available from American business, makes procurement an extremely complex function.
To meet the growing challenge of economy and efficiency in government supply, Congress established the Commission on Gov-' ernment Procurement in 1969. Its purpose was to study all current and proposed regulations on procurement, and suggest legislation for improvement. The deadline was set as Dec. 31, 1972. The Administrator was one of two Commission members appointed by the President. GSA worked closely with the Commission, giving the benefit of the experience it has gained in its purchasing of $2.1 billion in goods annually.
The Commission exhaustively investigated the government’s various procurement systems, evaluated its utilization of resources, took a special interest in the acquisition of major systems such as weapons and space systems, and carefully researched its method of contracting for professional services, such as those involved in construction.
It was the first time the government had made such a thorough study of all procurement procedures. The impact of this study promises to cut through government red tape and provide procedures—through Congressional mandate—that will revolutionize government procedures and reduce the cost of supplying the material needs of the Federal agencies.
Training Other Buyers
Although GSA purchases most items for Federal agencies, many specialized products and services, peculiar to a particular agency’s mission, are purchased directly by a buyer on that agency’s payroll.
Part of the GSA function as chief supplier for the government is to supervise the training of these buyers so that the most efficient purchasing service is guaranteed. FSS, in its daily course of business, develops proce dures and policies that assure economy and efficiency in supply. These policies are passed on to buyers from other agencies, and
24
training courses instruct them regarding the intricacies of government regulations on procurement, how to handle large volume purchasing, examining and guaranteeing specifications, inventory management and the like.
Cooperating
Procurement and supply officials representing Federal, state and local governments cooperate to share information and to save money while increasing efficiency. Several interagency groups have been formed for this purpose.
One, the Interagency Committee for Improvement in Procurement and Management of Property, is chaired by the GSA Administrator and consists of top level representatives from 17 agencies, which together manage or control over 90 percent of Federal procurement dollars for property and services.
Another committee is the Joint Federal, State and Local Government Advisory Panel on Procurement and Supply, chaired by the FSS Commissioner.
In addition, FSS professional supply management assistance is furnished to government agencies so requesting. In fiscal 1971, studies in this field were conducted for the Commission on Government Procurement, the Federal Communications Commission, the Selective Service System and the Department of Labor.
FSS has been instrumental in reducing supply inventories for Federal agencies. In September 1970, for instance, a joint GSA-Commerce Department supply management study revealed inventory reductions of excess
material in the amount of $17.5 million. Of this total, $12.5 million worth was utilized by other Federal agencies in lieu of new procurements.
Boosting Minority Businesses
GSA continues to provide major thrust to President Nixon’s commitment to aid minority businessmen. Under the direction of the GSA Administrator, who chairs the Federal Procurement Task Force for Minority Business Enterprise, GSA representatives have conducted procurement seminars in more than 60 cities since February 1970. Federal purchasing representatives from more than 14 civilian and military agencies offered advice and counsel to interested minority businessmen on how to sell their products and services to the government. Information on other government programs affecting minority business opportunities also was made available at these seminars.
Utilizing Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, GSA works with the Small Business Administration to negotiate contracts with minority-owned firms on a noncompetitive basis to boost them into the mainstream of the national economy.
GSA’s accelerated progress in the 8(a) program is demonstrated by the awarding of 236 contracts totaling more than $15 million during fiscal 1971, compared to 53 contracts valued at $3.4 million in fiscal 1970. The largest 8(a) award by GSA in fiscal 1971 was an $844,896 contract to LeeFac, Inc. a black-owned firm in Boley, Okla., for furnishing household crates. Government-wide, 811 contracts were awarded under 8(a) for a total value of $66.1 million in fiscal 1971.
Learning How to Ship
The vast difference in the sizes, shapes and weights of thousands of GSA stock items has presented numerous problems in shipping and storage. Over the years there has been a constant improvement in the techniques of handling these materials, and 1971 witnessed several significant advances.
