Enaineer Memoirs
A:
It's just they couldn't get the thing finished. The new central heating system for the bases was the
major delay that caused the hospital to be way behind schedule. Also trouble with some of the
equipment and its installation.
What about the contractor and your contract?
A:
The contract was with Merritt-Chapman and Scott and Johnson, Drake and Piper-a joint venture
called Drake-Merritt. This contract was like the Atlas contract used in North Africa, a
plus/price-redetermination contract. The contractor would build everything as a cost-plus and,
at the end of the job, auditors determined a final cost and, as I recall, allowed 6 percent profit.
Contract administration was significant. We had 35 people in the Corps office. Our administrative
assistant, Mr. Olsen, knew the procurement and administration regulations of the Corps. Olsen's
favorite response to any requirement was, "No sweat on the Goose." The chief engineer was Bob
Coy, a GS-13. His group included an electrical section, a mechanical section, inspectors, et
cetera. I had a deputy who looked after personnel and the internal matters, and I handled dealings
with the post commander and with the contractor. The contractor's principal man was Clyde
and his deputy was Frank DiMatteo. I hired Frank DiMatteo to work for the Corps in
Washington years later when he was the engineer for
[U.S. Agency for International
Development]. Any rate, at Goose Bay he was a young engineer for Drake-Merritt.
Executing this contract was a fabulous experience for me. The experience came in very handy
later. It's strange how these things work out. My good fortune was that every assignment
provided an experience that was needed and important later.
To execute our contract, prepricing changes was critical before work began. Failure to control
prices was also a problem at the hospital. I recall that to regain control we established a price
ceiling for the entire remaining hospital work, rather than trying to work out a price on every nut
and bolt.
Every morning at 8 o'clock we'd meet on the work for the day and how it was going to be
handled. We used a Title 2 contract with Fay, Spofford, and Thomdyke out of Boston for the
inspection work. They were, in effect, part of the Corps' area office. During the construction
season Fay, Spofford, and Thomdyke had about 20 people. Their top man up there was retired
Corps of Engineers Brigadier General Mason Young. I respected his judgment, of course, and he
respected my position, so we managed to work together.
Fay, Spofford, and Thomdyke had designed the Goose Bay program. So in a sense they were
inspecting themselves. The Corps supervisors feared the Title 2 contractor was overlooking
mistakes in design and therefore letting the contractor do some things that probably shouldn't be
done. There was no substantive indication that that was true, however. Still, it was a cause for
some tension.
Progress under these arrangements became very good. Our administration was very complicated
because of the type of contract. The team [contractor and Corps] did finally develop the attitude
we wanted: "Let's get this job done." We burned a lot of midnight oil on those contract
administration and contract changes. Getting Mr.
to become a cooperative partner in
this was one of my main challenges.
Internally we were tough on some personnel behavior like drinking, tardiness, et cetera. The
contractors' employees arrived in the summertime by the hundreds; in the wintertime they were
cut back. They lived in a big bamlike warehouse-type structure with double-decker bunks. It
wasn't too bad but just a lot of people in one place. They ran a wonderful mess and the food was
outstanding. The contractor also provided good medical facilities which Corps employees used.
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