PQ (Procurement-Disposal) (White House Central Files: Subject Files)

Materials filed in the subject category PQ (Procurement) pertain to the procuring, managing and disposing of materials, equipment, supplies and services by contract, purchase or other negotiations except material relating to the disposal of surplus real estate which is filed under RA (Real Property), and the White House, which is filed under WH (White House Administration).

The principal correspondents in these files are the President, his counselors, assistants and advisors in the White House, including among others: Henry Kissinger, John Ehrlichman, H. R. Haldeman, Peter Flanigan, John Mitchell, George Shultz, Charles Colson, John Dean, Kenneth Cole, and Egil Krogh. Also included are the Secretaries or Administrators and executive level officials of government agencies, such as Melvin Laird and David Packard of the Department of Defense; J. D. Hodgson and Arnold R. Weber of the Department of Labor; Hilary Sandoval and Thomas S. Kleppe of the Small Business Administration; Arthur Sampson and Robert Kunzig of the General Services Administration; and Donald Johnson of the Veterans Administration. Other correspondents include members of COngress; state and local government executives, including Ronald Reagan; labor union representatives; and businessmen, including executives of North American Rockwell, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop, Lockheed, Boeing and Grumman.

The terms Executive and General indicate the source of the materials. Documents designated as Executive are communications between foreign, national and state and local government executives and prominent persons. Those documents designated General are communications among government officials and private citizens and organizations. The topics filed under each heading are generally similar.

The types of records found in the subject files include original incoming letters and staff memoranda; carbons and electrostatic copies of outgoing letters and staff memoranda; transmittal letters and memoranda for correspondence, reports and other items; telegrams, cables, and teletype communications; printed materials such as reports, brochures, and magazine reprints; preservation copies of newspaper and magazine clippings; cross references to other file materials; and withdrawal forms for materials either transferred as audiovisual or museum items, or withdrawn for national security or privacy considerations.

Some materials relating to PQ are in the following subject files:

BE Business-Economics

CA Civil Aviation

CM Commodities

CO Countries

FA Federal Aid

FE Federal Government

FG Federal Government-Administration

FG 6-11-1/Brown Brown, John R., III

FG 6-11-1/Ehrlichman Ehrlichman, John D.

FG 6-11-1/Flanigan Flanigan, Peter

FG 6-11-1/Krogh Krogh, Egil

FG 6-11-1/Rumsfeld Rumsfeld, Donald

HU Human Rights

LA Labor

LG Local Governments

ND National Security-Defense

OS Outer Space

ST States-Territories

TA Trade

UT Utilities

PQ PROCUREMENT-DISPOSAL

Some of the topics included here are Federal programs for assisting minority entrepreneurs; contract releases by state or local officials; transfer of Atomic Energy Commission uranium enrichment plants to private ownership; equipment transfers between government agencies; national industrial equipment reserve program; Department of Defense real and personal property; disposal of U.S. equipment and salvage from the Republic of Vietnam; compliance with PL 82-436, the Defense Cataloging and Standardization Act; and the U.S. Army Base Operating Information System (BASOPS).

PQ 1 DISPOSING-EXCESS-SURPLUS

Materials pertain to the Council on Environmental Quality's report on ocean disposal; the disposition of nerve gas and concrete vaults of chemical munitions; the sale of stockpile commodities such as aluminum, tungsten and uranium; the sale or transfer of property such as the Alaska Communications System (to RCA), Liberty ships, airplanes, helicopters, and medical supplies. Other topics include Project Home Run, a project for returning excess property from Vietnam for civilian peacetime use; purchasing mobile homes for disaster victims; airplanes for relief flights to Biafra; the deactivation of the cabin cruisers Patricia and Julie; the B-1 Bomber contract; and a proposal to amend Federal property management regulations.

PQ 2 PURCHASING-CONTRACTING-PROCURING

These files pertain to Federal contracts for buildings and facilities, services and products negotiated by agencies such as the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Health, Education and Welfare (DHEW), Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD), the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), the Veterans Administration (VA), the Small Business Administration (SBA), the General Services Administration (GSA), and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).

Filed here are reports from the Secretary or Deputy Secretary of Defense to the President on Small Business Participation in DOD procurement; the Attorney General's Report to the President on Voluntary Agreements and Programs Pursuant to section 708(e) of the Defense Production Act of 1950; correspondence concerning contract compliance with civil rights (the "Philadelphia Plan" for affirmative action), sex discrimination and pollution guidelines; SBA 8(a) minority subcontracting; Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 on Federal competition with private enterprise; royalty vs. bonus bidding; use of recycled materials by Federal agencies; suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act; the Defense Production Act of 1950 and amendments to the act; various military procurement bills and amendments concerning ABM missiles, the B-1 bomber, and ending the Vietnam war; programs such as Jobs for Veterans and Operation Breakthrough (housing); buy-American protectionism vs. contracts to foreign nations; sale of crude oil from the Naval petroleum reserve; the Biafra airlift; and the sale of the Alaska Communications System to RCA.

Much of the material concerns the intense competition for aero-space contracts, businesses seeking other Federal contracts or protesting specific wards or complaining about a specific agency's administration of a contract. Some of the contracts for buildings and facilities concern construction, renovation or demolition of buildings such as the FBI Academy at Quantico, the Eisenhower Convention Center, the Hirshorn Museum and the Navy buildings on the Mall. Typical service contracts are for architectural and engineering, audio-visual, facilities maintenance, and poll services. Products contracted for or procured range from food products for the DOD or for the School Lunch Program to military aircraft and weapons systems including Trident and Safeguard missiles, B-1 bomber, C5A, F-14, F-15, F-111 and International Freedom Fighter aircraft. Other major products include satellites for the Apollo program, the space shuttle and power plant generators for the Grand Coulee Dam.

Additional topics in this file include H. Ross Perot; an alleged RAND study on civil disturbances and the possibility of suspending the 1972 Presidential election; allegations that trained sharks were used to keep fish away from the Florida White House swimming area; and that there were unusually large expenditures by the White House for pigeon spray.

PQ 3 STORING-DISTRIBUTING

Topics include a fuel supply proposal; subsidy of a traveler document service; Federal owned and stored grain; and storage of chemical and nuclear materials near Denver, Colorado.