Could somebody give us an explanation as to why these new handtools of the variety that we have before us, a ball peen hammer, a large screwdriver, the adjustable wrench, and so forth, were offered? Lieutenant Colonel JENNINGS. Colonel Nelson could give that information. TESTIMONY OF LT. COL. LOWELL NELSON, POST QUARTERMASTER OFFICER, CAMP DRUM, N. Y. Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. The wrench there of the Stilson type does not belong to quartermaster, but the other items are quartermaster items. The decision was made on the same basis that everybody else's was predicated on. Only summer training was to be anticipated in the future. There were very few military personnel to assist in the training. There was no necessity for having that type of tool here for quartermaster purposes. Mr. COTTER. Did you look into the engineer's bins? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. They have their own tools. Mr. IKARD. Suppose that the post engineer needed some screwdrivers of the black type, and the quartermaster had them, could the engineers get them? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. The normal procedure would be to supply them through engineer channels. In an emergency quartermaster could supply them. Mr. IKARD. I do not mean an emergency, but a normal operational procedure. If the quartermaster had 100 of them, and if the engineers needed 25, could they get them from quartermaster? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. No, the normal procedure would be for the engineers to requisition them from engineer supply sources. Mr. IKARD. And if quartermaster had 100 here on the base, or 500 that were surplus so far as the quartermaster was concerned, you would go ahead and sell them? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. Or dispose of them. Mr. IKARD. And the engineers, at the same time on the same base, may be acquiring the same item? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. That is conceivable. Lieutenant Colonel JENNINGS. When the quartermaster turned those tools over to the property disposal section, if the engineers wanted them we would issue them to them. The engineers could draw them. There are many cases when items are turned in to property disposal and we later issue them before they are sold. Mr. RIEHLMAN. If the quartermaster had turned them over for disposal purposes? Lieutenant Colonel JENNINGS. Yes, sir, and if the engineer wished to draw them, he could. Mr. RIEHLMAN. Under normal circumstances if quartermaster had them in supply, and the engineers on the same base wanted 25 screwdrivers, they could not get them from quartermaster but would have to requisition them from engineer supply sources? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. That is the normal procedure. Colonel BEDELL. I think quartermaster could have gotten authority to transfer. Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. The question asked was could the engineers do it normally? Normally, no, but in an emergency they could come to quartermaster. Mr. IKARD. I understand that, and I am using the engineers and the quartermaster only for an illustration. The principle is the same. Is there any procedure here in Camp Drum or in any other installation whereby if the quartermaster had 100 or 500 or 5,000 of these screwdrivers, excess to the needs of quartermaster, the other technical services on the base would know what you were disposing of? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. Yes, there is. First, at the station itself, in the circulation of their proposal to the First Army, the First Army has an opportunity to screen that, and if another technical service needed it they would draw on it. Mr. IKARD. On this istallation here, is there any procedure whereby they could get it? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. That was explained by Colonel Jennings. Mr. RIEHLMAN. As we understand it, these screwdrivers and files and hammers that are over here in this building are excess Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. That is right. Mr. RIEHLMAN. And they are up for sale? Mr. RIEHLMAN. Are you saying to the committee and the services that there is nowhere in the military services where you are going to be able to use this type of screwdriver or file or chisel? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. I cannot answer that in a general way. I am not at that stage or that level where I can determine that. It is not required to turn back to the quartermaster depot as an item. Mr. RIEHLMAN. Then the Army Quartermaster Corps has no use for these? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. That is right. Mr. RIEHLMAN. I would like to know just how many screwdrivers the quartermaster will be buying in the next 12 months. Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. That is beyond my scope. Mr. RIEHLMAN. But it isn't beyond my imagination. Mr. IKARD. And it is pretty hard for a screwdriver to become obsolete. Mr. RIEHLMAN. These things may seem trivial in the minds of some people, but it is the accumulation of these things that bother us. We see on the one hand a disposal program netting practically nothing in terms of financial returns, and on the other hand we see dipping into the Treasury to buy. Those are the things we want to be constructive about when we can. We have new items here, and, as my colleague said, I cannot see any possibility of these items becoming obsolete. Mr. COTTER. Can your Engineer Repair and Maintenance Department say that they will not have to requisition some of these tools before April 1 just to carry this camp in a standby condition? FURTHER TESTIMONY OF CAPT. HERSCHEL G. NANCE, ASSISTANT POST ENGINEER, CAMP DRUM, N. Y. Captain NANCE. There is no way for us to say that we will not need them. Mr. COTTER. You do have bins here for small tools, do you not? Captain NANCE. That is right. Mr. COTTER. Our inspection this morning showed that they were nearly empty. Captain NANCE. Yes, sir. Mr. COTTER. You are charged with the maintenance of the camp as a standby installation until it is activated next summer? Captain NANCE. Yes, sir. Mr. COTTER. Isn't there any minimum requirement for a standby stock of tools of this kind? Captain NANCE. A 90-day stock. Mr. COTTER. Do you have a 90-day stockpile? Captain NANCE. Yes, sir, of everything we can foresee that we need. However, again