17-05. Drawings to be submitted to bureau for approval. Original tracings of new construction or alterations shall be submitted to the bureau for approval, whether the work is to be performed by contract or by day labor.

17-06. Planning work to effect maximum saving in cost. It is of the greatest importance that the execution of all construction work be planned in advance, with a view to its accomplishment at the least expenditure of effort. Duplication of effort, particularly in the rehandling of materials, should be eliminated so far as possible. Advantage should be taken of such mechanical labor-saving devices or equipment as may be available; when needed equipment is not at hand, consideration should be given to its purchase or transfer, bearing in mind the relation of the cost of obtaining such equipment to the resultant possible saving in the work at hand or in future similar work likely to be undertaken.

17-07. Quality of work to equal customary contract requirements. In day-labor construction work, the quality of the work should, in general, be equal to the customary requirements in public works contracts for similar undertakings.

17-08. Preparation of job-order specifications; preservation of construction records. While the preparation of complete detailed specifications will probably not be necessary in the majority of cases, job orders should contain instructions in such detail as will insure a thorough understanding on the part of the responsible supervisors concerned as to the extent of the work and the desired method of executing it; such instructions should also contain explicit reference to the identification numbers of the construction drawings applicable. It should be borne in mind that the only available records of the work in future years will be the originals of the job orders and drawings involved, and it is therefore necessary that proper notation be made on these originals when, for any reason, changes are required in the course of construction. Particular attention is directed to paragraph 14–75 herein, which contains instructions relative to noting changes upon all record plans and furnishing the bureau in all cases with marked prints for use in correcting plans in its files. In Chapter 14 herein will be found detailed instructions as to the preservation of pile-driving records, which are required for day-labor as well as contract projects.

17-09. Cost accounts; reports to bureau. "When the commandant is directed to build, fit out, or repair any ship, or to construct any building, or to make any improvement at a yard, or when he authorizes work, he shall cause an account to be opened against such ship, building, or improvement, debiting it with the cost of labor, indirect expense, and of the different materials used, detailed reports of which shall be forwarded to the proper bureau when the objects are completed." (N. R. 1500.)

17-10. A job order should be issued for each logical subdivision of the work, so far as practicable, in order to show final detailed costs capable of being reduced to a unit basis for comparison with the original estimate and for use in future estimates; with the cost-accounting system now in effect, the cost of any item of construction involving several classes of labor may be subdivided only by this method. The nature and extent of the work will determine the number of subdivisions which can conveniently be made. If, for example, a considerable amount of both excavation and plainconcrete work is required, each involving principally unskilled labor, a separate job order will be required for each in order to show upon completion the unit costs for the job; on the other hand, on a job embracing only erection and painting of structural steel, the two operations are distinct, and a single job order would be sufficient if the cost of the work performed by each shop could be separately shown on the same cost summary without confusion. It is of little value to compare merely the total cost on any job with the total estimate; errors in estimating, as well as causes of excessive actual costs, can be detected only by reducing both estimates and cost records to a basis permitting close comparison of component parts.

17-11. Responsibility of public works officer in directing work. "When directed to perform work by Government labor he [the public works officer] shall prepare all necessary schedules of materials to be used thereon and shall have charge of all labor connected therewith, except as provided in article 1542." (N. R. 1534-2.)

17-12. Employees restricted to eight hours' work a day. "The service and employment of all laborers and mechanics who are now or may hereafter be employed by the Government of the United States, by the District of Columbia, or by any contractor or subcontractor upon any of the public works of the United States or of the

said District of Columbia is hereby limited and restricted to eight hours in any one calendar day, and it shall be unlawful for any officer of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia, or any such contractor or subcontractor whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control the services of such laborers or mechanics, to require or permit any such laborer or mechanic to work more than eight hours in any calendar day except in case of extraordinary emergency." (N. R. 1573-1, citing act of Aug. 1, 1892. See par. 27-142 herein.)

