Carroll
Dunn
Q.
When you encountered the problems that you did encounter working with a separate
organization that was, like the Air Force, so involved in design-and I mean problems
basically of funding and contractual arrangements-did the Corps try to influence a
change through the Department of Defense? Did they think that certain methods and
procedures were better than others?
A
We were required to follow procurement regulations. I would say that where I, as the
director of the Titan II program, felt strongly that a particular type of contracting
wasn't the desired method, I got support both through CEBMCO and the chiefs office
for my position. I don't remember any major disagreements. I felt I was supported all
the way through on those things which I wanted to establish.
For instance, I set up procedures for government procurement for about 30 major
equipment systems. This procedure was to insure uniformity with each missile silo
complex for all major equipment as well as to control delivery of these items. They
were bought under materials supply contracts I negotiated rather than having
contractors supply materials. These included things like the standby power system, the
mechanism for door operations, other pieces of equipment such as pumps, and other
silos. I didn't have any
items that we wanted to standardize for all of the
difficulty in setting it up. Actually, I used different Corps offices as procurement offices.
For instance, I remember the Kansas City District did a lot of this procurement.
Q ..
Was that an arrangement for having the office nearest the successful bidder as the
procurer?
A ..
No, we selected the
based on where we thought bidders were likely to be. They
were used to handle supply contracts. While we had people in CEBMCO who were
qualified in construction contracts, we weren't as used to handling supply contracts.
We also used the existing Corps system for in-factory inspection and expediting.
There was another thing that I did that I think was very useful. I made it a point to visit
the manufacturer of each critical item or piece of equipment sometime within the first
few months after the contract was signed. The purpose was to personally impress on
the manufacturer's key people the importance of what they were doing for the overall
project.
This also gave me a personal contact at each of these plants so that later, if there were
any difficulties in deliveries, I could take direct action. I'm firmly convinced this was
well worth the effort to see for myself and to be seen and be able to talk to the people
and impress on them the necessity for meeting their commitments for delivery of these
critical items.
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