90 EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 



also makes grants for charter of special-purpose vessels, as in the case of the 

 Mohole project and the Indian Ocean expedition. 



(</) The Office of Naval Research procures small research ships for its oceanog- 

 raphic program through the following procedures. After a need for the ship has 

 been determined, a prime contract for the design and construction of the ship 

 is let to the research activity that will eventually use the ship. This contract 

 will give the contractor authorization to let subcontracts for the design and 

 construction to be handled in accordance with the approved procedures. Included 

 in this prime contract are stipulations that after the design is completed, the 

 plans will be submitted to the Office of Naval Research, who in turn will request 

 the Bureau of Ships to review them. After approval by the Bureau of Ships, the 

 plans are returned to the contractor for the purpose of obtaining competitive 

 bids. When the various bids have been received, a contractor will be selected 

 with the mutual approval of the prime contractor and the Office of Naval Research. 

 The acceptance of the delivery of the ship must be approved by personnel desig- 

 nated by the Office of Naval Research. These ships, because of their small 

 size, are usually handled as Government-furnished equipment to the institution's 

 research contracts. 



3. In view of the above, the following recommendations are submitted in behalf 

 of the Panel for consideration by the Interagency Committee on Oceanography. 



(a) The Maritime Administration, Bureau of Ships, and Coast Guard are the 

 only agencies within the Government capable of designing, bidding out, contract- 

 ing, approving, inspecting, and accepting delivery of a ship within their own 

 organization. These agencies are uniquely qualified to handle all aspects of ship- 

 building including the reviews and/or justifications associated with Government 

 appropriations. 



Recommendation: In order fully to protect the Government's interest, it is 

 recommended that all agencies providing funds for the construction of oceanogra- 

 phic ships in excess of 300 gross tons be urged to adopt the following procedures: 



(1) Ship characteristics, preliminary design, and contract design may be pre- 

 pared by private contractor or Government agency at the option of the funding 

 agency. These characteristics and designs should meet the requirements of the 

 user laboratory. 



(2) The final contract design should be reviewed for technical feasibility by the 

 Maritime Administration or the Bureau of Ships. In this review, the responsibil- 

 ity of these agencies shall extend only to determining that the proposed design of 

 the private contractor is sound from a naval architectural and marine engineering 

 standpoint and to checking that the contract plans and specifications form a 

 satisfactory basis for competent bidding. The efficiency and the economics of the 

 proposed design shall remain the responsibility of the funding agency and user 

 laboratory in the case of designs prepared by private contractors. In order to 

 prevent conflict between their Inspection and Design Sections, the Coast Guard 

 Design Section should not be concerned with the design or construction of ships 

 other than those specifically destined for Coast Guard usage. All vessels delivered 

 shall, however, comply with all the applicable laws of the United States and the 

 requirements of the various regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Coast Guard and 

 Public Health Service. 



(3) After approval of the final design, and with the concurrence of the funding 

 agency; the Maritime Administration, Bureau of Ships, the funding agency, or 

 the user laboratory will handle all of the remaining details (except for Coast 

 Guard ships which will be handled within the Coast Guard). These details 

 include but are not limited to the bidding out, contracting, and inspection of the 

 ship during the construction stages. 



(4) The acceptance trials of ships built with Government funds will be con- 

 ducted either by the Trial and Guarantee Survey Board of the Maritime Admin- 

 istration or by the Board of Inspection and Survey of the the Navy. These 

 Boards will be augmented to include representatives from the user laboratory or 

 agency and will act as a representative of the funding agency to insure that the 

 finished ship meets the contract specifications. The funding agency will follow 

 the recommendations of the Board prior to acceptance of the ship. 



(b) On occasion various agencies have used Government funds to have ships 

 for U.S. purposes built in foreign shipyards. Although theoretically legal, this 

 policy is in conflict with the spirit of a series of Executive orders and legislative 

 acts dating back to 1936. "Buy American" is so much a part of U.S. policy that 

 deviations for expediency or economy should only be approved at the Cabinet 

 level or, in the case of independent agencies, by the head of that agency. 



Recommendation: It is recommended that the construction or conversion of all 

 oceanographic ships funded by the Government for U.S. oceanographic use should 



