SUPPLY SERVICE

The supply service was established under General Order 246, dated January 17, 1924, which placed under the direction of one assistant director all activities dealing with the procurement and furnishing of facilities, personnel, supplies, and services necessary to the bureau in carrying out its manifold duties.

The supply division consists of the following divisions: The supply division, the construction division, the chief clerk's division, and the personnel division, and the supply activities of the bureau are reported according to these divisions in the following pages.

THE SUPPLY DIVISION

The supply division is responsible for the procurement, storage, issuance, and accounting for all materials, supplies, and equipment required to carry on the activities of the United States Veterans' Bureau, both in central office and the field. Incident thereto this division executes all contracts and leases for space, buildings, lands, services, and materials and makes disposition, by sale or otherwise, of all surplus property; and is also charged with the transportation of passengers and commodities of the bureau.

Coincident with the director's policy of coordination of the business functions of the bureau into operating divisions, a reorganization of the supply division was made during the year. At the beginning of the fiscal year a personnel of 242 was assigned to this division with the following organization: Administrative staff, purchase and issue subdivision, and maintenance and repair subdivision. At the close of the fiscal year the division maintained a personnel of 197, thereby reducing the personnel by 18.5 per cent, and consisted of the following organization: Administrative staff, property and contract subdivision, purchase and issue subdivision, and traffic subdivision.

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

The administrative staff has general supervision over all the activities of the supply division. For administrative purposes there are included on this staff special approving officers and the library unit.

Under date of July 11, 1923, the supply section of the medical division, acting as an approving section, was transferred to the administrative staff of the supply division, and was assigned to the examination and approval, amendment, or disapproval of, and handling of correspondence incident to requisitions and proposals received from field stations and in central office. Requisitions for supplies and equipment for hospitals being opened have their origin in the duties assigned to this personnel. Approximately 20,000 requisitions were submitted to the approving officers for action during the fiscal year 1924. Equipment and supplies are standardized and lists thereof

are prepared for use of field stations. The transfer of the approving section, medical division, to this division has expedited action on requisitions and resulted in elimination of delay of delivery to field.

The library unit of the supply division, formerly the library subsection of the medical division, was transferred to the supply division August, 1923, and has established policies in regard to the requisitioning of, and furnishing of books, for and to the various hospitals which has resulted in better library service to the field. The number of volumes of books reported in 46 hospitals operated by the United States Veterans' Bureau was 110,282. The amount expended for this fiscal year for books and periodicals for the use of bureau beneficiaries was $31,387.81.

PROPERTY AND CONTRACT SUBDIVISION

The real estate and contract section. legal division, was transferred to the supply division September 10, 1923. This transfer tended to a closer cooperation between the activities of acquiring space and the work incident to the acceptance of proposals and the preparation of contracts relating to construction activities in acquired space and properties. Furthermore, the transfer localized in the supply division the handling of contracts for all supplies and services required in central office and the field. The policy of decentralization of certain purchases was considered by this subdivision, resulting in the decentralization of purchases of subsistence supplies, forage, ice, janitor and laundry supplies, gasoline, oil, and lubricants in the field, that the medical officers in charge of the hospitals and the district managers, may purchase locally at prices which have proven to be more advantageous than were formerly secured under quarterly proposals submitted to central office for acceptance.

Extended efforts of this subdivision have been directed toward securing reduction in rental of office space, and the consolidation and closing of various field activities, with the view of eliminating leased space of bureau occupancy. Of consequence the following savings were effected through the cancellation of leases, and reduction of rentals in occupied quarters:

That centralized control may be had of bureau property, the property accounts section was transferred to the real estate and contract subdivision on January 23, 1924, and the name of the latter subdivision was changed to property and contract subdivision. This resulted in the placing of the responsibility of terminating leases and removing Government property from the leased space, prior to the vacation of the premises, in one subdivision. Incident to the activities of this subdivision new property regulations were issued as of May 1, 1924. These regulations consolidate and simplify all previous regulations in regard to care and accounting for bureau property. The vital change accomplished by the new regulations consists in the substitution of property record cards for the property return, and the auditing of property accounts in the field by property auditors,

instead of in central office. During the fiscal year a survey of most of the district offices was accomplished by a supply division representative, with the view toward consolidating office equipment and coordinating the supply activities within the districts, resulting in the location and declaration of an enormous amount of surplus equipment not previously reported surplus, making it available for issue to other activities where needed, or if found not to be of future bureau requirement other disposition thereof made.