GSA now operates the first shrink wrap system ever utilized by a Federal agency. Palletized materials are covered with a transparent polyethylene film and conveyed through a heat tunnel which shrinks the film to provide a form-fitting cover. This system eliminates the need for steel strapping, is more economical, and saves time and money.
Quality of Life
A variety of GSA programs are aimed at solving long term national problems that directly bear on the quality of life for human beings. More than 180 products made for the government have been isolated by GSA, with the purpose of analyzing specifications and revising them to meet current environmental control standards. The new specifications will control the manufacture of paper, metal and various other materials to conform to recycling specifications.
GSA is currently analyzing some 5,000 documents to stipulate nonpolluting or less-polluting materials. Among these products are such items as paints, fuels, detergents, incinerators, paving and roofing materials, paper products and air filters.
Counsel to minorities: how to sell products and services to the government
25
KEEPING IN TOUCH
W 500 million miles of travel per year, more than the distance from ■ the Sun to Jupiter. A communications network that keeps every » Federal employee within easy and inexpensive dialing distance. A r facsimile service that instantly reproduces photographs, letters, even signatures over a 2,000 mile distance. The maintenance of '	57,000 vehicles. The responsibility for negotiating with local com-
panies for the supply of electricity, gas and water for government buildings and other use. These are the concerns that created GSA’s Transportation and Communications Service.
GSA has been charged with the transportation and communication requirements of all civilian agencies of the Federal government, plus the maintenance of related equipment and the supply of utilities at the most economical rates obtainable.
The communications role of GSA consists principally of a broadly-based telephone network, the Federal Telecommunications System. FTS is a government system of leased long-distance circuits through which official calls can be placed to any telephone in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Voice communications account for the vast majority of these calls, but major stations throughout the country have teletype capacity as well.
transportation and communications service
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Project Dual-Fuel
The history of the automobile in America is an increasingly smog-filled tunnel. Billions of miles of highway and street travel per year inject tons of pollutants into the atmosphere, and the quality of American life is threatened by. the progressive deterioration of the air we breathe. Automobiles are only a part of the problem, but in the past 50 years the vast increase in numbers of automobiles—an increase that promises to continue—has caused serious people to ponder the future of the automobile.
GSA has entered the controversy with an experimental program that has already made its mark. The TCS Office of Motor Equipment is directly responsible for making some 56,000 motor vehicles available to government agencies for official use. A fleet of this size offers an excellent opportunity for the study of pollution and proposed solutions to it.
Accordingly, GSA began “Project Dual-Fuel” on an experimental basis late in 1969. Under the program, a number of GSA vehicles now operate on both natural gas and gasoline. From the original dozen cars so equipped, more than a thousand GSA vehicles have been added to the experiment. The natural gas conversion is simple and relatively inexpensive, and it allows the vehicle to operate with a bare minimum of noxious exhaust. At 25 sites in the nation, GSA is testing the dual system. Compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas are separately being tested and six sites already
A GSA dual-fuel car: ceremonial pacer for the Indianapolis 500
have begun operating test vehicles on liquefied natural gas. The liquefied natural gas experiment was new this year. It offers the same anti-pollution benefits as the compressed natural gas, together with the breakthrough advantage of increased range.
An evaluation by two independent consultants after a year of testing indicates that the dual fuel project dramatically reduced exhaust pollutants. The initial cost of conversion has been demonstrated to be recoverable through lower fuel and maintenance costs.
GSA is also constructing a program designed to encourage the operators of private fleets to convert to dual-fuel systems. This is done principally through demonstration seminars which reveal the dual-fuel benefits. A fleet operator in pollution-haunted Los Angeles was the first to seek assistance in converting his vehicles. Since then, information and assistance has been requested by many city and state governments.
In a separate but related move, the entire government fleet of passenger vehicles now operates on low-lead or non-lead gasolines as an additional means of reducing exhaust pollution. All fleet service stations provide the low-lead fuel, and drivers who must refuel at commercial stations are directed to use low or non-lead gasoline whenever it is available.
