Author. Title aassL.U.2823. Book_»..j[_..5r- Imprint- 16—17372-1 ^^ f) ^^-'j«'' ii#%4' 1 4 .s ■»'r "iV "To Secure Efficiency and Economy in Govcmmtnt" DETROIT BUREAU OF GOVERNMENTAL RESEARCH, Inc. 100 GRISWOLD STREET REPORT ON GSNTRAIIZBD PUEGHASIKG BQA.RD OF EDUOATION Prepared "by USTROIT BUREAU OF GOTERHMSlfTAL RBSaARCH, Ino , 1916 ^' fif D. •.v'^ FOREWORD This report on the purchase, stor3,ge, and distribution of supplies of the Board of Education is one of a number prepared by the Detroit Bureau of GoTerrmental Research covering the several activities of the Educational Department. This survey is being made in accordance with a resolution passed by the Board of Education in May, 1916, and was prepared by Mr. Arch M. Mandel of the Bureau staff, who has been in charge of all Bureau work in the Educational Depart- ment. - Contents - REPORT ON CENTR.A.LI2ED PURCHASING Simimary of Recommendations Centralization of Purohcsmng Page Quantity Buying 5 Scientific Supplies 5 Groceries 7 Building Supplies and lilaterials 7 Educational Supplies 7 Standard Supplies and Standard Specifi- cations 9 Standardization of Supplies 9 Standard Supply List 9 Standard Specifications 10 Inspection of Supplies 14 Detailed Procedure in Pixrcliasiag 15 1. Annual Estimates of Needs 15 2. Proposals for. Bids 16 3. Contract for supplies 18 4. Prices secured 18 5. Issuing orders 18 6. Checking use of Supplies 20 Payment of Bills 21 Central Stores 22 Organization 22 Deliveries to Schools 24 Stores Records 25 Repairing of Equipment 25 Repairing Books 25 Repairing other equipment 26 • r'.J. SOMRfARY OF REGOJ.mEICDATIO])JS It is recommended: 1. That the position of Purchasing Agent and Store- keeper of the Board of Education be created, the functions of the encumbent of this position to be the purchasing of all supplies for all depart- ments of the Board of Education, and responsi-^ bility for storing and issuing supplies to the various branches of the Board of Education. 2. That the varieties of supjjlies bought by the Board of Education be reduced to a minimum by standardizing the grades and qualities of supplies used , and that standard, definite, and technical specifications for all supplies be prepared and employed in the purchase of such supplies, 3. ThAt wherever found more-opracticable, supplies be bought upon sample, but, unlike the present method, it is recommended that the purchasing agent choose a standard sample and receive bids using his sample as a standard. The present plan of allowing each bidder to furnish his "own sample, without reference to any standard Sample of the Board of Education, tends to eliminate real competition because vendors do not bid upon the Same definite article* 4. That quantity buying be extended to include all supplies. This can be done more easily by classi- fying supplies according to their trade names rather than according to the use to which they will be put, and submitting proposals for bids to vendors upon schedules classified in the pro- posed manner. At present, proposals are sent out for high school supplies, educational supplies, kindergarten, drawing, manual training supplies, etc. These various schedules contain many sup- plies and materials in common, which, if com- bined on one schedule, would tend to reduce ■- prices. 5. That a standard supply list of all articles to be used in the schools be prepared and published by the Board of Education as is nov7 being done with reference to text books in the -srimary and grammar grades; that this list be adhered to strictly by all; persons making requests upon the iba&^B b 9! Xii HBl - b - purchasing agent, no de'giations "being permitted except by approval by the Board. 6. That the Board of Education discontinue the practice of approving those orders for supplies and materi&ls for which contract"© have been let for the qhole year. This v/ill not only Save the time of the Board, but will expedite purchases and will save a needless expenditure of money for prinfing the adoption of such orders in the proceedings of the meetings of the Board of Education. 7. That invorder to prevent overdrafts of appro- priations, no purchase order be placed ujatil the accountant or business manager certifies that at the time the order is placed there is an unencumbered balance in the funds, to which the purchase is to be charged, adequate to liquidate the liability incurred by the issuance of the order. That to introduce further economies in the operation of the store room, deliveries to schools be made once a month instead of once a week. It is probable that this procedure will either result in the elimination of one of the tviTO vehicles for deliveries now being- used, or else allow the use of these vehicles,- the motor truck and the horse and wagon- for hauling purposes for the chief engineer. Improvements in stores records and in the form .and procedure being used for requisitioning supplies and placing orders are now being taken up with *he business manager. CENTRALIZATIdJ OF PURCHASING Centralized purchasing means the c on centra ti en' of responsibility for buying supplies and materials in