THE CONTRACT I95 



the business and fiscal aspects of contracts. The Executive Secretary was 

 also OSRD Contracting Officer; the legal channel for instructions to con- 

 tractors was through him. According to the contract, Division Chiefs and 

 Technical Aides could address the contractor only as representatives of the 

 Contracting Officer, i.e., the Executive Secretary, although their primary 

 responsibility was to NDRC or CMR. In order to bring the legal situation 

 into accord with the actual facts, a significant change was made in the 

 contract form in the spring of 1944. Responsibility under the contract was 

 divided in the contract itself. Scientific aspects of the work under the con- 

 tract were entrusted to a Scientific Officer named in the contract; business 

 and fiscal aspects remained with the Contracting Officer. Such was the 

 flexibility, co-operation and unity of purpose within OSRD that the earlier 

 system had worked without difficulty, but the adoption of the Scientific 

 Officer principle undoubtedly put contract operations upon a sounder basis. 

 The practice that was usually followed was to name as Scientific Officer 

 the Chief of the NDRC or CMR division having jurisdiction over the 

 contract. 



Article i. This article clearly established the authority of the Scientific 

 Officer over the subject work. No attempt was made in the usual case to 

 define closely in the contract itself the scientific limitations within which 

 the contractor must work. Rather the usual practice was to define the ob- 

 jective in general terms. The Scientific Officer closely followed the progress 

 of the work and issued appropriate instructions as the work developed. 

 This permitted him to focus attention upon likely leads without the re- 

 quirement of a contract amendment every time something new developed. 

 The same flexibility was permitted with reference to reporting the prog- 

 ress of work; the normal practice was to require monthly reports, with 

 special reports as needed. 



The provision governing termination was unusual in the ease with which 

 extensions of time could be arranged. The OSRD practice was to write 

 contracts for relatively short periods, usually six months, with an informal 

 understanding that they would be extended if the progress of the work 

 warranted. Rate of expenditure under many contracts was irregular and it 

 was frequently desirable to extend contracts in time without an increase in 

 funds. Under the provisions of Article i this was accomplished simply by 

 sending the contractor a letter in duplicate requesting the extension which 

 he accepted by signing one copy of the letter and returning it to OSRD. 

 The saving in time over the execution of formal contract amendments was 

 substantial in view of the volume of OSRD contract operations. 



The prohibition against cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost subcontracts and the 

 limitation of fixed fees were in line with policies established by Congress. 

 Requirement of approval of subcontracts involving research and develop- 

 ment of the kind contemplated by the prime contract was designed to as- 