Brakes and Tires
An Office of Motor Equipment study on disc brakes, begun in 1968 and completed in 1971, reveals that cumulative maintenance costs for front-end disc brakes are a third less than for drum brakes. The study has recommended that all sedans and station wagons purchased by the government be equipped with front-end disc brakes.
During the first quarter of fiscal 1971, TCS began a radial belted tire test program. Its purpose is to determine whether these tires can reduce cost per mile of fleet cars, increase safety by lowering required stopping distance and improve the steering of the automobiles.
Cutting ADP Expenses
Automated data processing (ADP) has grown tremendously in the past decade, and has become a virtual necessity for any company or government agency which deals with people, money, large inventories or costly programs. Its promise is in the orderly storage of millions of facts and figures, instantaneous retrieval, and the ability to manipulate figures and draw conclusions from them.
If data processing is to grow as predicted and fulfill this promise, a major expense— the cost of leasing communications lines for remote input and retrieval—must be controlled.
TCS has taken an important step toward such control. Beginning in 1970, subscribers to the Federal Supply Service's RAMUS (Remote Access Multiple User System) Computer were offered a new service. TCS’ Data Engineering Division devised a system in which 16 teletypewriter transmissions could be sent simultaneously over one telephone line to Washington, New York or Boston.
During 1971 the system was expanded to allow simultaneous transmissions of 29
28
coded messages on the single telephone line. The U.S. Army Proving Grounds, Aberdeen, Md. has been included on this system. In addition, three channels from Detroit and one from Chicago have been added on a second leased telephone line. Four channels from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Miss, transmit on a third telephone line.
This communication arrangement, which effects vast dollar savings, is called "multiplexing.” It provides RAMUS with an economical means of serving remotely-located users at minimal cost. RAMUS is GSA’s first system in computer time-sharing and the Federal government’s first multiplex arrangement.
CADPIN
GSA, in a cooperative venture with the Bureau of Customs, has devised a complex communications network called the Customs Automatic Data Processing Intelligence Network (CADPIN) for use along the U.S.-Mexican border. Its purpose is to help in the fight against illegal drugs entering the country from the northern states of Mexico.
CADPIN depends upon a border agent recording the license plate of every vehicle crossing the border in either direction. A computerized storage bank immediately responds with information about the car: whether it is stolen, whether it has been connected with previous crimes, whether it has crossed the border frequently, etc.
Since CADPIN’s beginnings in fiscal 1971, the program has participated in the confiscation of tons of illegal drugs. Within months, CADPIN will have 70 operating locations and more than 150 communications terminals, enough to cover the entire 2,000-mile border.
Galaxia-70
In October and November 1970, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, conducted a joint scientific experiment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Argentine Institute for Aeronautical and Space Investigation. The project, Galaxia-70, was to be conducted at Entre Rios, Argentina. It was the first major use of balloons to study astronomy and high-energy physics from a base in the southern hemisphere.
Balloons are used to carry instruments beyond the earth's atmosphere, permitting undistorted observation of stellar phenomena and the exploration of X-ray sources and other energy radiation sources which would otherwise be partially obscured by the atmosphere.
Since virtually none of the supplies and equipment were available in Argentina, it was necessary to transport material from Boulder, Colorado, and from Palestine, Texas, to Buenos Aires. Items to be shipped ranged
Data-Phones speed written communication across the country
from bandages to charged helium gas semitrailers and launch vehicles. Transportation Management Division from GSA’s Region 8 was contracted to transport the entire expedition.
Licenses had to be obtained from the Department of State for the export of both helium and balloons. Ocean bookings were made with an American flag steamship company through the Port of Houston. Coordinated shipping instructions were issued to American vendors, the foreign freight forwarders and NCAR to assure a smooth flow of tonnage to the port and timely arrival in Argentina.
Upon the safe arrival of all supplies, the Transportation Management Division of Region 8 was awarded the Argentine government’s "Galaxia-70" commemorative flag, in recognition of its share in the success of the venture. It was the only American group so honored.
29
feiww wTrw t i -\-..-?» ?./z
'THE GREAT DOCUMENTS THAT STARTED OUR NATION . .