one person. This entails in the last analysis responsi- bility upon the part of the purchasing agent for furnish- ing the best commodities for the purpose at the least cost,, Altho the rules of the Board of Education did provide for centralized purchasing, yet it is only since the appointment of a business manager vd th full authority over the business transactions of the Board that these provisions can be made completely effective. The business manager is now able to overcome the obstacles to centra- lized buying which existed when the responsibiihity was divided between the Secretary and the Supervisor of Prop- erty, obstacles of which the Secretary was cognizant at the time. By including in his purchasing scheme the buying of supplies and materials for use in the maintenance of property, which heretofore were bought by the Supervisor of Property, and the buying of scientific supplies now being bought by the headS of scientific departments in the various high schools, the Business Manager will have all purchasing for the Board of Education centralized. In order that centralized guying may be a fact, it is necessary that some one person be responsible for all goods bought. It is true that the Business Marager is charged among other duties with purchasing, storing and - s - distributing all supplies and materials used by the Board of Education, but inasm^ich as the Business Mana- ger is charged v/ith responsibility for all the business affairs of the Board of Education, it is impossible for him personally to perform the functions of a purchasing agent. At this point it is desired to state that a purchasing agent should be more than a clerk whose duties are limited to the mechanics of purchasing, i, e. senaj. n^ out requests and ordering supplies. A purchasing agent', -^ responsibilities and duties shoLild include, in addition to the above: 1, A knowledge of responsible firms handling commodities used by the Board of Education. 2, Keeping in teach v/ith the market both as to prices and as to latest improvemai ts in commodities and equipment used by the Board thru a continuous collection of trade cata- logs and thru intercourse v;ith vendors. 3, Preparation of standard aad definite specifications for all commodities being purchased. 4, Buying best supplies or material for the purpose 5, Insuring deliveries of goods as per order and specifications Up to and including the present time, the Board of Education has no purchasing agent in the full ;-^.i.£V;ifS' - 3 - sense of the word. Purchasing is divided among the requisitioning departments, the clerical farce in the Business Manager's office which perforiasthe mechanical work attendant upon huying, and the committees of the Board. It is difficult to say which one of these three does the bulging, but if the title of purchasing agent were applied to any one persoia new, it would have to be applied to the chief stenographer in the Business Manager''' office, altho the committees actually select the sup;olie.- bought, J'or example if the Idrector of I.iar.ual" Training needs supplies or equipment, he forvmrds his requisition ancl specifications after approval by the Superintendent, ' to the Business Manager's office v/here propos^:.is for bids are sent to vendors and vihere returned bids are tabulated and prepa.'^ed for the proper committee under the supervision of the chief clerk of the stenographic division.. The com- mittee on test books and course of study reviews the bids and with the advice ot "'-he Director of Manual Training, who is present and awards the contract subject to approval , by the whole Board, Occasionally, actual samples are placed before the committee for its inspection. In bulging school desks, the committee on supplies and janitor's, with- out any advice as far as could be learned, reviews the bids and sample deslcs and se-lects the type it thinks best, During all this time reqmaitions do not go thru - 4 - the hands of a skilled purchasing agent whose sole busi- ness it is to acquaint himself with terms and discounts, with the character of firms supplying the particular com- modity required, and with all those points which go to make up skillful "buying* Ordinary commercial experience shows that efficient buying cannot be done mechanically by merely preparing requisitions and proposals for bids. It is true that the Business Elanagef possesses full authority for purchasing, feut it cannot be exptiotro. that he attend directly to the numerous duties attendant upon a purchasing agent *s position. It is therefore recommended that a purchasing agent be designated to whom the Business J.lanager can dele- gate the functions enumerated above; that the responsibil- ity for buying be taken out of the Department of Stenog- raphers. Inasmuch as the Board of Education does all of its principal buying in the spring and summ.er, the duties of a purchasing agent will be comparatively light during the rest of the year. But as there is need for a store- keeper the year around, it is recommended that the duties of purchasing agent and storekeeper be included in Q3fl§ posi tion,a step which may