when there is new legislation; when there are new users it has an impact on ADP operations. It indicates that we are doing more and more with our computers and, of course, we pick up the postage in our budget when this workload is done in the data processing centers. Mr. JOHNSON. There is an increase in parcel post rates as well. Mr. BOLAND. That is almost a $500,000 increase. Is it really going to cost you this much? Mr. BUDD. This is uncontrollable. This is done by sampling within the agency. The Office of Management and Evaluation, I believe, conducts a sample periodically. This is arranged with the Post Office and these samplings are then used to determine agency costs. I believe that is common Federal Government practice. Mr. BOLAND. We will try to help you control that. INCREASE IN MAIL COSTS Mr. TALCOTT. They have explained how they come up with these figures, but why is there such an increase in the mail? Mr. BUDD. The increase, sir, is due to the volume that we are handling in our data processing centers. Mr. TALCOTT. You mean your volume has increased about three times in 1 year? Mr. BUDD. No, sir; part of this increase is due to prior year. The arrangements that the agencies have worked out with the Post Office is that estimates are made, and when actual volume exceeds the estimates, agencies budget for this difference in the following year. So part of this is to make up a deficiency that has occurred from prior years. Mr. BOLAND. On Computer Equipment Rental, page 1-72, computer equipment rental increases $484,000 in 1972. Why this increase? Mr. BUDD. The computer rental cost is due to annualization of rent on computers we obtained. For example, the Durham computer being obtained this spring will be onboard all next year. When we order a computer we don't get all the devices. A computer has many components, as you know, but we just get those components that are needed at that time. As we proceed in making conversions this coming summer, additional devices that are expensive will have been added by the end of this year. We didn't want them until they were actually needed. As we convert these applications we need these devices, so we add them only as they are needed. Mr. BOLAND. On the breakdown of the computer equipment rental, I note that the rental of three IBM 360/65's is estimated in 1971 to be $2,600,000 and in 1972, $2,708,000. Why should the cost go up as the equipment grows older? Mr. BUDD. There are certain additional components being added, sir. The 360/365 computer as we describe it here, has anywhere from 15 to 20 component pieces which can be rented individually so we just get delivery on those pieces that we need and defer delivery on the remainder. This accounts for this type of situation. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS COSTS Mr. BOLAND. On page 1-73, under other services, miscellaneous service increases by $185,000. What is this money to be spent for? Mr. BUDD. One of the big items is security at our data processing centers. I guess everyone is aware of seeing almost weekly now where demonstrators have chosen to use some computer sites for some of their meetings, and of course this is something that one can't tolerate. We can't put up with something like that because we have such critical records at our computer centers. So we are installing security measures. We are replacing certain glass with shatterproof glass. We are trying to do the things that we think are necessary to give us a greater degree of security against demonstrations, fire, and so forth. Mr. BOLAND. Thank you, Mr. Budd, for your responses. Mr. TALCOTT. May I ask just a couple of questions? Mr. BOLAND. Go ahead. COMPUTER USAGE STANDARDS AND EFFECTIVENESS Mr. TALCOTT. Are there any generally accepted standards or criteria for evaluating the use of computers that are used, say, by private industry or by the Defense Department or NASA? How can you tell how much time is spent on a particular project and how do you evaluate the use of it? Mr. BUDD. Yes, sir, there are standards that most people use in industry and in the Government. There are 720 hours in a month if you go 24 hours a day times 30. The standard that is used is 576 hours. It is a good business practice not to schedule more than 576 hours of production on your computer, because you always have the unknowns; you have the preventive maintenance time and setbacks that occur. Aside from how much a computer is used, is the question of how well. As a matter of fact, we just installed a program-we call it software-into our 360/365 computers in Austin which will do this automatically. This software program will tell us exactly how much time and for what purpose each device is used. It tells us what is going on in the computer. This will enable us to increase our efficiency. It will show us where we have inefficiencies in using certain devices. Mr. TALCOTT. How long have you had this installed? Mr. BUDD. We just installed it last month. Mr. TALCOTT. Private industry has been using it for some time. Mr. BUDD. There have been a number of packages. We looked at them but they have all had their deficiencies. Mr. TALCOTT. Can you tell us how much time a particular computer has been used for a particular job? Mr. BUDD. Yes, sir. We did it the hard way, by people writing down the time started and time ended. This is an imprecise means. Mr. TALCOTT. But now you have self-measuring? Mr. BUDD. Yes, sir; we have extensive records on our utilization and we are constantly reviewing the utilization and trying to improve it. Mr. TALCOTT. Can you tell how many hours you use each machine for a particular application? Mr. BUDD. Yes, we can tell you how many machine hours we use for each application that we have. Mr. TALCOTT. Then you can compare the amount of time that is spent for a particular project in Los Angeles as compared with Philadelphia. I don't believe any center is so slow as Los Angeles in getting things out. Mr. BUDD. I am surprised to hear you say that, Mr. Congressman. I didn't realize that. Mr. TALCOTT. I happen to live in the congressional district that utilizes three different centers and so I have a good way of comparing complaints and performance, and Los Angeles doesn't measure up very well. Mr. BUDD. Well, I would like to check on that, sir, but I think that the applications that have caused some trouble in Los Angeles actually are due to our central computer in Chicago rather than to the Los Angeles performance. Mr. TALCOTT. Well, computers are such an enormous, sophisticated, esoteric type of thing that we sometimes have a feeling they are not being used as efficiently as they ought to be used. One can easily see how a telephone is not being used efficiently or fully but computers can probably be just as inefficiently used as a telephone. Mr. BUDD. Absolutely. The mere fact that you have computers doesn't mean you are using them efficiently. We couldn't agree more. OPERATING USE OF COMPUTERS Mr. TALCOTT. I have never been able to get a breakdown of what the computers are used for. Mr. BUDD. We have a breakdown of how our computers are used and how many hours are spent on each application. We get this on a monthly basis and we can give any comparison that you suggest. Mr. TALCOTT. You have lots of graphs and schedules showing costs and savings and this sort of thing; but you don't have any graphs showing the productivity of your computers. Mr. BUDD. I do have graphs which show by computer, Mr. Talcott, the utilization of our computers. We keep these religiously. Mr. TALCOTT. I think that would be helpful to let the American taxpayer know what his equipment is being used for. (The information follows:) |