“The Archives is more impressive than the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial or the White House itself
... the building is one that holds the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the great documents that started our nation..President Nixon made
these remarks following the Fourth of July weekend in 1971, when he and House Speaker Carl Albert and Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger stood in the rotunda of the National Archives Build-
ing for a televised observance of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence 195 years earlier.
national archives and records service
31
The American Revolution
The National Archives and Records Service of the GSA has a major role in the “Bicentennial Era," the official celebration of the nation’s beginning which the President opened with his words. In spring 1971, NARS opened a Center for the Documentary Study of the American Revolution to provide assistance for scholars working in the 1774-1789 period.
The Papers of the Continental and Confederation Congresses, now in the National Archives, have never been satisfactorily indexed. With the aid of a 2-year, $150,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, the Center is preparing a computer-assisted index to those papers. It is scheduled for completion in 1973.
NARS—The Federal Archives System
GSA administers a system of Federal record complexes which includes the National Archives, 14 Federal Records Centers and six Presidential libraries. The National Archives is the collection of permanently valuable records of the government. Most of this collection of more than one million cubic feet of records is held in the National Archives Building. In addition to these records of enduring value, 11.6 million cubic feet of more current records are stored in the Federal Records Centers. Thus, NARS has custody of 12.3 million cubic feet of Federal records, 42 percent of those in existence. In the Presidential libraries there are an additional 50,-000 cubic feet of records, Presidential papers and other donated historical materials. A cubic foot of records equals about 2,500 pages.
These GSA holdings were heavily used in fiscal 1971. There were nearly 10.5 million reference services on the various bodies of records. The majority were for records in the Federal centers which, because of their current interest, are still in frequent use by the agencies which deposited them.
Incomparable Resources
Ambassador John Eisenhower and Authors Barbara Tuchman, William L. Shirer and John Toland were among 200 historians and writers attending a Conference on Research on the Second World War at NARS. Russian Lieutenant General P. A. Zhilin, Director of the Institute of Military History for the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Defense, described the state of research on World War II in the Soviet Union today. Other prominent scholars from Europe and the U.S. spoke at the conference, which was co-sponsored by the American Committee on the History of the Second World War.
GSA annually sponsors such conferences in order to make known the incomparable historical resources of the Archives.
The Second World War was also the subject of a film festival which attracted both scholarly and popular attention. During the week of December 7, 1970, a series of films
Marine guard honors the “Charters of Freedom” in Archives Rotunda
32
chronicled the period, recalling for an overflow crowd the early 1940’s and presenting a closeup view of how the great powers reacted to the Axis threat
The main attraction for the 739,838 visitors who came to the National Archives Building in fiscal 1971 continued to be the Charters of Freedom which are on permanent display: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. During the year, however, other exhibits were mounted, illuminating America’s past. A new tradition was begun on Constitution Day: all four pages of the Constitution were placed on display in the center of the rotunda, attended by an honor guard from all the military services. Normally, only the first and last pages are on public exhibit.
On April 3, 1971, NARS opened one of its most ambitious exhibits, "The Art of Diplomacy.” Placed on display were two centuries of the National Archives’ diplomatic treasures, richly-bound treaties and their handsome "skippets,” boxes of worked gold and silver holding the wax seals of foreign nations.
Handsome new publications accompanied two of the year’s exhibits. The Formation of the Union catalog tells the story, in documents, of the struggle of a young nation for its own identity. The Art of Diplomacy catalog reproduces the elaborate treaties and Presidential gifts, which also were exhibited.
Three issues of Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives came off the presses during the year with historical articles based largely on records in the National Archives.
Improving Archival Services
The Archives Advisory Council met three times during the year to make recommendations for the improvement of services to the scholarly community. It also instigated studies of means to provide exchange fellowships between universities and the National Archives and to encourage production of improved microfilm readers.
Regional Archives Advisory Councils were established in each of the 10 GSA regions. Each of the councils has approximately 12 members representing the academic community, research institutions, historical associations, genealogical societies, and other groups interested in Federal archival services in their areas.
