ANNUAL RECURRING ITEMS (continued)

number of paintings, portraits, and other art works, determined
by priority of need, which require work to be done for their
Capitol Art collection.
proper preservation, in view of the growth and magnitude of the

The Architect of the Capitol proposes in expending the funds
requested for 1975, to confer with the Joint Committee on the
determining priority of needs.
Library and the Senate Commission on Art and Antiquities in

$9,600..
Maintenance of electronic equipment increased from $8,000 to

.........

An increase of $1,600 is requested under this allotment for
1975 to meet increased cost of supplies, materials, and
equipment required for maintenance of the electronic equip-
use of such equipment in those buildings.
ment in the Legislative buildings and the continued expanded

Expenditures for fiscal year 1973 amounted to $14,000 due,
in part, to work required to be done by the Electronic
voting system in the House Chamber.
Division in connection with the installation of the electronic
In order to meet current

1975.
cost requirements, an allotment of $9,600 is required for

This allotment provides for the maintenance of the
electronic systems installed in the Capitol, Senate Office
Buildings, and the Rayburn House Office Building. The item
covers the cost of repairs, maintenance, additions and changes
in the Legislative signal and clock systems, and other
specialized installations such as speech reinforcement systems,
air raid alarms, television systems, frequency generators,
capacitor couplers and high frequency wiring systems. The
number and complexity of these systems continue to increase.

$ 1,600

Estimate 1975

#10 - Cap. Bldas.

...

This equipment is required for preparation of payrolls. Payroll Tawurde, individual earning records, leave records,

retirement, bond, health benefits, government life insurance
contributions and deductions, income tax withholding records,
and other related personnel and payroll data.

This equipment is also required for maintenance of accounting
and fiscal records, and production of accounting and
statistical data and analyses, including annual real and
personal property inventories.

The equipment now in use is rapidly becoming obsolete and
is now subject to frequent and prolonged breakdowns, due to
abnormally and constant heavy use exceeding its normal life
expectancy. In addition, repair and replacement parts for
the present equipment are no longer available on a timely
basis.

The present equipment was purchased in January 1969 at a
cost of $61,000. The gross cost was $74,000 which was offset
by a trade-in allowance of $13,000 on old equipment. The
normal life of such equipment is 4 years.

To purchase new equipment, adequate for our current needs,
would cost in the neighborhood of $100,000, to which would
have to be added a yearly maintenance-service cost of $6,000.
We therefore now find it advantageous to rent such equipment,
commencing with the fiscal year 1975. The cost of rental,
based on current rate, is $2,900 per month, or $34,800 per
year. For the fiscal year 1975, the cost per year would be
$29,300, due to an offset allowance of $5,500 for trade-in
of the existing equipment.

On this basis, rental costs for 3-1/4 years would amount to
no more than the purchase cost of new equipment, which would
have only 1 more year of dependable life beyond that period.

OTHER INCREASES ANNUAL RECURRING ITEMS (continued)

In addition to rapidly becoming obsolete and in undependable
condition, our present equipment lacks adequate memory
capacity to enable us to perform all required payroll,
accounting, fiscal, and analytical functions through use of

this equipment.

For example, just within the past several days, our present
equipment became inoperative, due to a breakdown of the
equipment, which has required emergency repair services for
4 consecutive days in order to prepare our bi-weekly, weekly,
and semimonthly payrolls for paychecks to be issued on time,
without imposing hardships on employees. The manufacturer
of this equipment advises us that this equipment is now in
such condition that it must be replaced if we are to avoid
prolonged periods of interrupted use while effort is being
made to repair and restore the equipment to service.

This equipment is vital to the operations of the Office
1975.
of the Architect of the Capital. Accordingly, it is urged
that an additional amount of $29,300 be provided under this
allotment for rental of such equipment for the fiscal year

$2,600 the balance of the increase is required to
cover a $8,300 rise in cost of rental, servicing, and
repair contracts, attributable largely to more extensive
use of microfilm and other equipment, offset by a
reduction of $5,700 for a maintenance-service contract
for our present automatic data processing equipment which
equipment requested are approved for 1975.
would be eliminated, if funds for rental of the new

Total Increase - ANNUAL RECURRING ITEMS..

$ 51,100