Robert M. Estes

The first step which the Purchase Policies Branch took was to secure the co-operation and obtain the support of the procurement district staff. 

A survey of the districts conducted by the branch in the fall of 1943 revealed an almost total lack of interest and initiative with regard to pricing functions. To rectify this situation General Ditto, Assistant Chief, CWS, for Materiel, wrote a letter in December 1943 to the commanding officers of the districts in which he emphasized that price analysis was primarily a district function. From then until the close of the war the procurement districts were more active in conducting pricing operations. The Purchase Policies Branch, OC CWS, continued to act in a staff capacity on all pricing matters. 

Opposition on the part of contractors was considerably mollified by the threat of prolonged renegotiation of their contracts. For while a great 

Analysis of CWS Pricing Record in World War II, p. 18. This 100-page mimeographed report was compiled by Purchase Policies Branch OC CWS in 1945. MS in Hist Off. 

The fact that very few chemical warfare items were manufactured in peacetime made it generally impossible to establish equitable prices at the start of the war. In the emergency and early wartime period, the CWS wrote contracts for most items without too much regard to price. Assistant Secretary Patterson himself urged the chiefs of the technical services not to be too concerned about prices, but rather to see that the supplies for the troops were delivered on time. Excess profits, he said, could be recaptured through legislation.  

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Interv, Hist Off with Lt Col Robert M. Estes, former Chief, Purchase Policies Division, OC CWS, 18 May 52. (2) Personal Statement of Lt Col Robert M. Estes on Erie Basin Metal Produas, Inc., p. 1. This 33-page statement, which was compiled during and after World War II was turned over to the Chemical Corps Historical Office in 1952. CWS 314.7 Procurement File. 

Scypinski, S., Roberts, D., Oates, M. and Este, J. Pharmaceutical research and manufacturers association acceptable analytical practice for analytical method transfer. Pharm. Technol. 2613 84-88, 2002. Crowther, J. B. International method transfers. Presented at the 1998 Eastern Analytical Symposium and Exposition, 1998. Abstract 490. 

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