involve merely extending the duties of the "chief clerk" now employed in the store room. This clerk's present duties vjlll be discussed 5^n the section on "stores. " V.Q .H':;i^;r>}n Qqtoaiiq s-tx ajonecttf; - 5 - The two great benefits accruing from such organi- zation are: 1. Making one person answerable to the Business Manager for the T^TO-per buy- ing of all supplies and materials, for furnishing supplies when required, and .for having on hand at all times common supplies used >: uhe Board of Educatiom* 2, Relieving from purchasing duties and •onereby saving the time of heads of Educational and other branches. QUANTITY BUYING Centralized purchasing, altho a prerequisite, does not autnmatically result in qua.ntity buying. The Board of Education buys in large quantities, entering into price agreements for the bulk of its supplies and materials to be used for a school year^ but does not carry this prac- tice to the extent possible under the centralized purchas- ing system provided by the rules of the Board. Reference is made bo the buying of scientific supplies, groceries, supplies and materials used in the maintenance of buildings, and- to the purchase of educational supplies under arbitrary classification such as High School, Elementary School, Kindergarten, Manual Training, etc. Scientific Suppli es Supplies for use in the scitotific departments of the High Schools are bought by the hea[ds of such depart- ments in each High School, after requisitions are approved - 5 - by the principal. Table Showing Bids Upon Scientifio Supplies Por 1915 - 1917 Mrm Bidding Central High School Eimer & Amend Arthur H. Thomas Co Michigan Drug Go Cass Technical High Bausch & Lomb"^ School J. T. Baker Eimer & Amdnd Arthur H.TBo-rt.>s no Uorthv/estem High E.H. Sargent &Go. School Scientific Mater igels Co. Central Scientific Co. *Successful bidder. It will be noticed that only two firms appGvar more than anee in the bidding, a fact v/hich seems to bear out the supposition that it is natural for different per- S30ns to develope the habit of trading vifith specific firms. However, more important than this circumstance is the 'fact that individual buying upon zhe part of each high schooa reduces the quantities submitted for bids to a minimum. It is probable that the prices for scientific supplies a,nd apparatus could have been reduced if one bid would have been obtained for the collective tyaantities required in all high schools and if all the firms listed above had been Appa* ratus Chemical 674.13 674.20 192.02 211.7" 870.77 967.40 not com- plete 2b^-.- ^ 317./^ - 329.69 254.99 239.13 280.34 - 7 - given the opportunity to bid upon the collective quantitj. Groceries During the year 1915-16 the amaint spent ior groceries v/as .$8^523.31, These purchases are made as needed from local stores hy the teachers in domestic science, pre- voeational, cripple and open air classes. Since most of the articles bought are perishable, there can be no buyinp; in large quantities, but it r/ould be possible to buy ir. bulk vThatever canned goods is consumed. The amount sy.in: for such goods could not be learned. Building Supplies and Materia ls In the division oi maintenance of property the only supplies bought in tjaantity are paints, oils, varnisheEr and paint brushes for which the price ggreements are en- tered into at the beginning of each fiscal year. Purchasing for this branch of the work is done thru the office of the Chief Engineer, the clerk: in t'le engineer's office acting as purchasing agent. Educational Supplies These are classified according to the educatim- al department in which they are used, as elementary school , high school, kindergarten, drawing, manual training and special room supplies. Schedules are prepared and proposals sent to vendors under this classification: Such classification is arbitrary from a buying point of view and is created for bookkeeping convenience only. The convenience of the vendor is ignored because he must search thru several proposals to find the aiticles upon' which he wishes to submit a bid, and more important than this is the fact that his bid upon each proposal is based upon only a partial quantity of the article used by the Board of Education, To illustrate: Pens, pencils, paper, blotters, scissors and other commodities appear on more than one proposal, resulting in individual bids for these articles as they are listed on the elementary schoo high school, manual training, and other schedules respecti- vely. Even tho the articles in quastion are not specific- ally the same in all instances, it is believed that the vendor will consider the gross quantities of the general article listed v^hen submitting his bid. It may be possible for the vendor to do this even under the present system of preparing: schedules, but since the various proposals are sent out on different days such action on the part of the vendor does not seem probable. While none of these deflections from, quantity buying, nor the amount of maiey involved, are momentous, it seems decidely worth v;hile to introduce at this time a syster vrhich virill facilitate bidding