Part of Sir Kenneth Clark’s “Civilisation” series for national television being filmed at Archives
The Presidential Libraries
The sixth Presidential library, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, formally opened its doors on the University of Texas campus in Austin on May 22, 1971. The ceremony was attended by the former President, President Nixon and thousands of guests. The building was constructed by the University of Texas, which will retain title to it, but the GSA is pledged to "maintain, operate and protect” the library as part of the National Archival system. The eight-story building contains more than 31 million pages of records associated with the LBJ administration.
The John F. Kennedy Library, which is awaiting a permanent building in Cambridge, Mass., is lodged temporarily in the Federal Records Center at Waltham. By summer of 1971, the library had opened 6.5 million pages for research, more than 42 percent of its total manuscript holdings. Construction of the permanent structure, which had been delayed by site difficulties, is expected to start in 1973.
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An addition to the museum at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kans., was nearing completion as the fiscal year ended. The museum was closed during the year while construction was in progress. However, 414,699 persons visited the Place of Meditation where President Eisenhower is buried. In June 1971 the University of Kansas Press published D-Day, the Normandy Invasion in Retrospect. The book, whose publication was arranged by the Eisenhower Foundation, contains papers delivered at the library on June 6 and 7, 1969, the 25th anniversary of D-Day.
Almost 13 years to the day after its opening, the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Mo., counted its two millionth visitor on July 7, 1970. During the year, the Harry S. Truman Library Institute formed a committee to raise $1 million to augment its program of research grants and publications.
The oldest of the Presidential Libraries, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, N.Y., counted its five millionth visitor on April 16, 1971, a little less than 30 years after its opening on July 1, 1941. Two new wings are scheduled for dedication in the first part of 1972. Two of the year’s Pulitzer Prize winning books drew heavily on papers in the library: John Toland's The Rising Sun and James McGregor Burns’ Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. An editorial advisory board of seven eminent historians was appointed for the "Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs” publication project at the library.
At West Branch, Iowa, the remodeled museum of the Herbert Hoover Library reopened on May 30, 1971. An addition to the building was begun and proposals for a new research room were being considered. In accordance with a long planned change, the Herbert Hoover birthplace cottage, visited by 103,426 persons during the year, and 28 acres of land surrounding the library and blacksmith shop were transferred from GSA to the Department of the Interior to be administered by the National Park Service as part of the Herbert Hoover Historic Site.
Looking toward the establishment of a Nixon Library, the Richard Nixon Foundation continued its study of sites. Edward C. Nixon, the President’s brother and a member of the board, visited the Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson Libraries. The City of Whittier, Calif., officially offered to the foundation a 120-acre tract. Other sites were considered also by the foundation, but no final decision has yet been made.,
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$200 Million Cut
During the year, President Nixon directed Federal agencies to reduce the cost of paperwork processing. He set twin goals: a reduction of $200 million in government reports costs and a cut of five million man-hours in the time the public spends in filling out government forms. The President called upon the GSA Administrator to coordinate the project and NARS experts in reporting procedures were to develop guidance materials and to provide assistance to agencies requesting it. Most agencies indicated when the program was well underway that they expected to meet or exceed their individual goals.
NARS assistance to other agencies on paperwork problems is not limited to reporting procedures. Upon request, NARS sends teams of analysts into an agency to cut red tape. More than 145 such requests for assistance were received in fiscal 1971 and all were honored. The agencies estimated that their operations cost was reduced by a total of $31 million as a direct result.
Meanwhile, virtually every agency of the Federal government used the facilities of the Federal Records Center system. The centers received 1.3 million cubic feet of records no longer needed in individual offices, thus avoiding about $10 million worth of storage and filing costs if they had remained in the original agencies.
President Nixon signs register at dedication of the Johnson Library
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL
Total
Total
Personal Property (Acquisition Costs—Millions of Dollars): a. Transfers to Other Federal Agencies
b. Donations .........................................
c. Sales .............................................
