RECLAMATION PROJECT ACT OF 1939 149 the Secretary may consider necessary but in which the liability of the United States shall be contingent upon appropriations being made therefor. NOTE Inspection and testing services by private agencies.-Neither section 12 of the Reclamation Propect Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1197), nor section 601 of the act of June 30, 1932 (47 Stat. 417), authorizes procuring from private sources personal services, such as the inspection of Government purchases. These provisions must be construed as authorizing procurement from private agencies only when the services involved are lawfully procurable from private agencies. Unlike inspection services, testing services may be, and where the conditions for procurement from private agencies under section 601 of the act of June 30, 1932 (47 Stat. 417), are applicable, should be procured from private agencies where they cannot be made by the personnel and equipment of the procuring agency and no provision is made for another Government agency-such as the Bureau of Standards-to make them. However, with respect to the testing of Government supplies, the Congress has for several years specifically provided for such tests generally by the Bureau of Standards. Decision A-5280, dated May 20, 1940, by the Acting Comptroller General (19 Comp. Gen. 941). 150 RECLAMATION PROJECT ACT OF 1939 SEC. 13. [Supplies, equipment, services, not in excess of $300, may be procured in open market.]—The purchase of supplies and equipment or the procurement of services for the Bureau of Reclamation at the seat of government and elsewhere may be made in the open market without compliance with section 3709 or section 3744 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in the manner common among businessmen, when the aggregate payment for the purchase or the services does not exceed $300 in any instance. SEC. 14. [Authority to purchase or condemn lands for relocation highways, roadways, railroads, telegraph, telephone, and electric transmission lines-Exchange Government properties Grant perpetual easements— Exchange or replacement of water, water rights, or electric energy.]—The Secretary is hereby authorized, in connection with the construction or operation and maintenance of any project, (a) to purchase or condemn suitable lands or interests in lands for relocation of highways, roadways, railroads, telegraph, telephone, or electric transmission lines, or any other properties whatsoever, the relocation of which in the judgment of the Secretary is necessitated by said construction or operation and maintenance, and to perform any or all work involved in said relocations on said lands or interests in lands, other lands or interests in lands owned and held by the United States in connection with the construction or operation and maintenance of said project, or properties not owned by the United States; (b) to enter into contracts with the owners of said properties whereby they undertake to acquire any or all property needed for said relocation, or to perform any or all work involved in said relocations; and (c) for the purpose of effecting completely said relocations, to convey or exchange Government properties acquired or improved under (a) above, with or without improvements, or other properties owned and held by the United States in connection with the construction or operation and maintenance of said project, or to grant perpetual easements therein or thereover. Grants or conveyances hereunder shall be by instruments executed by the Secretary without regard to provisions of law governing the patenting of public lands. The Secretary is further authorized, for the purpose of orderly and economical construction or operation and maintenance of any project, to enter into such contracts for exchange or replacement of water, water rights, or electric energy, or for the adjustment of water rights, as in his judgment are necessary and in the interests of the United States and the project. SEC. 15. [Rules and regulations.]-The Secretary is hereby authorized to perform any and all acts and to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this Act into full force and effect. SEC. 16. The provisions of previous Acts of Congress not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act shall remain in full force and effect. RECLAMATION PROJECT ACT OF 1939 151 SEC. 17. [(a) Authority for modifying existing repayment contracts under secs. 3 and 4 to continue for five years from date of enactment—(b) Extension of authority under act May 31, 1939, for years 1939 to 1943.]— (a) The authority granted in sections 3 and 4 of this Act for modification of existing repayment contracts or other forms of obligations to pay construction charges shall continue for five years from the date of this enactment in order to provide opportunity for negotiating and consummating said modifications, and opportunity for enactment by the legislature of any State in which a project contract unit is located, of any legislation which may be necessary to empower water users and organizations to execute and carry out the provisions of contracts entered into pursuant to the authority of this Act. (b) The authority of the Secretary under the Act entitled "An Act to authorize further relief to water users on United States and on Indian reclamation projects," approved May 31, 1939 (Public, Numbered 97, Seventy-sixth Congress, first session), is hereby extended in connection with the construction charges due and payable, under any existing obligation to pay construction charges, for each of the years 1939 to 1943, inclusive, to the extent such charges are not covered by modification of said obligation under section 3 or 4 of this Act. SEC. 18. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057), as amended. SEC. 19. This Act may be cited as the "Reclamation Project Act of 1939." 152 CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS An act to amend the act entitled "An act to establish a Civilian Conservation Corps, and for other purposes," approved June 28, 1937, as amended. (Act of August 7, 1939, 53 Stat. 1253) SEC. 1. [Extension of C. C. C. to July 1, 1943].-That section 1 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Civilian Conservation Corps, and for other purposes," approved June 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 319), as amended, is amended by striking out of the second proviso the words "for the period of three years after July 1, 1937, and no longer" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "July 1, 1943." SEC. 2. Section 13 of said Act is amended by substituting a colon for a period after the last word in the section and inserting the following: "Provided, That the Director may designate an appropriate of ficial seal for the Corps which shall be judicially noticed and which shall be preserved in the custody of the Director.' SEC. 3. This Act shall be immediately effective. 153 COOPERATION WITH FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION An act relating to the development of farm units on public lands under Federal reclamation projects with funds furnished by the Farm Security Administration. (Act of August 7, 1939, 53 Stat. 1238) SEC. 1. [Advance of funds by Farm Security Administration-Funds to be repaid by settler before entry allowed.]-That, during the fiscal year of 1940, in order to further cooperation between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Farm Security Administration in the development of farm units on public lands under Federal reclamation projects, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in pursuance of cooperative agreements between the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior, (1) to consider the money or any part of the money made available to settlers or prospective settlers by the Farm Security Administration, as all or a portion of the capital required of such settlers under subsection C of section 4 of the Act of December 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 702); and (2) where such farm units have been or may be improved by means of funds made available by the Farm Security Administration, to require an entryman of any such unit to enter into a mortgage contract with the Farm Security Administration to repay the value of such improvements thereon before an entry is allowed. NOTE The act of June 17, 1940, extended the time limit for cooperation between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Farm Security Administration in the development of farm units on public lands under Federal reclamation projects to cover the fiscal year 1941. |