WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1961. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS WITNESSES CARPER W. BUCKLEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS WILLIAM H. ADDISON, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS MERRILL C. GLEASON, BUDGET AND ACCOUNTING OFFICER FRANK HIGGINBOTHAM, COMPTROLLER, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE Mr. STEED. The committee will be in order. We will consider today the request of the Superintendent of Documents. We have Mr. Buckley, the Superintendent of Documents, and his staff here. Mr. Buckley, you may proceed with your general statement. We can insert the supporting statement, but we may have some questions regarding it. GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. BUCKLEY. All right, Mr. Chairman. I was going to suggest, if agreeable to the committee, that I would also submit the general statement for the record and briefly summarize it. Mr. STEED. That will be fine. (The general statement and supporting statement are as follows:) GENERAL STATEMENT BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS I appreciate the opportunity of appearing before this committee in support of our request for the funds which, based on the best estimate we can make, will be necessary to enable the Office of the Superintendent of Documents to perform in fiscal year 1962 the functions with which we are charged by law. These are the public sale of U.S. Government publications, the issuance of catalogs and indexes of publications, distribution of publications to depository libraries, distribution for Members of Congress of certain publications allotted to them by law, and distribution of publications for other Government agencies as a centralized mailing service. The only function which produces revenue is the primary function of selling Government publications. Last year, earnings from this sale amounted to $4,109,562, an amount which exceeded for the first time the appropriated funds required to perform all of the functions of our Office. Based on the present rate of increase during the current fiscal year, we expect our total earnings for this year to reach $4,900,000, and a continuation, in the forthcoming fiscal year 1962, of the increased volume of business noted for the past 2 years will raise those earnings to $5,600,000. As our operations have grown, we have had to request increased resources to perform them. These increased investments have, however, always resulted in more than a proportionate increase in the amount of revenue that we have turned in to the Treasury. Our total revised appropriation estimate for fiscal year 1962 is $4,724,000 and we estimate that our revenue for return to the Treasury for that year will be $5,600,000. Our requested increase of $679,673 over the appropriation for fiscal year 1961 includes $144,980 for personnel compensation. Of this, $19,980 is to cover withingrade salary increases. The remainder would be used to employ, as necessary, temporary and part-time workers and to provide necessary overtime compensation, to keep our work programs on a current basis. An increase of $1,693 for personnel benefits covers the required contributions to the civil service retirement fund, employee insurance, and health benefits. Under "Rents, communications, and utilities," we have requested an increase of $8,000. Of this, $4,000 is to cover the additional postage, telephone, and telegram charges that the estimated increase in sales for fiscal year 1962 will make necessary. The remaining $4,000 is to cover our additional costs for heat, light, and power. The increase of $169,000 that we are requesting for printing and reproduction will provide for the additional cost of purchasing publications for distribution to depository libraries, additional costs involved in the printing of the monthly catalog of U.S. Government publications and the numerical list and schedule of volumes of congressional documents and reports, and for the printing of additional copies of price lists of Government publications, for which there is an increased demand due to the present high public interest in U.S. Government publications. We believe that this increase will eliminate in 1962 the unfortunate necessity during the current year of deferring many requests where these price lists could have been used to advantage. The increased need for supplies and materials that normally results from an increase in our volume of business provides the basis for an additional $62,000 requested for fiscal year 1962, to cover such necessary mailing supplies as mailing bags, envelopes, cartons, tubes, twine, cord, tape, stencils, wrapping paper, glue, and corrugated board, as well as stationery items, which include ribbons, microfilm, rubber stamps, form letters, cards, notices, coupons, and autostat supplies. We are asking for an increase of $94,000 under "Equipment," which would be used for basically nonrecurring items; $27,000 of this amount would make possible the urgently needed replacement of existing equipment, and the remainder, $67,000 is for two high-speed mailing machines recently placed on the market, which will enable us to further mechanize our multiple-copy inserting operations, with substantial economies in future mailings an anticipated result. The remaining $200,000 of our requested total increase for fiscal year 1962 would be designated as a reserve for contingencies, under the change in appropriation language which has been prepared with the assistance and cooperation of the Bureau of the Budget. The amount provided could be used only with the approval of the Public Printer when costs resulting from workload increases exceeded those provided in budget estimates. We have faced a recurring situation in recent years, where there has been a regrettable increase in the complaints from the public to us and to Members of Congress because we have not always been able to provide the service required of us in the manner that the ordering public has a right to expect. I am hopeful that the availability of this reserve fund for use if needed, and under the safeguards provided, will do much to eliminate this situation. I want to repeat that, even with the inclusion of this reserve in the appropriation requested for fiscal year 1962, we have every expectation that we shall again show earnings for that year that will exceed the amount of the entire appropriation. I assure this committee that we shall continue to make every effort to provide Congress, the public, and the other Government agencies with the best possible service. We deeply appreciate the help you have always given us in the past and the opportunity to present this statement today. STATEMENT