17-13. Overtime work in emergency. "Under the provisions of law set forth in the preceding paragraph, the working hours of laborers and mechanics at navy yards and naval stations can be extended over eight hours a day only in the case of an extraordinary emergency." (N. R. 1573-2). The following pertinent extracts are quoted from Navy Department circular letter SONYD-7-GR, dated July 24, 1923:

Hereafter the eight hour law of March 3, 1913, will be strictly complied with and no laborer or mechanic will be required or permittd to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day except in case of extraordinary emergency which has been construed by the Attorney General in two circulars as follows:

"Attention is called to the fact that the emergency provision in the law is considered to cover any extraordinary emergencies which can not be foreseen, such as might be necessary for saving life or property of the United States, and not cases which depend for their emergency solely upon economical methods of work or importance of rapid construction."

"An 'extraordinary emergency' under the act is one not to be foreseen in time to avoid the necessity of exceeding the limit of the fixed daily hours of labor by the employment of more men or more shifts of men. Mere economical considerations do not affect the question at all. It is assumed that in making the requirement Congress knew that under many conditions the law would impose great expense upon the Government.” For administrative reasons, it is further directed that no civil employee, regardless of title or group classification, shall be permitted to work in excess of eight hours in any one calendar day, except in case of extraordinary emergency, as construed herein, without the specific authority of the department.

17-14. Commandants may authorize overtime work. “In cases of emergency involving loss to the Government which will not permit of delay, the commandants of navy yards and stations may authorize, without the prior approval of the department, work in excess of eight hours a day and work on Sundays and holidays not to exceed eight hours a day, provided that, in each case where overtime work is authorized, due consideration shall be given to the provisions of the two preceding paragraphs." (N. R. 1573-3.)

17-15. Restriction in withdrawing materials from stock. "The quantity of materials drawn from store at a navy yard for work to be performed therein shall be restricted in every instance to that which is actually needed for the job concerned. When a job is likely to extend through a period of time including the end of a fiscal year, only material actually to be consumed upon the specific job before the end of such fiscal year shall be drawn, if possible; otherwise any surplus shall be invoiced back into store before the expiration of the fiscal year. Any material remaining on hand upon the completion of the job for which drawn shall be turned into store immediately on return material credit memorandum; and under no circumstances shall materials remaining on hand after the completion of the jobs for which drawn be permitted to accumulate." (N. R. 1593.)

17-16. Extending availability of appropriations in case of work performed by Government-owned establishments. In paragraph 8-50 herein (Ch. 8) will be found instructions relative to the procedure for extending availability of annual appropriations beyond the end of the fiscal year for which made, in cases where work is performed at Government-owned establishments.

17-17. Monthly progress reports and photographs; final reports. On all jobs performed under special allotments, the bureau requires the submission of a monthly progress report on Y&D form 87. All spaces on the form should be filled out. If for any reason it is not possible to name even an approximate date for completion, a brief statement of the reason should be made under "Remarks." In general, yard labor work, as well as contract work, should be planned with a definite schedule of progress. For description of this form and further instructions, see Chapter 6 herein. Upon completion of the work, a final report is required, also on form 87, showing the total cost and a comparison with the amount of the bureau's allotment. For disposition of the unexpended balance, see paragraph 8-62 (Ch. 8) herein. Monthly progress photographs are also required on all construction and major repair projects; detailed instructions relative to the submission of photographs will be found in Chapter 14.

17-18. Desirability of technical reports on day-labor jobs for publication. A principal end to be served by the publication of the bureau's quarterly bulletin, Public Works of the Navy, is to

enable officers in charge of construction at the several stations to share with their colleagues studies made and experience gained in the execution of projects, whether performed by contract or by day labor. The latter class of work offers a very significant field for contributions to the bulletin, in that every detail of the job, from beginning to end, is under the direction and control of the officer on the site. Technical reports covering such construction are therefore invited, in any cases where the work may have developed features of engineering interest from the standpoints of design, difficulties overcome, economies effected in construction, and the like. Reports prepared especially for bulletin publication should be submitted direct to the chief of bureau, accompanied by an appropriate letter of transmittal, and should be typed with lines double-spaced. An appropriate selection of photographs and tracings for illustrative purposes will always add to the interest of the article. A suggested general outline for such an article is the following: Necessity for the work; design; construction, including plant, methods, conditions, time, etc.; costs.