we go back to the question that if we are going on a standby basis, and there is an excess program where we are to dispose of certain material, where do we stop? If we acquire from quartermaster or any other technical service 2 screwdrivers, or 2,000 for that matter, there is a lot of clerical work and a lot of inventory work behind them. We cannot pick them up and forget about them. Mr. COTTER. But you are approaching the ridiculous when you have a small lot of perfectly good tools, and are selling them at very low prices, and at the same time you have some empty bins which are supposed to maintain the camp. Captain NANCE. Maybe a year from now the officer in charge will have his bins full and he won't have the required personnel to inventory the property. From his point of view he may have to dig in his pocket and pay for the storage. Mr. COTTER. Do you think that is the real reason why you are disposing of them when you have empty bins on the other hand? Captain NANCE. No, sir. We are taking care of our requirements and following our missions. Handtools, we furnish very little of them. Most of the mechanics furnish their own. Mr. RIEHLMAN. I think the colonel told me this morning that many of the people would bring their own tools for their own work. Captain NANCE. That is right, the contractors. Mr. RIEHLMAN. That part I would be willing to accept, but I still do not feel happy about disposing of this type of equipment as surplus when I probably will have a chance to look over the appropriation request in the coming months and see that the same department is asking for a few hundred thousand dollars to buy wrenches, and files, and screwdrivers and whatnot. We are going to try to do our level best to make some constructive criticisms. I suppose you gentlemen feel that you must follow the regulations which are given you. Maybe it is our responsibility to see that the regulations are changed so that we can correct some of these evils and get them straightened out. But I must restate what I did before, that it just does not appear to any person who is in business that this is a good business policy, to declare up here as surplus something that you know very well isn't going to deteriorate or become obsolete, and at the same time know very well that you will have to buy identical items in the very near future. Those things are what we hope we can be helpful in correcting. Mr. IKARD. I am wondering how a screwdriver or a wrench or a hammer can be surplus. Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. It is technical service excess. They are not required to return it to the depot if it is worth under $100. Mr. IKARD. That is the point I was trying to make. If you had over $100 worth of screwdrivers and hammers and wrenches, you would have to return them? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. No, they would be reported on another form and the proper technical service would then make the decision. as to whether the post would return them or dispose of them. Mr. IKARD. What is your experience where you had over $100 worth? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. Everything I have over $100 has been reported. Mr. IKARD. What action has been taken? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. Some of it was returned to the depot and the other was disposed of. Mr. IKARD. What items on these small tools particularly? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. Those items were here apparently long before my time. The quartermaster on a TA-20 used them only for orthopedic hospital repair purposes. In the other case it is used for rehabilitation of patients in teaching them occupations by hand. That is the only reason that the quartermaster would have them, except for the carpenter kits and so forth. Mr. RIEHLMAN. The rehabilitation program is still going on, is it not? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. Yes, sir. Mr. RIEHLMAN. They would be using the same type of tool then? Lieutenant Colonel NELSON. I presume so. It is only an assumption. Mr. RIEHLMAN. I could not imagine them changing a screwdriver or a file very much. Lieutenant Colonel JENNINGS. That comes under the $100 worth. Mr. RIEHLMAN. Are there any other questions on this sale? If not, will you please proceed? SALE NO. 13 Mr. COTTER. Sale No. 13, the invitations for bids were issued on September 2, 1953, and the opening date for the bids is October 8, 1953. This sale consists of trucks, road grader and a Chevrolet sedan which we saw this morning. I do not think there is any question about that. The bids have not yet been opened. Mr. RIEHLMAN. No, I have no question about that. We will ask for information as to what the bids were, and what you got for the trucks, and when they are sold. Lieutenant Colonel JENNINGS. Do you want this information forwarded to you? Mr. RIEHLMAN. Yes, sir. 19 for purchase and removal of Government-owned property listed :30 MIN A bid deposit of. percent of the total amount bid, in the form of postal or express money order, or cashier's or certified check, or such other form of security as may be acceptable to the contracting officer, made payable to the Treasurer of the United States, must accompany the bid. 20 I calendar days after notice of award, unless otherwise specified in the description or in any special condition, time to be computed from the date of mailing or otherwise furnishing said notice. BID DATE OF BID In compliance with the above invitation, and subject to all the General Sale Terms and Conditions and any special conditions, the undersigned offers and agrees, if this bid be accepted within. calendar days (60 calendar days if no period be specified by the bidder) after date of the opening, to purchase any or all of the items described herein upon which prices are quoted, at the price set opposite each item. Bid deposit in the amount of $ is enclosed. BIDDER REPRESENTS: (1) That the aggregate number of employees of the bidder and its affiliates is (Check appropriate boxes) 500 or more, less than 500. (2) That he has, has not, employed or retained a company or person (other than a full-time employee) to solicit or secure this contract, and agrees to furnish information relating thereto as requested by the contracting officer. NAME AND ADDRESS OF BIDDER (Street and number, city and State) SIGNATURE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN THIS BID |