Property Disposal

Half a dozen years after the close of World War I, the CWS was still disposing of surplus property. With the passage of time additional materials, particularly chemicals, became surplus and these the CWS disposed of by transfer to other branches of the War Department or to civilian agencies. In 1937 several of the deteriorated buildings at Edge-wood Arsenal were sold as surplus.  

The war period naturally witnessed the accumulation of a considerable amount of excess property by the CWS. Among the causes of this development was the elimination of certain munitions such as the M54 bomb and lewisite. When these programs were discontinued the items were declared surplus, and in the case of lewisite the plants also. When a manufacturing program was eliminated the machinery in the plant gen- 

In 1944 the CWS shipped considerable lewisite equipment from Rocky Mountain Arsenal to the Corps of Engineers Manhattan Projects. See R6sum6 of Activities, OC CWS, for Week Ending 16 Sep 44. 

There was a variety of reasons for the leisurely pace of industrial prop- 

The Baruch-Hancock Report of February 1944 led to drastic reforms in the field of property disposal no less than in contract termination. The first result was establishment of a Surplus Property Administration in the Office of War Mobilization. The Surplus Property Administration arranged for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to act as a disposal agency in addition to the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation handled general purpose equipment, machine tools, and chemicals, while the Procurement Division, Treasury Department, was restricted to consumer-type property. 

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These various types of devices have their own set of requirements for rigidity, strength, electrical properties, disposability or reuseability, and cost. Table 11.5 shows some of the general properties and tradeoffs for LCP tube versus the other candidates. 

Despite significant improvement in properties, disposal and recycling problems, combined environmental and societal concerns make continued use of petroleum-based nanocomposites unattractive. As a consequence, natural fibre-reinforced thermoset and thermoplastic composites have been intensively studied in the last... 

Where the ever-growing workload did not account for the activation of new administrative units, the decentralization of operations in accordance with ASF policy did. In 1942 such functions as priorities and allocations and manpower utilization were decentralized to the installations. From 1943 to the close of the war, decentralization of operations took place on pricing analysis, public relations, property disposal, contract termination, and demobilization. Units to supervise these functions were set up in the district offices and other pertinent installations. 

In addition to the problems of spare parts and maintenance which the CWS faced in its efforts to balance procurement and distribution, there were problems of property disposal and contract termination. No sooner had the CWS procured its initial equipment than problems of property disposal began to arise. By early 1S>44 delay in disposing of inventory and industrial property was leading to delay in contract terminations throughout all the technical services. ... 

Property disposal and contract termination were also closely related to demobilization planning and will be discussed in that connection. See ch. XVII below. 

By the end of 1943, when the Army had completed its initial distribution of materiel, the CWS had finished the bulk of its new construction and had gained valuable experience in procurement, inspection, and distribution operations. The second half of the war witnessed greater stress on improvement of the supply system through adoption of more refined administrative procedures and through programs aimed at better maintenance practices and better control of spare parts. Problems of maintenance, spare parts, contract termination, and property disposal constituted potential bottlenecks to production. 

The War Department was but one of six major procurement agencies in the government consequently there was need for developing uniform termination procedures for all these agencies. At the request of the President, Bernard Baruch and John Hancock made a study of contract settlement and property disposal matters, which they embodied in their Report on War and Post-War Adjustment Policies (15 February 1944). Congress was meanwhile studying the need for new legislation and passed the Contract Settlement Act of 1944. This act, which pointed out the need for speed, equity, and finality in the settlement of terminated contracts, created an Office of Contraa Setdement with a director empowered to prescribe policies, procedures, and standards on contract settlements. 

In its final recommendation the report urged that contract terminations be studied in connection with the peacetime Industrial Mobilization Program, so that in any future emergency proper instruction might be given to prospective negotiators and property disposal officers. 

While the CWS conducted its surplus property functions under the general supervision of Headquarters, ASF, it also had direct contacts with the Surplus Property Board and later the Surplus Property Administration. The Property Disposal Branch in the chiefs office formulated pro-... 

Among the most important of property disposal procedures was the compiling of complete descriptions of each individual item to be disposed of. It was not possible, for example, to sell a gas mask production line as such. Instead, a complete description of every item going into that line, such as motors and sewing machines, had to be made. After the description was drawn up it was circulated to likely military branches, such as the Ordnance Department or the Corps of Engineers. If these had no use for the item and it was less than 100 in value it could be sold to a war contractor. In September 1944 an innovation was introduced in that items for sale were disposed of through the service command, which had more facilities for effective sales. The items that were not sold were declared surplus to the Surplus Property Board and later the Surplus Property Administration. ... 

Table 10—CWS Property Disposal Activities, July 1943 Through July...

ASF commended the C CWS for the "most outstanding manner in which the CWS carried out its excess property mission. See Memo, Dir Read) Div ASF for C CWS, 6 Feb 45, sub Redis-tribution of Excess Property. CWS 314.7 Property Disposal File. 

The end of fighting in the Pacific saw an immediate increase in CWS property disposal activities, as the following figures indicate. The total volume of all types of property (contractor-inventory, nonmilitary, and inventory) for the period January-July 1945 amounted to 8,623,000 for the month of August 1945 alone the figure was 23,274,000. Ta /e 11 lists the original dollar value of all CWS property disposed of during the calendar year 1945. 

Interv, Hist Off with Lt Col Harold F. Zimmerman, 23 Jan 58. Col Zimmerman was in Property Disposal Br, OC CWS, during and following World War II. 

During the war the ASF not only assumed responsibility for supervising such technical service activities as disposition of facilities, contract termination, and property disposal it also set up organizational and administrative standards for all elements under its jurisdiction, and General Somervell s headquarters did not confine its concern for Army organization to the war period, but made plans for the postwar period as well. As... 

Beryllium and its alloys must be heated with care. Handling or processing produces dust, chips, scale, slivers, mists, or fumes. Air-borne particles of beryllium and beryllium oxide are extremely toxic and have serious latent effects. Abrasives and chemicals used with beryllium must be property disposed. One procedure is to degrease with trichloroethylene (TCE), followed by immersion in the etching solution (Table 6.7) for 5-10 min at 20 °C ... 

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