by vendors, and which may re- sult in the saving of money thru lower bids. It is recom- mended therefore, that one comprehensive proposal schedule be prepared for each class of supplies, the classification being based on trade usage* For example, stationery, and H.id" I J - 9 - office supplies including pens, pencils etc ;70uld. -under this classification comprise oiie schedule instead of being divided according to the departnent which will use the supplies. STANDARD SUPPLIES AND STArTDARD SPS£>IFICATI0ITS Standardization of Suppl ies Except in a few instances the Board of Education has standardized the grades of supplies used. The excep- tions ncted particularly are pens, pencils, letter heads, paper fasteners, common supplies used "by all departments, For instance letter heads of different sizes and styles, and twelve different kind of pencils are used, y/hile the above comments may seem of minor impor- tance, it is believed adTCisable to call attention to the matter of standardization of supplies because the amount of money to be expended will increase from year to year, and there is always danger of catering to individual pre^ ferences existing in requisitioning departments* Standard gup:oly List It is recommended that a standard Supply list similar to the one now used for text and reference books fot" *he elementary schools, be established for all suppliee for all scljools, such list to include in addition to educa- tional supplies, text and reference books for high schools, ■JnsmtisqfiB ja. ; 5 «•.«.#& ^.K¥JV:f-:.'^'d , o»* 4^ T 'x 00X,ixi - 13 - could have besn obtained at the lower price, but there was no y/ay of knowing this, because there viere no standards set up by the Board of Education upon which an analysi s might have been based. The proposals for Interior Finish Varnish called for 200 gallons "Spar and High Grade" in 5 gallon sealed cans, on which twelve bids were received, ranging from |l.2l to $2.35 per gallon. The prices selected were $1.95 and $3.35 per gallon. It is highly probable that the selection of the varnish at these prices resullted in the most efficient purchase, but on the other hand it is also possible that a lovrer price v/ould have furnished equally as satisfactory an article. Again, a standard set up by the Board of Education could have been used as a basis for buying a lower priced article. To remedy these defects it is recommended; 1. That the purchasing agent select the one article which will serve the pisupose for which it will be used, nei;^her the most expensive, nor the cheapest, biit the most suitable. 2. That the purchasing agent, after the article has been selected, prepare defi- nite specifications, technical v?herever possible, describing the article fully, so that the or equal clause may be eliminated. In those instances V7here it is more advisable to buy according to sample, it is "ecommended that the purchasing agent of the Board of Education furnish a standard sample of the article desired and that vendors bBl.B&B - 14 - submit samples of their own with their bids to be compared m th the standard sample of the Board of Education, At the present time the Board does not set up a standard, merely choosing from among the different varieties of sam- ples submitted by vendors. lUSPECTIOM OF SUPPLIES All supplies delivered to the store house are inspected as to quality and quantity by the chief clerk or his assistants* The supplies and equipment sent direct ly to the sdhools are inspected by the principal, "ohe engineer or other responsible persons. In general, the inspection is done by the person from whom the requisition originated: the director of manual training inspecting the equipment he requested, the direetol- of physical training doing likewise, the heads of the scientific departments in the high school inspecting the suppliee they requested. The dats upon which the inspector bases his inspection is a memorandum or invoices accompanying the goods* The inspection of coal takes the form of an accurate test and ana,lysis. The Effectiveness of the inspection of supplies depends upon the definiteness of the standards set up, and to that extent depends upon good specifications. It is therefore recommended that in order to m.ake inspection more effedtive, standards be adopted which will aid the I'''-;: 'tijDr •'i<^ni - 15 - persnn inspecting supplies, materials or equipment in determining accurately whethef or not the commodity de- livered is of the quality ordered, Vi/herever possible, as in the aase of coal, paints, oil, varnishes, et cetra, technical standards should be adopted which will peiniit inspection to take the form of accurate chemical tests and analysis. In every instance it is suggested that specifications be absolutely definjte describing the article minutely. Consideration is given the (fact that in many instances the quantities bought are so small that elaborafc ; specifications and tests are not worth while. There is no inspection of supplies and materials sent to repair jobs, or at least there is no indication of any inspection. The greater part of such materials is ordered by