Evening star., 1953-03-15
Defense Aides Face
Gri|Iing on Delay in
Purchasing System
By John A. Giles


Pentagon officials will attempt
to explain on Capitol Hill to-
morrow a charge that Defense
Department efforts to compile
q purchasing catalogue listing
commonly used articles bought
by all the armed services has
made about as much progress as
a dog chasing his tail.
An inter office file containing
exchanges between two Defense
Department agencies and listing
numerous penetrating and per-
haps embarrassing questions
about progress on the project
apparently has fallen into the
hands of House Armed Serv-
ices Subcommittee headed by
Representative Hess of Ohio
He expressed amazement at the
situation and ordered the start
Of public hearings tomorrow
The purchase catalog is in
tended to enable any of the mil
itary services to order commonly
used items such as nuts, bolts
and mopS, by using single
catalogue number.
System Not Effective.
Although Congress ordered the
catalogue last summer, Edward
j. Sheridan, acting director of
the Defense Management Staff.
recently charged in a conf1den-
tial departmental memorandum
that effective procedures for
cataloguing new items at the
time of procurement have not
been developed"
This means" he wrote, that
the estimated million new
items that have entered the
supply systems since Korea rep
resent a tremendous backlog of
work that must be completed
before it can be said we have a
single catalogue system. The
rate of new items coming into
the system is greater than the
rate Of cataloguing. This means
also that we have undoubtedly
spent needless time, money and
effort in cataloguing items which
are obsolete and passing out of
the supply systems"
Rear Admiral j. w. Fowler, di-
rector of the Defense Supply
MANAGEMENT Agency which is
compiling the catalogue, appar-
emily has convinced Deputy Sec
retary of Defense Roger w. Kyes
he can answer the criticisms.
Admiral Fowler will be the
first House witness tomorrow.
Mr.. Sheridan will testify Tues
day.
Catalogue Being Revised.
The Management Agency has
come up with a catalogue listing
foodstuffs purchased by the
Army. Navy. Air Force and Ma
rine Corps. But it was published,
according to information in Con-
gresS members hands, without
any plan for replacing existing
separate catalogues. Further, Mr.
Sheridan wrote. the subsistence
catalogue already is having to be
revised to include 800 additional
items, although it was published
only last November.
Admiral Fowler has replied the
subsistence catalogue eliminated
800 duplicate md obsolete items.
He conceded - 1t this does not
result autom; ally in utilization
OF the catalogue.
'"The problem of converting all
supply records and operations
within the military departments
constitutes perhaps the most SER
ious problem, he said. The
Congress believes, and I think
rightly, that the catalogue does
not pay for itself until it has re-
placed all other catalogue data in
the departments"
The three services prefer to go
their separate ways. The Navy
says its uses old Federal stand
ard stock numbers in subsistence
and understands" the Army
uses essentially the same num-
berS
Navy Questions Practice.
"Why develop a new number,
foreign to both departments, in
stead of developing a number
best suited to all departments?"
the Navy has asked.
Mr.. Sheridan has charged
Admiral Fowler's presentation
before Mr.. 'Kyes specifically
omits statements as to the date
when the single catalogue will be
completed and the date it will
replace all existing catalogues
and or that it will ever replace
existing catalogues"
Mr.. Sheridan asked what had
been done about those matters.
In addition to Mr.. Sheridan's
questions, the file believed to be
in Congressional hands includes
searching queries by the Army
and Navy. Their questions, how
ever. were confined to the con-
troverSial subsistence catalogue.
Admiral FoWler's group was even
questioned as to the adequacy of
the supply of the catalogues.
Admiral Fowler said, we are
hopeful the experience gained in
this publication and utilization of
the subsistence catalogue will en-