This subdivision has also revised hospital and burial contracts with the result that better service will be secured during the coming fiscal year, than has heretofore been obtained under the provisions of the contract forms used.

PURCHASE AND ISSUE SUBDIVISION

The functions of the purchase and issue subdivision are to purchase, store, and distribute all materials, supplies, and equipment necessary to meet the needs of the bureau, and also to make administrative examination of fiscal vouchers. This subdivision is divided into two sections, namely, the purchase section, which solicits proposals and purchases supplies and equipment, as well as to make administrative examination of fiscal vouchers covering supplies and equipment purchased, and the issue section, which has general supervision over the supply depots and is responsible for distributing supplies to the various activities of the bureau.

The following are the classes of material, supplies, and equipment purchased and issued:

Class 10-Stationery, paper, and paper articles, office appliances and supplies, drafting instruments and supplies.

Class 11.-Household supplies, cleaning material and compounds, china, crockery, glassware.

Class 12.-Dry goods, clothing, textiles, cordage.

Class 13.-Furniture, furnishings, floor coverings.

Class 14.-Hardware, metals, small tools, agricultural implements, paints, painter's supplies, mechanical shop equipment.

Class 15.-Arts and crafts material and supplies.

Class 16.-Gasoline, lubricants.

Class 17.-Motor vehicles and parts, tires, tubes, accessories.

Class 18-Electrical equipment and supplies, engineering equipment and. supplies, plumbing equipment and supplies.

Class 19.-Lumber, millwork, packing boxes, building materials.

Class 20.-Drugs, medicines, chemicals, stains.

Class 21.-Surgical instruments and supplies, prosthetic equipment and supplies, orthopedic equipment and supplies.

Class 22.-Hospital apparatus, appliances and supplies, laboratory apparatus, appliances and supplies.

Class 23.-Dental instruments, equipment and supplies.

Class 24-Photographic equipment and supplies, X-ray equipment and supplies, physiotherapy equipment and supplies.

Class 26.-Books, publications, maps, charts, etc.

Class 27.-Livestock, laboratory specimens.

Class 28.-Seeds, plants, shrubs, trees.

During the fiscal year 1924 the purchase and issue subdivision filled 21,431 requisitions from stations of the Veterans' Bureau located in all parts of the continental United States and insular possessions. In filling these requisitions $2,204,581.61 was spent or obligated.

At the beginning of the fiscal year supply depots were operated at Long Island City, N. Y., Perry Point, Md., Chicago, Ill., Chillicothe,

Ohio, and Washington, D. C. The depots at Chillicothe, Ohio, and Washington, D. C. were closed during the fiscal year.

As an indication of the value of property handled and located in the various supply depots, the records show that the total value of issues was $4,539,817.76, and the total value of property shipped into the various depots approximated $4,000,000.

TRAFFIC SUBDIVISION

The traffic subdivision of the supply division handles all matters pertaining to freight and express rates, routing and tracing of shipments, classification of commodities to insure the assessment of proper rates, routing, investigation, and collection of loss and damage claims, and all matters pertaining to demurrage, terminal, and switching charges. Furthermore, it handles Government meal, lodging, and transportation requests, and Government bills of lading. During the current fiscal year this division furnished routing instructions for 3,929 cars.

The motor transportation section of the traffic subdivision functions to operate and maintain motor vehicles throughout the various bureau activities. It supervises the purchase, transfer, allocation, and disposition of all motor transportation, and approves recommendations for the hiring of personnel directly in charge of such field activities. This section has adopted the policy of eliminating unserviceable vehicles of nonstandard types, replacing them with standardized types. It has taken action toward the furnishing of inclosed ambulance bodies to be used for the better care of bureau beneficiaries. By means of mechanical inspection reports and operating costs, showing the exact condition of each vehicle and the cost of operation thereof, the motor transportation activities in the field have been coordinated to such an extent that the number of vehicles has been materially decreased and better transportation service has been furnished.

While during the past year much has been accomplished toward the rendering of satisfactory and efficient service to the field stations, through reorganization and closer coordination of the various activities within the division, there still remains a wide field for further improvements in this service. Of consequence, based upon the results of supply activities during the fiscal year 1924, there is under consideration in this division the promulgation of regulations and general orders tending toward a further decentralization of purchasing activities, and the permitting of field activities to requisition supplies directly from supply depots, the supply division of central office maintaining therein a standardized list of supplies, although no attempt will be made to decentralize the procurement and issue of special equipment required for field activities. The decentralization of purchasing activities and the procedure of direct requisition of supplies from supply depots is one of the chief problems for solution during the next fiscal year.