Real Property (Acquisition Cost—Millions of Dollars): a. Further Utilization of Federal Agencies b. Other Surplus Disposals (Donations, Etc.).....
c. Sales ........................................
Defense Materials:
a.	Strategic and Critical Materials Inventory (Acquisition Cost in Millions of Dollars)
b.	Sales Commitments (Millions).............
36
751.2	635.8	310^
51	51
1,225.3	1,078.3	722.2
1110	87 0
1^0	125.0	143.0
__1_.	3/1.1)	413.4
229Xrs|%|	607.0	^^^643.4
6,257.9	6,470.8	8,659.0
324.2	284.4	69.3
Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year 1971	1970	1961
/	-O'"
FY 1971 FY 1970 FY 1961 A	*
478,469	527,748	202.617
238,897	293,224	116.014
8,094.5	8,188.4	4,667.0
hK 86	88	24
2,182.4	2,148.8	1,014.4
FEDERAL SUPPLY
Store Sales (Thousands of Dollars) Nonstore Sales (Thousands of Dollars) Stores Line Items Shipped (Thousands) Number of Supply Distribution Points Total Procurement (Millions of Dollars)

PUBLIC BUILDINGS
New Construction Program:
a.	Design Starts (Millions of Dollars) ..........
b.	Design Completions (Millions of Dollars) ......
c.	Construction Awards (Millions of Dollars)......
d.	Construction Completions (Millions of Dollars)....
Buildings Management:
a. Average Net Square Feet Managed (Millions).....
Repair and Improvement:
a.	Repair and Improvement Appropriation:
(1)	Net Square Feet of R & I Responsibility (Millior
(2)	Obligations Incurred (Millions of Dollars) ..
b.	Reimbursable Costs (Millions of Dollars)...
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Interagency Motor Pools: JS|
a.	Number of Pools in Operation . ...JgiSBfliMSI
b.	Mileage (Thousands)
c.	Number of Vehicles in Pool (June 30)...........
d.	Sales (Millions of Dollars)....................
Federal Telecommunications System:
a.	Number of Intercity Calls (Millions)...........
b.	Total System Sales (Millions of Dollars).\....
a/ -	iu/
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
Number of Records Centers .	J
Records in Inventory (Thousands Cubic Feet June 30) Inquiries Handled (Thousands) .
187.8	187.0	121.4
84.3	77.0	61.2
64.8	68.9	NA
97	97	60
583,565	568,111	222,953
57,213	^15,141	21,009
57.2	51.0	18.7
4
87.6	74.6	NA
153.5	128.6	NA
Io
14	14	14
11,229	11,550	6,735
10,044	9,939	4,814
37
summary or operations
Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year 1971^ 1970 1961
FY1971 S FY 1970 FY1961
188.4	258.1	324.7
280.0	224.8	229.7
^^173.5	34.7	169.5
49.4	117.9	96.9
129.5
38
Increase or Decrease
501.^	374.8	126.6
286.2	320.5	-34.3
1.7	1.8	-.1
232.1	98.9	133.2
18.6	19.4	.8
29.9	28.3	1.6
1,069.9	843.7	226.2
10,244.3	10,490.8	-246.5
"----'I'1	------
$11,314.2	$11,334.5	-20.3
=—
। । .
general services administration
comparative statement of financial condition I in millions!
ASSETS
mm
Accounts receivable—Private debtors...............
Accounts receivable—Government agencies...........
Inventories ...................'Wp-...............
Prepayments and deferred items....................
Mortgages and bonds—Private debtors ..............
Investment in U.S. Securities
Equipment........	.................t
Land and buildings .	.............
Construction in progress	....
Surplus property..................................
/A/j » vB ? ® ‘ I « ,J
Total Assets
a ■
Accounts payable ...	'.........
Advanced payments to GSA..........................
Trust and deposit liabilities.....................
Deferred credits.	. •  ............
Liabilities for purchase—contract program
Employees leave liability.........................
