Evening star., 1951-10-14
District Buys Pups,
Groceries, Even False
Teeth, Report Shows

hand lettering of school diplomas,
false teeth and lotion rollers were
a few of the varied concerns of
Purchasing Officer Roland NJ
Brennan in his Silt million buy
ing program for the District last
1 fiscal year.
! In his report to the Commits
| sioners for the year ended June
80, Mr.. Brennan said his purchase
order total increased about $400,-
900 over the previous year.
This was not due entirely to
higher prices. but partly to a
bigger volume of supplies and ma
terials for the II agencies served
by the Purchasing Division. he
said.
I Pups For RefOrmatOry
/ BY taking advantage of dis
counts offered by bidders. he went
on. the District realized S42. 1882 10,
an increase of $2,29457 over the
previous year.
The pups were bought for the
Districts Reformatory. at cost
Of $475 from a New Hampshire
supplier. There were 10000
school diplomas lettered at cost
| of $1,000. The District also
bought 5000 pounds of DDT in
secticide and 81. $50 worth of milk
disease spore powder for the Trees
and Parking Division to destroy
Japanese BEETLE grubs.
The District bought 200 pounds
of oil of pepperment for the De-
partment Of Inspections for use
in detecting leaks in plumbing
lines.
The relationship between the
Purchasing Division and the Dis
trict's wards, patients and prison
,ers is much more intimate than
one would suppose" Mr.. Brennan
revealed.
! 1t buys and has delivered to
the institutions concerned such
things as soap and bath towels.
food and clothing. bedding. drugs
and medicines. tobacco, educa-
ftional needs. dentures. eyeglasses,
and glass eyes. 1t also provides
burial services when required.
Low Priced Beef Found.
Between $350,000 and s4OO, 900
went for drugs, medicines and
hospital gases during the fiscal
year. Antibiotics for District
owned hospitals account for about
half of all expenditures for drugs.
Since last December /, under
an arrangement between the Agfi-
culture Department purchasing
agent and Mr.. Brennan. the Dis
trict Training School and CAL
linger Hospital have obtained pork
products, beef, veal, poultry, fresh
eggs and live swine for half the
current wholesale market price.
During that time the District
received $55 900 worth of products
from the Beltsville Experimental
Station for $27 400.
Before Christmas last year. bids
were opened for fresh eggs for
District hospitals and institutions
for January at a cost of some S13,-
900. Mr.. Brennan thought the
prices too high and rejected all
bids. Bids were resolicited for
opening after Christmas, with a
81 900 saving.
Either the hens were not lay
ing enough eggs, or the demand
for eggs for egg nog may have
been responsible for the higher
price before Christmas" reasoned
MI. Brennan.
Mixture Said "Palatable."
Some District institutions are
saving on their coffee bills by
using roasted cereal coffee ex-
tender. The city buys about
ISL 900 pounds of coffee year at
a cost of about 100000. The
extender sells for 1877 cents a
pound. and is mixed with real
coffee. one-third extender to two
thirds coffee.
According to some Of the ex-
perimenters, Mr.. Brennan said,
"the beverage is very palatable"
and there is not much difference
in flavor from regular coffee
bought by the District.
| Mr.. Brennan reported mixed
buyers sellers market prevails
Competition has been satisfactory
except for metals and other COM
modities short or scarce because
of the defense effort. When no
competitive bids are received for
metals and metal products. the
District resorts to negotiation
sometimes with the help Of the
National Production Authority.
he said,