resources to embark on such an enormous task. The Conference has, however, made a modest beginning towards understanding the dimensions of the overall problem and developing mechanisms for solving it. There is currently in progress a study of existing agency complaint-handling procedures. The Conference plans to continue and accelerate its development of an information-base which will provide a clear picture of the problem in all agencies. It will then proceed to an evaluation of the relative effectiveness of existing complaint-handling institutions, an assessment of the desirability of new approaches such as a centralized Federal ombudsman, and, if feasible, the use of systematic study of complaint patterns as a method of identifying trouble spots in the administrative process that need further attention. To pursue this project the Conference plans to expend $35,000 in Fiscal Year 1974. The estimate includes the cost of data collection, measurement and analysis, and the part-time services of a legal consultant and several experienced social scientists. (e) Related contractual services, $25,000. The Conference receives administrative support services under contract with the General Services Administration. The estimate for these services is $15,000. Funds are also needed for stenographic services to transcribe the plenary sessions of the Conference, for equipment maintenance, and for the lease of office space for consultants in the District of Columbia. 7. Supplies and materials, $12,000. This item includes the cost of library books, legal periodicals, technical materials, office supplies, and related items. 8. Equipment, $5,000. It is estimated that purchases of operating equipment and replacement of office furnishings and machines will be approximately $5,000 in Fiscal 1974. ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SALARIES AND EXPENSES For necessary expenses of the Administrative Conference of the United States, established by the Administrative Conference Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. 571 et seq.), [$450,000 $700,000. (Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriation Act, 1973.) ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES-SALARIES AND EXPENSES 1 Includes capital outlay as follows: 1972, $1,000; 1973, $2,000; 1974, $5,000. Executive level 11, $42,500. GS-17, $34,335 to $36,000. GS-5, $7,319 to $9,515.. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1973. COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF THE BLIND AND OTHER SEVERELY HANDICAPPED WITNESSES VICE ADM. KENNETH R. WHEELER, CHAIRMAN CHARLES WILLIAM FLETCHER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mr. STEED. The committee will be in order. The committee is in session this afternoon to consider the 1974 budget request for the Committee for Purchase of Products and Services of the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped. The appropriation for 1973 was $200,000. The budget request for 1974 is $240,000, an increase of $40,000. We are pleased to have the Chairman of the Committee for Purchase of Products and Services of the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped, Admiral Wheeler, and the Executive Director, Mr. Fletcher. Gentlemen, we would like to have Mr. Fletcher's biographical sketch for our record at this point. [The information follows:] BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHARLES WILLIAM FLETCHER Charles W. Fletcher graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in June 1941 and was commissioned in the U.S. Army. During World War II he served in Europe, participating in the campaigns of Normandy, northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and central Europe. Following the war he held a variety of troop and staff assignments in the United States and overseas, including 21⁄2 years in the office of the Army Chief of Staff. From 1968 to 1971 he served in the office of the Assistant Secretary of DefenseInstallations and Logistics-where he directed the ground munitions production program. Later his duties were expanded to include the defense industrial preparedness program, with responsibility for industrial preparedness plans and policies, Government-owned industrial plant equipment, and industrial facilities programs. He has a master of arts degree in international affairs from the George Washington University and is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. He completed his military service in 1971 as a brigadier general. On June 29, 1972, he was designated Executive Director of the Committee for Purchase of Products and Services of the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped. Mr. STEED. Then I want to extend to you a warm and cordial welcome on behalf of the subcommittee. We are pleased to have you here. Now we will be happy to hear whatever statement you would like to make. Admiral WHEELER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With your permission, we have a statement to submit for the record and, if I may, I will highlight that statement rather than read it in its entirety. It is not too long, but bears the message we want to give to you and presents our modest budget for your consideration. Mr. STEED. Without objection, the statement will be inserted in the record at this point. [The statement follows:] STATEMENT OF KENNETH R. WHEELER, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF THE BLIND AND OTHER SEVERELY HANDICAPPED DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: It is a pleasure to appear before you today to present the appropriations request of the Committee for Purchase of Products and Services of the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped for fiscal year 1974. With me today is Mr. Charles W. Fletcher, the Executive Director for the committee. This committee was established by Public Law 92-28 which the President approved on June 23, 1971. The new act amended the Wagner-O'Day Act of 1938 and extended the coverage of that act to other severely handicapped persons, in addition to the blind, and broadened its scope to include the provision of services as well as commodities. It is the committee's responsibility to administer the expanded program, the purpose of which is to direct the procurement of selected commodities and services by the Federal Government to qualified workshops serving the blind and other severely handicapped. The objective is to increase the opportunities for employment of blind and other severely handicapped individuals, and whenever possible to prepare these individuals to engage in normal competitive employment. During the past year we have seen substantial progress toward the achievement of this objective. The committee's major functions as set forth in the new act are: To determine which commodities and services are suitable for procurement by the Government from qualified workshops for the blind and other severely handicapped. To establish and publish a list, entitled the "Procurement List," of these commodities and services. To determine the fair market price for the commodities and services on the Procurement List and to revise these prices as market conditions change, and To make such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the purposes of the act. The committee is composed of 14 members who are