Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-23

agencies with the consent of the
President. Also said to be favored
is that these officials should be pro-
noted from the Civil Service.
Bureaus Would Be Continued.
nder-Secretaries and assistant
secretaries would continue to be ap-
pointed by the President and con-
firmed by the Senate.
Bureaus would be the operating
units in department, and the de-
partment head would have authority
to determine the organization of
the bureaus under him. There are
now more than a score of bureaus
to which Congress has given some
Independent authority.
In addition to determining the
bureau organization, the department
head also would have authority to
assign funds from appropriations to
that bureau which he would con-
slider most able to carry out the
. purpose of the appropriation.
The department head would be
backed up by a number of staff as
sistants. They would include a So
! licitor, and finance, personnel pro-
curement and management research
officers, an officer for liaison with
Congress and publications and
public relations officer.
These officers for personnel, A.
nance and procurement would be
steps toward decentralization. But
they would be matched by measures
toward coordination.
Could Save $50 Million.
In the case of the personnel Of
fcer the standards under which
he would function would be set by
the Civil Service Commission The
finance officer would be necessary
in the proposed shift of a good part
of the work load of the General
Accounting Office to the depart
ments, as previously reported in
The Star.
A task force of the Hoover COM
mission held that If reorganization
measures it recommended for both
military and civilian supply activi-
ties were carried out, saving of
about $250,000,000 a year could be
accomplished. The purchases of all
Government agencies are said to be
more than $4,000 100000 a year, with
civilian agencies accounting for
about $900,000,000
The proposed new procurement
service would assure systematic pur-
chase, storing and transportation of
supplies, but would not actually do
those services except in the case of
certain items in common use Bu-
reaus would be set up to carry out
the functions already mentioned as
we'll for setting standards, for prop
erty Identification and utilization
In the present procurement prac-
tees the commissions task force is
said to have found competition be-
tween departments, accumulation of
excessive supplies. red tape in &C
counting, a lack of uniform stand
ards and specifications and made
quacies in inspection and control
over transportation.
Would Shift PBA Activity.
The General Services Once would
take over from the Federal Works
Agency the work now performed by
the Public Buildings Administration
except those now in the PBA's de-
sign and construction divisions.
In connection with the field serv-
ices, the Hoover Commission is said
to have found in many of the
agencies too many independently
organized field Offices with weird
patterns of regional boundaries.
The commission is reported to favor
pooling services for personnel. sup
ply and motor transport and build
ing space.
The commission is said also to be
ready to recommend transfer to the
General Services once the statisti-
cal unit now in the Budget Bureau.
Present work would be co-ordinated
and streamlined by a director OF
statistics. There are said to be SO
civilian agencies engaged in statis-
tical work at a cost of $43, 900, 900.
The commission also may recon-
mend a director to supervise all