CONTENTS (a) Letter of February 10, 1959, to Comptroller General from Chair- III LETTER OF SUBMITTAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANPOWER UTILIZATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE, Hon. Toм MURRAY, December 30, 1960. Chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Subcommittee on Manpower Utilization, under House Resolution 78, has been conducting a study of the effects of Government contracting practices on the utilization of Federal manpower and on the performance of management and administrative functions which normally constitute part of the basic duties of the various Government departments and agencies in carrying out their missions. This subcommittee on April 21, 1959, issued a "Preliminary Report on the Aspects of the Missile Program in the Departments of the Navy and the Air Force" containing preliminary information and data developed by the subcommittee in its earlier consideration of Government contracting practices as they relate to manpower utilization. This inquiry was undertaken principally because of the effect on manpower utilization of the growing practice of some departments and agencies to contract out their administrative responsibilities and, secondly, because of the apparent duplication and ineffective use of manpower in such important areas as the missile program. Our preliminary report brought out several issues, which we thought wise to ask the Comptroller General of the United States to develop further. The subcommittee has received two General Accounting Office reports dated October 21, 1959, and May 19, 1960, respectively, dealing with specific questions raised in our reports. Also, a copy of a report to the Congress, covering a "Review of Administrative Management of the Ballistic Missile Program of the Department of the Air Force,' has been furnished the subcommittee. These reports point up a number of significant items relating to the missile program in the Air Force, including (a) the reluctance of the Air Force to develop its own resources to manage completely the ballistic missile program; (b) the reliance by Air Force on a cost-plus-fee contractor in a most vital role in this program; (c) high costs of the present arrangement; (d) exceptional individual profits arising from various contractual arrangements; and (e) failure by the Government to take title to valuable patents. The foregoing matters are of such serious import that the subcommittee deemed it necessary to bring them to the attention of the Secretary of Defense and to ask what is being done about them. The |