The Search for Suitable Contractors

In pursuance of the First War Powers Act and of Executive Order 9001, 27 December 1941, which President Roosevelt issued to implement 

The Secretary of War asked the Attorney General for an opinion on the constitutionality of his power to delegate authority to contract to field offices. The Attorney General ruled that he had such power, See Ltr, Att Gen to SW, 29 Aug 42. CWS 381. 

The hardships which the Chemical Warfare Service began to experience in obtaining suitable contractors in the emergency period became much more pronounced after the declaration of war. Since the Industrial Mobilization Plan of 1939 had not been put into operation, the CWS, as indicated, in some instances had lost allocated contractors to other elements of the armed forces, particularly the Ordnance Department and the Navy. This state of affairs continued into the war period. Only for the gas mask and raw chemicals did the CWS experience little difficulty in obtaining contractors with the necessary experience and equipment. Thanks to the ucational order contracts on the mask, excellent contractors with well-equipped plants were already in production and were willing and able to proceed with other gas mask contracts. In the case of raw chemicals, a sizable number of well-established houses were available for government work. On all other items, CWS usually placed contracts with establishments that had not been allocated to it under the Industrial Mobilization Plan. In almost all instances these establishments were small operators who had to convert their plants in order to manufacture the items. 

While the CWS was not in the most favorable position with regard to prospective contractors, the difficulties can be exaggerated. It is true that many of the contractors were small businessmen, but most CWS contracts were for components which small contractors were well able to handle. It is also true that the contractors had to convert their plants, but this would have been the case even with larger contractors since 95 percent of all CWS items were noncommercial. Actually there was seldom any dearth of bidders for CWS contracts and generally when the contractors had gained experience they did an excellent job. A more serious problem than securing contractors and converting plants was the lack of 

CWS Presentation, SOS Staff Conference, Procurement and Production Problems, January 14, 1943, p. 2. CWS 337, 1943. 

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