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Mr. COUGHLIN. House Administration, was it legislation passed by the Congress?

Mr. McGURN. Yes, it was a public law.

Mr. COUGHLIN. To extend our jurisdiction?

Mr. McGURN. Extend the jurisdiction to 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE.

OFFICE SPACE

I would like to make one comment, if I may, sir, in the comparison of the space at the FBI Building that the CBO has and the 38,000 square feet we have. Our 38,000 square feet includes the hallways and all common passage areas and conferences areas as well. The 41,000 square feet you are referring to in the FBI Building, does not include this.

If you take out the common space, we actually have about 28,000 square feet for the offices themselves. If you divide that out it is roughly about 130 to 134 square feet per person as a mean average. It's not excessive at all.

ASSESSMENT REQUESTS TURNED DOWN

Mr. COUGHLIN. Just one other brief line of questioning. You indicated you had 53 requests for studies this past year. How many of those did you turn down, if any?

Mr. PETERSON. Let me ask someone there this past year to answer the question?

Mr. DE SIMONE. We turned down two requests, and this was in coordination with the General Accounting Office, CRS and CBOthe coordinating mechanism Governor Peterson mentioned earlier. We determined that these requests could be better handled by them.

Mr. COUGHLIN. That was the next question, how many did you refer. So you referred those to another more appropriate agency? Mr. DE SIMONE. Yes, sir, to GAO.

Mr. PETERSON. Over the time OTA has been in business they have not acted on roughly one-third of the requests that have come to them from various committees, not necessarily turning them down, but not activating them either because of the limitation on funds-the board deciding which projects should get priority.

So, it's not a question of working on everything. There are a substantial number not acted on because of necessity to establish priorities within our budget limitations. My experience says that is a good way to operate, because when you have something to compare against, it's easier to decide which ones ought to be given the money, than if you had plenty of money, and an insufficient number of projects.

OFFICE SPACE

In regard to the space item, it might be helpful to point out that we are working with outside people, using a large number of contractors, many consultants. They come together at our quarters, and we have modest conference space for such meetings. It also means our 130 people, particularly those in the program area, are really managing many people from around the country other than

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those on our own staff. They integrate these reports, and pull them together. So it's not just a case of managing the 130; it's 130 plus almost 500 consultants, as well as contractors that are now working with us.

PARKING FACILITIES

Mr. COUGHLIN. Is there adequate parking there?

Mr. PETERSON. Yes; there is parking provided within the building for OTA employees.

Mr. COUGHLIN. All 130 of them?

Mr. McGURN. The answer is yes. It provides space for those who require parking. We pay for 104 parking spaces in the second subbasement at what amounts to $2.33 a year per square foot. I think we got a very good deal. The sub-basement is about 20,000 square feet, and out of this $2.33 a square foot we also get our storage areas as well as parking, so that is quite convenient.

Mr. COUGHLIN. That is part of that amount?

Mr. McGURN. Yes.

ASSESSMENT OF FEASIBILITY OF COAL CONVERSION

Mr. COUGHLIN. Have you done any studies on the technology feasibility, economics of coal conversion?

Mr. PETERSON. We have a major study there. Let me call upon Skip Johns, who is our program manager in that area.

Mr. JOHNS. In fact, we have a project under way at the present time, and we have not completed the project as of this time. We expect to complete it in April.

Mr. COUGHLIN. Send us a copy of that report when you finish it. Mr. JOHNS. Yes, sir.

Mr. PETERSON. We have another related project in our Materials group by Al Paladino.

Mr. PALADINO. The Materials Program study is analyzing the overall Government coal leasing program to determine whether or not additional leases may be required to achieve coal production goals by 1986. We are also considering the feasibility of using deep mining technologies vs. surface mining to minimize environmental impacts while increasing coal production.

Mr. COUGHLIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

CONTRACTING PROCEDURE

Mr. SHIPLEY. Mr. Benjamin, do you have other questions? Mr. BENJAMIN. Mr. Peterson, you have referred to this again. The statute allows you to enter into contracts or other arrangements as may be necessary for conduct of work of the office with any agency or instrumentality of the United States, with any State, territory or possession, or any political subdivision thereof, or with any person, firm, association, corporation or educational institutions with or without reimbursement, without performance or other bonds, and without regard to section 3709 of the revised statute which is 41 U.S.C. 5.

What is that exception, section 3709 of your revised statute? Mr. McGURN. That is the exclusion from advertising for bids, primarily.

Mr. BENJAMIN. So all of your contracts that are with outside agencies are without bid. You select them yourself?

Mr. McGURN. No. That provision just allows us to contract without advertising. Whenever possible and whenever it's economically feasible- that is, where the contract is large and the time-frame permits we send out for competitive bids.

DISTRIBUTION OF OTA CONTRACTS BY TYPE OF CONTRACTOR

Mr. BENJAMIN. How many of your contracts percentagewise, if you know, are let with educational institutions and how many with other instrumentalities of Government?

Mr. McGURN. We will furnish that for the record.

Mr. BENJAMIN. I would appreciate that, and also let me ask you how many contracts did you let in calendar year 1978?

Mr. McGURN. We accumulate this figure by fiscal year, and in fiscal year 1977 we let 222 contracts. So far in fiscal year 1978 we have let 107, including major modifications-add-ons.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Do you recall what is your largest and what is your smallest one?

Mr. McGURN. I will give you a rough figure.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Yes.

Mr. McGURN. The largest contract during fiscal year 1977 was somewhere in the neighborhood of $175,000, I can give you the exact number, and the amounts go to as low as $200 or $300.

Mr. BENJAMIN. I would like to get a list for the record for fiscal 1977 and fiscal 1978 to date of those contracts that were let in excess of $10,000, that also are broken down further by those let to educational institutions, Government entities, and then, of course, the last category would be associations that are either not for profit or for profit.

[The information follows:]

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Major modifications (add-ons) to contracts are counted as individual contracts.

FISCAL YEAR 1978 PAY SUPPLEMENTAL REQUEST

Mr. SHIPLEY. Let's turn very briefly to the supplemental request for 1978. You are requesting $281,000. Is this all for the October, 1977, pay raise increase?

Mr. McGURN. That is correct.

Mr. SHIPLEY. How much were you able to absorb?

Mr. McGURN. We weren't able to absorb any of it.

Mr. SHIPLEY. If there are no further questions, we appreciate very much, Mr. Peterson, your being here, and you have done a tremendous job.

Mr. Winn, it's a pleasure to have you before the committee. Mr. WINN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We would like to invite the Members of the committee down to 600 Pennsylvania and see the facilities. I just saw them there myself the other day. Compared to running around in nine different places it should make a much more efficient operation.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Thank you.

Mr. SHIPLEY. The committee will stand adjourned until Tuesday at 10 a.m.

[Whereupon, at 12:40 p.m. the subcommittee adjourned.]

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