Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 / Oct. 25 1943

him alone, and he started with the most unusual conversation I’ve ever had with him or,

in some ways, with any other world leader.

He said, ‘‘I want to talk about the world, and

I want to know what you think.’’ I said, ‘‘The

world?’’ He said, ‘‘Yes, the whole deal.’’ I

said, ‘‘Well, where shall I start?’’ He said,

‘‘Start in Bosnia.’’ So we talked about Bosnia.

Then we went around the world. At the end

he said, ‘‘You know, I am not a young man.

I have lived through most of this century.

The 20th century began with a war in Sarajevo. Mr. President, you must not let the 20th

century end with a war in Sarajevo.’’

I ask you to think of this, my fellow Americans, that first war in Sarajevo, that was

Harry Truman’s war. That’s the war that he

joined up in even though he was old enough

and his eyesight was bad enough for him to

get out of it. That’s the war he showed people

the kind of leadership capacity he had. And

our failures after that war led Franklin Roosevelt into another war, led Harry Truman

to end that war with a set of difficult painful

decisions, including dropping the atomic

bomb, and led him to determine that it would

never happen again. That’s why he did all

the things we celebrate tonight.

If he were here he would say, ‘‘If you want

to really honor me, prepare for the future

as I did.’’

Thank you, and God bless you all.

NOTE: The President spoke at 9:35 p.m. in the

Main Hall at the National Building Museum. In

his remarks, he referred to Clifton Truman Daniel, President Truman’s grandson; Maj. Gen. Donald S. Dawson, USAF (Ret.), president, Harry S

Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs, and his wife, Jenny; Lindy Boggs,

dinner chair; Larry Hackman, Director, Harry S

Truman Library, and his wife, Sandy; Senator Sam

Nunn and his wife, Colleen; Archivist of the United States John Carlin, and his wife, Diana; master

of ceremonies James Symington; author and historian David McCullough and his wife, Rosalee.

Executive Order 12979—Agency

Procurement Protests

October 25, 1995

By the authority vested in me as President

by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to ensure

effective and efficient expenditure of public

funds and fair and expeditious resolution of

protests to the award of Federal procurement contracts, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Heads of executive departments and agencies (‘‘agencies’’) engaged in

the procurement of supplies and services

shall prescribe administrative procedures for

the resolution of protests to the award of

their procurement contracts as an alternative

to protests in fora outside the procuring

agencies. Procedures prescribed pursuant to

this order shall:

(a) emphasize that whenever conduct of

a procurement is contested, all parties should

use their best efforts to resolve the matter

with agency contracting officers;

(b) to the maximum extent practicable,

provide for inexpensive, informal, procedurally simple, and expeditious resolution of

protests, including, where appropriate and as

permitted by law, the use of alternative dispute resolution techniques, third party

neutrals, and another agency’s personnel;

(c) allow actual or prospective bidders or

offerors whose direct economic interests

would be affected by the award or failure

to award the contract to request a review,

at a level above the contracting officer, of

any decision by a contracting officer that is

alleged to have violated a statute or regulation and, thereby, caused prejudice to the

protester; and

(d) except where immediate contract

award or performance is justified for urgent

and compelling reasons or is determined to

be in the best interest of the United States,

prohibit award or performance of the contract while a timely filed protest is pending

before the agency. To allow for the withholding of a contract award or performance, the

agency must have received notice of the protest within either 10 calendar days after the

contract award or 5 calendar days after the

bidder or offeror who is protesting the contract award was given the opportunity to be

debriefed by the agency, whichever date is

later.

Sec. 2. The Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy shall: (a) work with the

heads of executive agencies to provide policy
1944 Oct. 25 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995

guidance and leadership necessary to implement provisions of this order; and

(b) review and evaluate agency experience

and performance under this order, and report on any findings to the President within

2 years from the date of this order.

Sec. 3. The Administrator of General

Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the

Administrator of the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration, in coordination

with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation, 48 C.F.R. 1, within 180 days of the

date of this order to further the purposes of

this order.

William J. Clinton

The White House,

October 25, 1995.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register,

11:37 a.m., October 26, 1995]

NOTE: This Executive order was released by the

Office of the Press Secretary on October 26, and

it was published in the Federal Register on October 27.

Statement on the Gun-Free Schools

Act

October 26, 1995

A year ago I launched a national effort to

get guns out of America’s schools. Today, almost one year after I signed the Gun-Free

Schools Act, I’m very pleased to announce

that our message of zero tolerance has been

made a reality around the country. The GunFree Schools Act is working and working

well.

Guns have no place in our schools, and

this directive ensures that any student in

America who brings a gun to school will be

expelled for at least a year. Our message is

clear: We will not tolerate threats to the safety of America’s students and teachers. Period. Parents have a right to expect that their

children will be safe when they go to school

in the morning.

We still need more good parents and

strong communities if we are to win the fight

against crime in America. But through efforts

like this one, my administration is committed

to doing its part to protect our children and

ensure that they can learn in safety, free from

fear and violence.

Exchange With Reporters Following

the Departure of President Soeharto

of Indonesia

October 27, 1995

Gross Domestic Product Report

Q. [Inaudible]—growth figures?

The President. Well, the growth figures

clearly show that the economy of the United

States is moving, that we’re on the right

track. Today we have this very high growth

figure. Just a few days ago we got the good

news that the deficit has dropped dramatically now for 3 years in a row. We need to

build on this. We do not need to reverse our

economic course. That’s the message I have

for the Congress on the deficit reduction. We

should balance the budget. We should continue to reduce the size of the Federal Government. But we need to do it in a prudent

way that continues to invest in our people,

in our education, our technology, for the

health care of our seniors and the future of

our children and our environment.

We are moving in the right direction. This

is the right direction. Why would we reverse

course? We now have virtually 3 years of

complete economic data showing that this

policy that we have followed with great discipline and determination is good for the

American people. So I hope we can stay right

with it.

Budget Legislation

Q. Mr. President, some liberal Democrats

are afraid that as part of the end game, after

the veto and after the real negotiations begin,

they may be left alone out there, that you’ll

make a deal in the center somewhere with

some moderate Republicans that would be

enough to see a compromise go through.

The President. Well, first of all, my goal

would be to have a budget that would be—

get a huge bipartisan vote. And my principles

have been clear. If there are those even in

my own party who do not favor a balanced

budget at all, then there will come a time

when we’ll be on different sides of the fence

on that.