MINUTES OF THE PROCUREMENT OFFICERS' MEETING 12 MAY 1969

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74B00535R000100200023-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 21, 2005
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: May 22, 1969
• Content Type: MIN

Approved For ease 2006/02106 "'CIA-RDP74B0053
No. 69-3 y r~ i i ~~ !969
Minutes of the Procurement Officers' Meeting
12 May 1959
PRESENT: John F. Blake, DD/L (Chai.rman)
1. The meeting was called to order by Mr. Blake at 10:30 a.m.
2, Prior to discussing the items on the formal agenda, Mr. Blake presented three
subjects he considered to be of general interest to those in attendance. These items were:
a. It is the policy of the Office of Logistics that no contracting officer or ne-
gotiator be permitted to attend any school, whether internal or external, during the last
quarter of a fiscal year. Mr. Blake directed that all requests for either internal or ewer-
ri` r aimng involving an SL procurement designee be routed through the Chairman, Agency
Contract Review Board (ACRB), for the Director of Logistics' approval.
b. Nominations are now being processed for attendance at the senior military
schools during the calendar year 1970-1971 session. Mr. Blake reminded all those present
that job requirements must be given priority over attendance at these long-term schools.
c. Mr. Blake summarized a recent exercise conducted by Agency personnel
Security Staff,
OL, together with Messrs. I I
25X1
completed a purge of contract files located at
25X1
to insure that any documents identifying CIA in connection with a contract be physi -
cally removed from the files. The material removed is now being stored at the
The
25X1
Director has suggested that this approach be taken with respect to files located in other
Declassification Review by NGA
Approved For Release 2006/02/06 : CIA-RDP!74BQ0S35Rb00100200023-7
 Approved For .ease 200,6402/06*; `CIA-RDP74B0053000100200023-7
Minutes of the Procurement Officers' Meeti_.y, .l2 May 1959
colleges and universities. The Office of Logistics is currently studying this matter in order
to identify those institutions holding contracts which represent the greatest threat to the
Agency. The threat will be calculated on the basis of the classification and/or cover of the
contract itself, the sensitivity of the undertaking, the volume of material at the institution,
and an assessment of the degree of militancy present at the campus. Upon the completion of
the exercise, a briefing will be given to the Deputy Director for Support and additional. visit-
ations to campuses will be made.
3. Following this general discussion, Mr. Blake then began the coverage of the for-
mal agenda:
a. The group was briefed by Mr. Blake on the history of the Contract Infor-
mation System (CONIF) now being developed by the OfFi ce of Logistics. Following his
briefing, he mentioned that we recently received a memorandum dated 25 April 1969, signed
by MRS/IPB/SSS, which makes the following proposals for Office of
Logistics consideration:
(1)
information system.
D
group does not propose to develop any new contract
(2) The Materiel Resources Sec-"on considers the Office of Logistics
Contract Information System (CONIF) and the Directorate of Science and Technology Con-
tract information System (ACORN) to be the only such systems which will exist under the
total support system now being developed.
As infor _ation; Mr. Blake stressed the fact that the procurement subsystem envisioned by
MRS will not provide a general contract information capability, as this subsystem will only
be concerned with Office of Logistics procurements and other acquisitions triggered by a
formal requisition and will not be an Agency-wide system. (Action to be taken: Thin
entire subject will be reviewed by a study group to be- formed under the supervision of
r- I
b. Mr. Blake requested comments developed as the result of the formal study
on Goveer::.anent-Furnished Equipment (GFE) prepared under the auspices of the Chairman,
ACRE, and previously distributed to attendees at today's meeting. remarked
25X1
that he considered the report to be quite good. stated that he anticipates prob-
25X1
lems in the dissemination of pertinent information among the technical officers concerned.
