It shall also be the duty of the heads of the several executive departments and of the proper officers of other Government establishments, not within the jurisdiction of any executive department, to make appropriate rules and regulations to secure a proper administrative examination of all accounts sent to them, as required by section twelve of this act, before their transmission to the auditors, and for the execution of other requirements of this act in so far as the same relate to the several departments or establishments. SEC. 23. Nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the reexamination and payment of any claim or account which has heretofore been disallowed or settled. SEC. 24. The provisions of sections three to twenty-three, inclusive, of this act shall be in force on and after the first day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-four. SEC. 25. All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with this act are repealed. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Report of the commission, with recommendations.... Draft of a bill to provide for publicity of Government contracts. EXHIBITS. 1D. Report of the special committee on the Returns Office, Department of the Interior..... 2D. Letter of the special committee on Government contracts, with exhibits.. 422 Page. 423 428 430 437 RETURNS OFFICE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. The PRESIDENT: NOVEMBER 17, 1911. The Commission on Economy and Efficiency has given consideration to the question of the maintenance and operation of the Returns. Office in the Interior Department and has the honor to submit the following report: The Returns Office was established by law in 1862 for the purpose of receiving, filing, and keeping open for public inspection copies of all contracts made by officers of the Departments of War, Navy, and the Interior. This report contains a review of the questions presented, a statement of the conditions that led to the creation of the Returns Office, and the reasons why its continuance in its present form is no longer necessary. The recommendations we submit may be summarized as follows: 1. That the Returns Office in the Department of the Interior be abolished. 2. That publicity of contracts be provided for through the offices of the Auditors of the Treasury, where originals of all public contracts are now filed, with the exception that contracts which it would be prejudicial to the public interest to make public shall not be open to public inspection. 3. That the requirement that every contract made by officers of the Departments of War, Navy, and the Interior be in writing be modified so as to apply only to a contract involving $1,000 or more, and as so modified the law be made applicable to all the executive departments and independent establishments. A provision for an oral or informal contract, regardless of amount involved, in case of extraordinary emergency should be included. 4. That the affidavit required by section 3745 of the Revised Statutes to be attached to contracts of the Departments of War, Navy, and the Interior be superseded by a certificate to the same effect as the affidavit, with suitable penalties for making a false certificate, and the same form of certificate be used for contracts of all executive departments and independent establishments. In order to carry out these recommendations, a change in existing law is necessary and is recommended. The direct annual saving of expense to be secured by the change is: 1. The cost of the Returns Office, estimated at..... 2. The amount paid by the departments as fees to notaries public for administering the oaths to contract papers, estimated at.. Total....... $2,600 8,000 10. 600 It is not possible to state the cost in time of officers and employees in making the copies of contracts to be sent to the Returns Office and in executing the affidavits attached to such copies. It is undoubtedly much more each year than the annual money cost of $10,600. It may therefore be fairly estimated that the total annual saving will be not less than $25,000. Filing space in the Interior Department for preserving the copies of contracts, estimated at more than 500 cubic feet per year, as well as the office space occupied, will be available for other uses. Some additional filing space will be needed in the offices of the auditors. The sections of the Revised Statutes creating the Returns Office and prescribing the duties of the clerk thereof, and other sections referring to that office, or the same subject matter, are as follows: SEC. 512. The Secretary of the Interior shall from time to time provide a proper apartment, to be called the Returns Office, in which he shall cause to be filed the returns of contracts made by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Interior, and shall appoint a clerk of the first class to attend to the same. SEC. 513. The clerk of the Returns Office shall file all returns made to the office, so that the same may be of easy access, keeping all returns made by the same officer in the same place, and numbering them in the order in which they are made. SEC. 514. The clerk of the Returns Office shall provide and keep an index book, with the names of the contracting parties, and the number of each contract opposite to the names; and shall submit the index book and returns to any person desiring to inspect it. SEC. 515. The clerk of the Returns Office shall furnish copies of such returns to any person paying therefor at the rate of five cents for every one hundred words, to which copies certificates shall be appended in every case by the clerk making the same, attesting their correctness, and that each copy so certified is a full and complete copy of the return. SEC. 3743. All contracts to be made, by virtue of any law, and requiring the advance of money, or in any manner connected with the settlement of public accounts, shall be deposited promptly in the offices of the Auditors of the Treasury, according to the nature of the contracts: Provided, That this section shall not apply to the existing laws in regard to the contingent funds of Congress. SEC. 3744. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Secretary of the Interior to cause and require every contract made by them severally on behalf of the Government, or by their officers under them appointed to make such contracts, to be reduced to writing, and signed by the contracting parties with their names at the end thereof; a copy of which shall be filed by the officer making and signing the contract in the Returns Office of the Department of the Interior, as soon after the contract is made as possible, and within thirty days, together with all bids, offers, and proposals to him made by persons to obtain the same, and with a copy of any advertisement he may have published inviting bids, offers, or proposals for the same. All the copies and papers in relation to each contract shall be attached together by a ribbon and seal, and marked by numbers in regular order, according to the number of papers composing the whole return. SEC. 3745. It shall be the further duty of the officer, before making his return, according to the preceding section, to affix to the same his affidavit in the following form, sworn to before some magistrate having authority to administer oaths: "I do solemnly swear (of affirm) that the copy of contract hereto annexed is an exact copy of a contract made by me personally with -; that I made the same fairly without any benefit or advantage to myself, or allowing any such benefit or advantage corruptly to the said or any other person; and that the papers accompanying include all those relating to the said contract, as required by the statute in such case made and provided." SEC. 3746. Every officer who makes any contract, and fails or neglects to make return of the same, according to the provisions of the two preceding sections, unless from unavoidable accident or causes not within his control, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred, and imprisoned not more than six months. SEC. 3747. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Secretary of the Interior to furnish every officer appointed by them with authority to make contracts on behalf of the Government with a printed letter of instructions, setting forth the duties of such officer, under the two preceding sections, and also to furnish therewith forms, printed in blank, of contracts to be made, and the affidavit of returns required to be affixed thereto, so that all the instruments may be as nearly uniform as possible. |