MATERIALS IN STORE.

18-24. Use of stub requisitions in drawing material from store at yards. Stub requisitions are required to be submitted prior to the withdrawal of material from the custody of the supply officer at yards and stations, regardless of whether the material is taken from stock or has been obtained on a purchase requisition. In the case of stock material, withdrawals should be limited to the quantities required for the particular work at hand; any surplus remaining upon completion of the work should, if practicable, be returned to store, and not held for future use.

18-25. Restriction on accumulating material for Y. & D. work; separate storage facilities not to be established. The bureau desires that the accumulation, for possible future use, of materials purchased under its appropriations be avoided so far as possible. Purchases of material under A. P. A. should be limited to the quantities required for the work immediately at hand; it is realized, however, that under certain conditions, particularly on foreign stations, various materials required in the construction and maintenance of public works and public utilities must be kept on hand; in such cases the materials should, if possible, be retained under the custody of the supply officer and drawn from store as required. The bureau does not favor the establishment of separate facilities for the storage of materials purchased under its appropriations, since such procedure requires expenditures for storage and protection which could ordinarily be avoided and thereby made available for productive work by utilizing the general storage facilities of the station. Where construction materials of general application must be kept on hand, stations should submit appropriate recommendations to the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, via this bureau, relative to the listing of such items in the standard stock catalogue. It should be kept in mind that the expenditure of Yards and Docks funds for accumulated stores and for their care results in a reduction of the funds available for maintenance purposes generally. Since maintenance appropriations are neither intended nor legally available for use beyond the fiscal year for which they are made, the amounts expended for A. P. A. material in any fiscal year should, so far as practicable, be limited conformably. In regard to the accumulation and storage of spare parts for transportation equipment, attention is directed to paragraph 22-33 (Ch. 22) herein.

18-26. Shop stores. Special attention is directed to the procedure for the establishment and operation of shop stores, as set forth in paragraphs 934 to 960, inclusive, of the Manual for Supply Officers. Where repair work under the cognizance of this bureau requires the maintenance of any considerable quantity of materials for ready issue, shop stores should be organized and operated in accordance with the instructions above mentioned. The establishment of shop stores by the gradual accumulation of surplus materials from various special repair or construction jobs results in the improper application of the bureau's appropriations, as has been pointed out in the preceding paragraph. If shop stores are required they should be operated on a systematic plan which will accomplish the maximum of economy.

USED MATERIAL.

18-27. "Used material account." A brief description of the "Used material account" and its relation to the "Appropriation purchases account" will be found in paragraph 8-89 (Ch. 8) herein.

18-28. Utilization of used material. The bureau desires that constant effort be made to reduce the cost of work under its cognizance by the utilization of used material wherever feasible. In order to withdraw such material from store stub requisitions are required, as for stock material; and although (at industrial yards) these stubs are priced and their amounts included in the job-order cost of the work at hand, there is no appropriation charge, and a corresponding saving in the appropriation cost of the work results. Officers and others considering the making of requisitions for equipment or supplies, particularly for office furniture, to be purchased under Bureau of Yards and Docks appropriations, should first endeavor to locate such articles, in store or elsewhere available for issue or transfer and answerable to the purpose, with a view to obviating the necessity for a new purchase.

18-29. Excess material. Attention is directed to the instructions set forth in Chapter 26 herein, relative to the transfer and utilization of excess equipment and material at the various yards and stations.

TRANSFERS TO OR FROM OTHER BUREAUS OR GOVERNMENT DEPART

MENTS.

18-30. Citation of statutes relating to transfer of supplies. Attention is directed to the statutes quoted in paragraphs 27-170, 27-171, and 27-172 of Chapter 27 herein, regarding the interchange of Government property between the Army and Navy and other departments.

18-31. Bureau action required in arranging transfers. The duties of the surplus property section of the bureau in arranging transfers to or from other bureaus or Government departments have been set forth in paragraphs 3-118 to 3-124 (Ch. 3) herein. While field organizations may make inquiries of the local area coordinators (see par. 27-75 of Ch. 27) regarding the availability of surplus material under other Government departments in their respective areas, material under the cognizance of this bureau may be declared surplus only by bureau action. In any case the actual request for transfer should be made to the bureau, in order that a complete canvass of available sources may be made. Adherence to this prescribed routing of requests is essential, and negotiations conducted in any other manner will only result in delaying fulfillment of the station's requirements.

CHAPTER 19.

FACTORY INSPECTION.

SECTION I. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.

19-01. Factory inspection in the bureau's practice comprises inspection of raw materials and manufactured or partly manufactured articles before their delivery at the site of the work.

19-02. Bureau policy as regards inspection. All manufactured articles furnished under public works contracts or under requisitions approved by the bureau will be inspected at the factory, when practicable, for compliance with the specifications; certain of these articles may require inspection first at the point of original production or manufacture, and later as a part of an assembled machine or other finished product. Raw materials, similarly obtained, such as piles, timber, and stone, will be inspected at the point of original shipment, unless obtained from stocks in the immediate neighborhood of the work and unless delivery conditions make site inspection advisable. As a general rule, it will not be practicable to provide inspection at the sources indicated when the cost of such inspection is out of proportion to the value of the article, or when the time element makes it undesirable. In cooperation with the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, and other bureaus concerned, this bureau may also arrange for factory inspection of materials purchased for naval supply account stock when required principally for public works and public utilities.

19-03. When factory inspection is desirable. Factory inspection of material is desirable and advantageous when any of the following purposes can be fulfilled thereby: (a) To make use of inspection facilities regularly maintained at the factory; (b) to avoid shipment of unacceptable material with resultant expense and delay; (c) to allow defects to be remedied at the factory before shipment; (d) to secure uniform inspection of material or equipment requiring special tests or analyses; (e) to facilitate purchase and delivery generally.

19-04. Instructions and specifications. General instructions are published in leaflet form under the title "Instructions relative