appointed by the President. Eleven members represent departments or agencies of the Government and three are private citizens. During the past year four members have resigned. These include three Government members and one private citizen member. The private citizen member and one Government member have been replaced. We are presently awaiting the replacement of the other two Government representatives. A roster of the committee members with a brief biographical sketch of each has been included as exhibit A. Under the new act the committee is authorized a full-time staff and an appropriation to assist in the implementation of the expanded program. Although the act was approved in June 1971, it was nearly a year later before funds were made available in the second supplemental appropriation of fiscal year 1972. Immediately upon the release of the funds a request was submitted to hire the executive director and the administrative assistant for the staff. Action was also taken to find office space and to obtain the office equipment needed to begin operations. The search for a qualified individual to serve as executive director had been initiated in late 1971. In all, over 50 applicants were considered. At its meeting in May 1972 the committee approved the selection of Mr. Charles W. Fletcher as executive director. During May and June, Mr. Fletcher worked with the committee on an unofficial basis until his appointment became effective on June 29, 1972. His biographical sketch is attached as exhibit B. The modest staff for the committee is now complete and fully operational. Its organization is shown in exhibit C. During the past year much of the committee's effort has been directed toward developing the organization and procedures required to administer the new program. The qualification of new workshops to participate in the program has been progressing nicely. In addition to the 83 blind workshops already in the program, the nonprofit status under the act has been verified for 108 workshops serving the other severely handicapped. The records of another 16 workshops for the other severely handicapped are currently under review or have been returned for additional information. Procedures have been developed for each workshop to certify that it meets the other two statutory requirements of the act; namely, it complies with Federal occupational health and safety standards and it meets the requirement that at least 75 percent of the direct labor in the workshop is performed by handicapped persons. A listing of workshops participating in the program is included as exhibit D. One of the first problems confronting the committee was to find a means for determining the qualifications and capabilities of workshops desiring to enter the program and for providing the technical and engineering assistance in the production of new commodities or the provision of new services. With its small staff, the committee obviously would be unable to provide this assistance to the hundreds of workshops who were interested in entering the program. The National Industries for the Blind has performed these functions for the blind workshops since the enactment of the Wagner-O'Day Act in 1938. In recent years that agency has devoted a significant portion of its efforts to the search for new commodities and the provision of the technical assistance required for blind workshops to produce successfully the new commodities approved by the committee. Six national agencies, Goodwill Industries of America, the Jewish Occupational Council, the National Association for Retarded Children, the United Cerebral Palsy Association, the International Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, and the National Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults (exhibit E) agreed to perform this role for the workshops serving the other severely handicapped. The committee designated these six agencies, together with the National Industries for the Blind, as the central nonprofit agencies with which it would deal in administering the expanded program. With experience, we have found that the six national agencies representing the other severely handicapped lack the means for providing the support their workshops require to make the program fully effective. The committee, in conjunction with these six central nonprofit agencies, has considered various methods for strengthening their capabilities to permit them to better fulfill their responsibilities to their workshops in carrying out the program, particularly in the provision of technical and engineering assistance. In January the committee announced its decision to support the creation of a single operating agency, similar to the National Industries for the Blind, to assist all the workshops serving the other severely handicapped in implementing the program. We are now working with the six national agencies concerned to create this new single central nonprofit agency. It will represent all the workshops serving the other severely handicapped who desire to participate in our program. During fiscal year 1972, 19 new commodities and 9 new military resale items were approved for addition to the procurement list. All of these were produced by blind workshops. Thus far during fiscal year 1973, 13 new commodities, 6 services, and 3 new military resale commodities have been added to the procurement list. The first service added to the procurement list was for furniture rehabilitation. This went to the Goodwill Industries workshop in San Antonio, Tex. A workshop in Montgomery County, Md., sponsored by the International Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, was the first workshop serving other than the blind to obtain approval for the production of a commodity. This is to produce test leads for the Air Force. A number of other commodities and services either have been or are in the process of being considered for addition to the procurement list for workshops serving the other severely handicapped. The initial procurement list consisting of commodities on the old schedule of blind-made products was published in the Federal Register on August 26, 1971. Additions to this list were published periodically during 1972 and early 1973. On March 12, 1973, procurement list 1973 was published in the Federal Register. This was a comprehensive, up-to-date listing of all the commodities and services approved by the committee on that date. In the future a similar comprehensive list will be published annually. Individual additions or deletions are published in the Federal Register as they are approved. Additionally, the General Services Administration is assisting us in the publication of the procurement list in catalog format. This will include such information as item descriptions, ordering instructions, and packing and shipping data. The first of these based upon procurement list 1973 will be distributed by July 1, 1973. Thereafter the catalog will be published each January, with consolidated changes published quarterly. Under the new act before an item may be added or removed from the procurement list a notice to this effect must be published in the Federal Register and interested parties given at least 30 days to submit their comments on the proposed action. By December 1972, seven lists covering nearly 1,500 commodities |