Total Liabilities
INVESTMENT OF U.S. GOVERNMENT
Investment of U.S. Government
Total Liabilities and Investment of U.S. Government
increase or
June 30,1970 June 30,1971	Decrease
$ 800.6	467.5	$ 333.1
142.1	174.9	-32.8
203.4	224.4	-21.0
586.5	6,794.0	-207.5
22	15	7
185.1	203.1	-18.0
1.7	2.0	-.3
189.8	184.6	5.2
2,580.1	2,591.8	-11.7
540.3	603.9	-63.6
82.4	86.8	-4.4
11,314.2	11,334.5	-20.3
SUNKEN TREASURES
What government agency negotiates contracts with adventurers and salvagers who believe they can find sunken treasures? GSA, of course. The agency has jurisdiction over the preservation, sale or collection of any property the government has an interest in, which has been wrecked or abandoned within U.S. boundaries.
BLANKETS FOR REFUGEES
To aid displaced Pakistanis, TCS cooprated with AID in transporting 170,000 pounds of woolen blankets from Woonsocket, R.l. to Boston for emergency air shipment to India. The blankets are to be given to the refugees for use as bedding during the winter.
BB’S FOR DEFENSE
FSS bought 680 BB guns last year for the Military Advisory Command Vietnam and will supply an additional 300 guns, nearly 15,000 maintenance parts and 63 million rounds of BB shot in the near future. The guns and shot are used to teach South Vietnamese soldiers the technique of quick reaction and instant firing without aiming.
HIPPIES PAY TAXES TOO
It was unorthodox, but there they were: six hippies, their progress carefully monitored by GSA security guards, entering the Internal Revenue Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. to pay their taxes. Instead of handing the money to the cashier they threw it on the floor and asked permission to take pictures. Permission was refused, and the hippies left. It is assumed the IRS employees picked up the money.
ANYONE FOR UMBILICALS?
PMDS routinely disposes of hundreds of items for other government agencies. It was still a bit unusual, however, to be asked by NASA to find a buyer for the Saturn Launch Tower and umbilical tower located at Complex 34 at Cape Kennedy. Complex 34 was the site of the launch of Apollo Seven, the first manned Apollo shot in 1968. The 320-foot tower with five elevators and a 103-ton bridge crane cost NASA $17 million.
A SLIGHT SAVINGS
Three TCS technicians were awarded Presidential citations for designing and building a sophisticated switchboard capable of handling classified phone calls in absolute security. They spent $14,500 in developing the board. Estimates of the cost if an outside firm had attempted the project were set at $235,000.
COOPERATION
The government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed legislation allowing the City of Boston to acquire land overlying the boundary between Boston and Cambridge. Boston's intent was to trade the land for a GSA motorpool and develop the site for recreational purposes. GSA cooperated by offering to move its facility to the other tract. Thus, in a unique 3-way cooperative move involving Federal, state and municipal governments, the best interests of the public were properly served.
APACHE BRIEFCASES
A $300,000 contract to provide dispatch and briefcases was awarded by FSS to the JAT Industries, Altadena, Calif. The company is wholly owned by the Jicarillo Apache Indian Tribe. The briefcases will be manufactured at Dulce, N. Mex., an area chronically hit by high unemployment rates. The tribe won the contract through competitive bidding.
MOVING 539 TONS OF GOLD
The shipment of 539 tons of gold bars from Fort Knox to the U.S. Assay Office in New York was arranged by TCS. The move was made by armored car over a four-week period without incident. The U.S. Treasury Department requested GSA’s aid in the shipment, total value of which was set at about $500 million.
potpourri

39
THE PERISCOPE
Five government vehicles are equipped for experimental purposes with a new safety device termed “the periscope.” The periscope is a rear-view mirror system which broadens the scope of view, enabling the driver to have almost total peripheral vision. The project, sponsored jointly by TCS and the Department of Transportation, will be evaluated after an initial trial period.
ANYONE FOR TITANIUM?
Due to the discontinuance of the program to develop a supersonic transport passenger plane (SST), PMDS is beginning to offer for competitive bid large quantities of titanium in various forms. The release of the titanium stockpile was coordinated with representatives of the titanium industry to prevent significant market fluctuation.
