Letter on the Need for Further Savings in the Procurement of Office Equipment for Federal Agencies.

[ Released January 13, 1965• Dated January 9, 1965 ] Dear Mr. Knott:

I have noted with interest your suggestions for reducing the costs of Government by making better use of our existing resources.

Federal agencies are spending approximately $60 million annually for new office furniture, file cabinets, and typewriters. I believe that we can reduce new purchases of these items substantially through greater utilization of the GSA program for repair and rehabilitation of existing furniture and equipment, and through disposal of old records. I ask that GSA, in cooperation with other Federal agencies, take steps to put these policies into effect. It is particularly important to obtain as much equipment as possible through timely declarations of excess property for prompt redistribution.

I agree with your recommendation that we declare a moratorium on the purchase of new file cases for use in the fifty States and the District of Columbia. For the duration of this moratorium, agencies will meet their current need for file cases by accelerated disposal of old records either by destruction or by transfer to Federal Records Centers. This moratorium and records disposal program should be instituted at once.

The General Services Administration is authorized to fill requirements for file cases which cannot be met by records disposal under an austere standard of issue from inventories of excess file cases and current warehouse stocks.

Under the programs outlined in this letter the Federal Government should save at least $5 million a year. While this saving may appear modest in relation to the overall costs of the Government, it represents the kind of managerial prudence which can save us much larger sums if applied to all aspects of Government operations.

A report of your plans to achieve these objectives and savings should be sent to me by the end of this month.

Sincerely,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

[Honorable Lawson B. Knott, Jr., Acting Administrator of General Services, Washington, D.C.]