MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1972.

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATOR

INDIAN TRIBAL CLAIMS

WITNESSES

G. C. GARDNER, JR., ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR ADMINISTRATION

WILLIAM J. RITA, ACTING DIRECTOR, ACCOUNTING POLICY AND PROGRAMS DIVISION, OFFICE OF FINANCE

WALTER W. STENDER, ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST, OFFICE OF FED-
ERAL RECORDS CENTERS

CLIFFORD L. PORTER, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF BUDGET
RALPH A. BARNEY, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Mr. ADDABBO. The committee will come to order.

We now have before us Mr. G. C. Gardner, Assistant Administrator for Administration for General Services Administration.

Mr. Gardner, for the record, will you tell us who you have with you? Mr. GARDNER. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I am G. C. Gardner, Assistant Administrator for Administration, General Services Administration, and I have with me Mr. Clifford Porter, Office of Budget; Mr. William Rita, Office of Finance; and Mr. Walter Stender, National Archives, General Services Administration. And I also have Mr. Ralph Barney, representing the Justice Department.

Mr. ADDABBO. Will you proceed with your statement.
Mr. GARDNER. Yes, sir.

GENERAL STATEMENT

On behalf of the Acting Administrator of General Services, Arthur Sampson, who asked me to express to you his regrets that he could not be here today, I wish to thank you for the opportunity of appearing before this committee. Recent rulings of the Indian Claims Commission and the court of claims have placed a heavy new burden on the Federal Government to provide certain Indian tribes with accounting reports.

The reports will account for the handling by the Government of Indian Trust moneys covering periods of up to 100-150 years. The Department of Justice, with responsibility for representing the Government in Indian claims matters, has asked the General Services Administration to provide this service. Initially, it was our reaction that GSA did not have roots in Indian affairs sufficient to warrant attachment of responsibility for the broad new Indian accounting demands placed on the Government. However, we ended up with the

responsibility because many Government Indian records from the earlier days of the republic are housed in GSA records centers and because it is the position of the Department of Justice that having the basic accounting reports prepared by GSA would add a degree of independence which could not be achieved if the Department of Justice or the Bureau of Indian Affairs were to do the accounting work.

The accounting reports will be used in proceedings before the Indian Claims Commission. Public Law 92-265 extended the life of the Indian Claims Commission until April 10, 1977. Much of the work now ordered by the courts has never previously been performed. As a result, there is no comparable existing work nor historical effort to provide a measurement for forecasting workloads. But it is clear that, if the orders of the court are to be fulfilled within the remaining life of the Indian Claims Commission, a large staff must be assembled, trained, and employed in the development of the reports.

Our budget requirements have been developed with the cooperation and concurrence of Department of Justice officials.

We will be pleased to answer any questions which the committee may wish to ask.

LIFE OF COMMISSION

Mr. ADDABBO. Thank you, very much.

What is the estimated life of this operation?

Mr. GARDNER. Of the route we are asking you to establish?

We would place an April 10, 1977 end on it if the Commission goes out of business.

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST

Mr. ADDABBO. Do you have any idea what the total estimated cost would be?

Mr. GARDNER. No, sir. This supplemental before you now we are forecasting a requirement for 135 people, and $1.8 million in salaries and expense money to get this effort started. My best guess, if we are anywhere near right on the staffing required, we might possibly go as high as 160 people. That depends on where we go from here. Mr. ADDABBO. Are these additional people to be hired or just manyears?

Mr. GARDNER. No, sir; these are brand new. We have got to try to find some professional accountants, hire them, get them established and organized into teams. By the way, we are hoping to approach this with five teams made up of about 20 people each. It would include accountants, records research people. We are going to need some help from the National Archives in preserving some of these records. There will be an awful lot of travel involved.

Mr. ADDABBO. Will you supply for the record a grade structure? Mr. GARDNER. Yes, sir. I have that here and will provide it now for the record.

(The information follows:)