CARPETED BARRACKS?
In order to aid the prospects for an allvolunteer U.S. Army, the Federal Supply Service was engaged by Army and Air Force top brass in an effort to improve existing conditions in barracks and officers quarters. FSS’s first effort will be to supply $1.5 million worth of desks, chairs, carpets, typewriters, bookcases, wardrobes, and davenports for use in barracks and recruiting stations throughout the U.S. and overseas.
PUBLIC PAPERS
The first Nixon volume in the series “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States,” edited by the Office of the Federal Register, was published in fiscal 1971 and presented to President Nixon by Administrator Kunzig in a White House ceremony.
SUITCASES AND CASH
Special teams of trained leaders from the TCS central office and from each of the regional offices have been prepared to react immediately to natural disasters or civil disorders. Suitcases, packed with telephone numbers of key persons, lists of government officials, office supplies and even cash for unexpected expenses, are ready at all times for the use of these teams. The Emergency Operations Plan, which makes use of these teams, was tested following the tornado in the Mississippi Delta in February 1971. Three TCS employees traveled to the area and were able to provide communications assistance for the Office of Emergency Preparedness and other government agencies.
FIGHTING FOREST FIRES
TCS personnel assisted the U.S. Forest Service in fighting forest fires by arranging for emergency transportation of fire suppression material and supplies. In May 1971 two jet aircraft were chartered and three Forest Service DC-3 planes were engaged to carry emergency supplies to fight a fire at the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in New Mexico. The jets and DC-3’s were unloaded at Holloman Air Force Base for trucking of the supplies directly to the fire site.
MUSICAL SEAT BELTS
Although TCS doesn’t really believe in playing games when it comes to safety, the Office of Motor Equipment conducted a fiscal 1971 program in which “musical” seat belts were installed in 18 GSA vehicles. The program was mutually conceived by TCS and the Department of Transportation. The seats of the vehicles were wired so that the weight of a driver forces a connection which, in turn, sets off either a buzzer or a flashing light. The bothersome noise or light can be shut off only by fastening the seat belts. Operators of the vehicles were asked for their comments on the experiment. The sound of safety proved a popular tune: over 90 percent of the comments were favorable.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL EXCHANGE
Under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970, clearance was obtained for the sharing of skilled personnel by all branches of government: Federal, state and local. Under the program, one of GSA’s most capable and experienced operations research analysts was loaned for a 2-year period to the Board of Supervisors of San Luis Obispo County in California. The assignment includes consultation, technical advice, the development of long range plans, and improvement of county personnel in these matters through a program of training.
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.1971—0*451-294
40
NATIONAL GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
Appointed by the Nixon Administration in September 1969 to bring about greater public involvement in the operation of the General Services Administration
ROBERT A. FORSYTHE, CHAIRMAN Minneapolis attorney and former Assistant Secretary of H.E.W.
JAY DAVIS, JR.
Vice President, Southern Counties Gas Companies of Los Angeles
WILLIAM J. DORGAN
New Jersey businessman and former Mayor
KENNETH C. FOSTER
Executive Vice President
Prudential Insurance Company
ROBERT L. FROEMKE
Dean, Florida Atlantic
University
STANLEY GAFFIN
Boston public accountant
JOHN W. GALBREATH
Ohio real estate and insurance executive
ROBERT T. HANDREN
Senior Partner, New York architect-engineering firm
RALPH A. HART
President, Heublein, Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut
STANLEY W. McKIERNAN
Los Angeles attorney
MRS. CARMEL C. MARR
New York attorney and member N.Y. State Human Rights Appeal Board
GORDON MARSHALL
Vice President, American Concrete Pipe Company of Phoenix, Arizona
GEORGE M. PAGE
Principal, Texas architect and engineering firm
ALFRED M. SNIPES
Oklahoma City insurance and real estate executive
RAY A. WATT
President, National Corporation for Housing Partnerships
JOHN T. WILEY
Assistant Vice President, Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, Atlanta, Georgia
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