Mr. Blake agreed that there are some problems of implementation and noted that these
would be corrected as they come up. He believes that the present plan of requiring semi-
annual Lists of excess GFE, which in turn are to be compiled into a master list for general
2
Approved For Release 2006L92/06 .: CIA-RDP74B00535R000100200023-7
 Approved For 'ease 2006102/06"' C1A-RDP741300531*00100200023-7
Minutes o the Procurement Officers' Meeting, 12 May 1969
distribution, will be adequate, I desired to know if there were plans to appoint
a property specialist charged with maintenance of GFE lists. Mr. Blake answered that
this had been considered, but no further action could be taken until the Director of Logis-
tics has made a decision as to how this might best be accomplished. In addition, it will be
necessary to obtain Office of Planning, Programming, and Budgeting concurrence before we
can establish a pool of excess property to be issued to activities other than the original
budgeting component. (Action to be taken: All participants at today's meeting were re-
quested to submit their comments on this study, in writing, to the Director of Logistics
no later than 19 May 1969.)
c. As the interested project officer, gave the group a briefing 25X1
on present plans for Office of Logistics control over contract files following their retire-
ment to the archives. He stated that a basic agreement had been reached with the several
procurement team chiefs to separate contract files from the project case files maintained
by the technical officers concerned. At least for the immediate future, the record retire-
ment forms for the contract files only will be processed through the Records Management
Officer, Cffice of Logistics. This approach will insure that the Director of Logistics will,
at any given time, have a complete listing of all Agency-funded contract files in the
archives. (Action to be taken: ;gill prepare a Procurement Note setting
forth the procedure to be followed in retiring contract files.)
d. Q next discussed the proposed ACRB policy of having contracting
officers present on a selective basis to assist in the presentation of the more complicated
requests for contract action. He stated that such appearances would be held to a reasonable
number. It is his belief that maximum benefit would be realized if these appearances be-
fore the Board were made after the contract was written but before implementation. II 25X1
sked whether this new approach would preclude a contracting officer's request-
ing an appearance before the Board to insure that controversial or confusing aspects of a
proposed contractual action are fully understood by the Board, assured 25X1
that the Board would honor any such requests. Mr. Blake then asked 25X1
to discuss a proposed DD/S&T change to current ACRIDpractice. Under existing policy,
the Board, ideally, reviews proposed contracts prior to negotiation, and again just before
implementation of a negotiated contract. The DD/S&T is suggesting that, at least during
the final quarter of a fiscal year,., this procedure be modified to permit a single review to
be made prior to negotiation, believes that this approach would reduce the
amount o administration necessary in the processing of a proposed contract and would cut
down on the potential delays built into the present procedure. At this point, 25X1
stated that, in his mind at least, there were some confusions with respect to the Board's
prerogatives of review of contract actions. He suggested that a Procurement Note,
identifyin c; the Board's specific charter and method of operation, be written at the earliest
3
Approved For Release 2006/?.2i0,?.: CJA-J DP74B00535R000100200023-7
 Approved Forease 2006102/06..:: CIA-RDP74B005300100200023-7
Minutes of the Procurement Officers' Meeting, 12 May 1969
possible time.
proposal and
(Action to be t"--k-en: A careful review is to be made of both
suggestion.
C. Mr. Blake informed the group that, based on a recently completed rine-
month analysis, research and development contracting money is being obligated) at a rate
far below that of FY 196 8. (Action to be taken: Although there is no way the Office of
Logistics can improve this situation, we will again analyze the obligation rate based on
the report of contractual actions through April 1969.)
f. At the Procurement Officers' Meeting held on 14 April 1969, attendees
were -equested to submit statistics on contract settlements completed or in process by
the various decentralized teams. To date, I _P f NPIC and on behalf
of DD/S&T, have filed their positions with us.
g. Mr. Blake briefed the group on the results of a study recently completed
covering Agency accommodation procurement, now occurring at the rate of nearly
I
yearly. it was noted'that the balls of the funds were obligated in support of "joint"
(e . g. , Agency/DOD) activities. (Action to be taken: None.)
h. I stated that he has had occasion to question the adequacy
of price analysis studies made byindustriai Contract Audit Division, OF, auditors
assigned to the Technical Services Division. In his estimation, we are not getting the in-
formatic.i necessary to permit a contracting officer to negotiate such things as labor in-
puts. believes that an auditor should have access to all data available and
could develop this type of information. Following some general discussion among the
group, it was agreed that more specific audit data could be obtained if the contracting
officer specifically identified those areas to be covered. In closing, Mr. Blake suggested
that we invite Deputy Director for Accounts and Audit, to attend the
next Procurement Officers' Meeting for the purpose of briefing the group on ICAD
potentials which possibly have not been fully utilized- by contracting officers. Mr. Blake
further stated that he would ask to be prepared to answer any questions.
(Action to be taken: Mr. Blake will make the necessary arrangements to invite
I o the next: meeti nb . )
2x1
Approved For Release 2006/02/061 CIA-RDP74B00535R000100200023-7