SUPPORTING 1962 ESTIMATE FOR SALARIES AND EXPENSES, OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS The Office of the Superintendent of Documents is a division of the Government Printing Office which operates under a separate appropriation. The primary function of the Office, and the only one which produces revenue, is the sale of U.S. Government publications. Publications offered for sale are purchased from the Public Printer, and the sales price is set in accordance with provision of law at cost plus 50 percent. Acquisition costs are paid from sales receipts, and each fiscal year receipts received in excess of the cost of the publications purchased for sale are turned in to the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. This amount has steadily increased. Last year our earnings reached $4,109,562, and for the first time in the history of the Office covered not only the cost of the sales program but also the cost of all of the other programs with which the Office is charged by law. Sales for the current year are approximately 15 percent ahead of last year and we estimate that our earnings for this fiscal year will reach $4,900,000, which will again exceed the amount of our entire appropriation. The four other functions with which the Office of the Superintendent of Documents is charged produce no revenue. These functions are: (1) The compilation and issuance of catalogs and indexes of Government publications; (2) the purchase of publications and their distribution to designated depository libraries, which now number 592; (3) the distribution of publications for other Government agencies; and (4) the distribution for Members of Congress of their quotas of such publications as farmers bulletins, soil survey reports, Children's Bureau publications, and copies of the Congressional Record and Official Gazette of the Patent Office. All of our functions are of a service nature and are of such type that we have no control over the volume of work which we are called on to perform. We cannot regulate the number of publications that are issued by the various Government agencies or the number of persons who write to us for these publications. We are required to list in our catalogs and indexes information concerning every publication not confidential in character and to provide a copy for each of the 592 depository libraries which have requested it. We prepared our original estimates for fiscal year 1962 based on known factors at the time, and in anticipation of some leveling off of the unprecedented increase in volume of business experienced in fiscal year 1960, but actually, the volume of sales for the first 9 months of the current fiscal year (1961) is again exceeding all expectations and is running about 15 percent ahead of last year. There is now every evidence that this trend will continue in 1962, resulting in sales for that fiscal year estimated at $11,300,000 and earnings for return to the Treasury of $5,600,000. It is already apparent that the amount of our original estimate for 1962 could not be adequate to provide the resources necessary to meet this increased demand for the service we are required to supply. Consequently, we have submitted to the Bureau of the Budget a supplemental estimate for 1962, which is reflected in the résumé below and the comparison between the 1962 and 1961 estimates. (An income and expense statement covering the fiscal years 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, listed on pp. 8 and 9 of this statement will furnish additional and supplemental statistical information.) APPROPRIATION LANGUAGE CHANGE CONTINGENCY RESERVE The budget estimates submitted by this Office each year are designed to reflect the minimum funds that will be required to perform the actual workload expected by this Office. In recent years we have experienced substantially increased workloads over and above those which could have been reasonably anticipated at the time our budget estimates were originally prepared. As a result, in addition to the necessity of frequently amending the original budget estimates for the forthcoming fiscal year, funds requested and provided in the fiscal year preceding the amending of budget estimate have been insufficient to provide reasonably adequate service due to unexpected increases in workloads. This is particularly applicable to the present fiscal year, where we now have a situation that orders for publications are and have been from 2 to 3 weeks behind in being filled, other distributions drastically delayed, and the distribution upon request of pricelists and other publications announcements to the general public, civic, and other organizations and committees of Congress, severely curtailed. We had contemplated and investigated the possibility of requesting a deficiency appropriation in an effort to alleviate these conditions; however, final determination and justification of the amount needed could not be reasonably determined until 7 or 8 months of the fiscal year had passed, and at such a late date in the fiscal year there are ordinarily no money bills pending or other methods available which would offer a practical means of requesting a deficiency appropriation. In an effort to provide a practical and economical solution for this problem, we are asking that, of the total increase of $679,673 for the fiscal year 1962, $200,000 of this amount be provided as a reserve for contingencies that could only be used with the approval of the Public Printer when costs resulting from workload increases exceeded those provided in budget estimates. We believe that the suggested appropriation language change for this purpose, which was prepared with the help and cooperation of the Bureau of the Budget, provides adequate safeguards to insure that this fund could and would only be used for the purpose previously outlined. It is our strong belief that the availability of this reserve for contingencies for use when necessary would do much to eliminate the situation that has occurred, particularly in the past 2 years, where, due to unexpected work increases, the type of service that the ordering public has a right to expect and should have could not be provided. This situation has resulted in an increased number of complaints to Members of Congress and to this Office. We estimate that, with this additional fund requested and the availability of this reserve fund, if needed, we can again show earnings in the year 1962 that will continue to exceed the entire appropriation requested. Salaries and expenses, Office of Superintendent of Documents Revised appropriation estimate, 1962_ Increase. $4,724, 000 4,044, 327 Obligated as of March 31, 1961- Estimated obligations for April, May, and June 1961--- |