phone to be delivered by the vendor to parti- cular jobs. The clerk in the office of the Chief Engineer takes it for granted that deliveries are satisfactory unless he hears to the contrary, but since the men on a repair job have no copy ox a requisition or order they do ■not know what quality or quantity should be received and cannot very well check deliveries satisfactorily. DETaiLED PROOBDURE IN PURGHASIiyG 1. Annual Estimate s o f Weeds I II , 11 1 I ,.i In ISay of each year^ after the annual appropria- - 16 - tions have been made, the estimated needs of the various supplies for the follov/ing year are sent to the Business Manager in whose office bids are secured, tabulated and prepared for consideration by the Board of Education. The sources of these requests are: 1. Supervisors of Manasal Training, Drawing, Kindergarten, Ph^tsical Training, Music, 2. Superintendent of Schools 3. Assistant Superintendent in charge of the special schools. 4. Clerk of the Supply Department 5. Principals of High Schools The SuperintendOiit ap^^roves all supply liste of an educational nature and prepares the list of text, sup- plemental, and reference books. To estimate the amo-unt of educaticnal supplies needed in the element :'ry schools and the amount of engineers and janitors' supplies, the clerk of the supply department uses the pre'gious years' estimates as a basis and prepares his list accordingly. In high schools, the principals are allotted a definite amount of money by the Superintendent, whicn feioney is expended by the principals as they see fit, 2. Proposals for bids. Eleven schedules, classified according to the departments using the supplies, are prepared Qontaihing the specifications for each supply and the quantity it is estimated will bd bought during the ensuing year. - 17 - Sids are solicited upon these schedules from a list of firms in Detroit, or elsev^rhere, secured by the Business Manager, 143 firms for janitors and engineers' supplies, 84 for ed.ucational supplies, etc. In addition to this, in order that there be no suspicion of discrim- ination, an advertisement is inserted in each of the daily joapers. Advertising cost approximately ^250 for the ye?'.\ and is of doubtful value. During the whole year not more than six firms to v;hom proposals were not mailed submittS' quotations. It is recommended that advertising in the newrspapers for bids be discontinued. Suggestions as to tha preparation of proposals for bids were presented in a foregoing section of this re- port. The suggestions call for - 1. Discontinuance of the arbitrary and artificial classification of supplies now used for biddins: purposes. 2. Adoption of a classification of sched- ules or proposi/is for bids by natu.re of the supply or by trade name. 3. Submitting to vendors those proposals in which they are interested, thus relieving them of the necessity of searching thru the entire list of supplies for their loarticular items. The adoption of this plan v/ill not increase the clerical work: in the Business Manager's office; in fact i1 VYill decrease the label; in the tabulation of the bids. - 18 - Once the classification is adopted, it will be a simple matter for the department heads to submit their requisi^ tions accordingly, and for the purchasing agent to prepare them for transmission to vendors. These proposals may be mimeographed as at presents It is believed that by combining all supplies of a like nature on one proposal, quantity buying v?ill be extended and a proportionate reduction in price may be obtained. 3. Contract for supiolies The various committees pass upon the bids for supplies coming within their respective Jurisdiction, and after being approved by the Board of Education and the Mayor, contracts are let* These contracts are good. They are continuing price agreements which give the Board of Education a standar'd wholesale price for the entire year, without bind- ing it to purchasing a definite quantityi. 4., prices secured In verifyihg prices paid by the Board of Educatioi for all kinds of supplies it was found that the prices were low, 5. Issuing drders As the occasion demands during the year, orders are placed against contracts or price agreements made at the beginning of the fiscal year. These orders are passed '« ■Qr<"«:ffi- " rso^ ,v.&rti3f - 19 - by the committees and by the Board of Education before being issued, a practice ?;hich entails loss of time and an unnecessary expenditure of money. The first is occasioned by the delay involved in waiting for approval of the Board of Education and the preventable outlay in money is due to the printing in the proceedings of all the orders ap- proved by the Board of Education. It is recemraended that this superfluous practice be discontinued because after the Board of Education a""j-- proved the price agreements v/hich govern purchases for thb whole year, and the placing of orders is an administrative detail which belongs properly to the Business Manager. In connection with the consideration by the Board of all the orders issued is the question of printing all such orders in the ;:)roceodings. During the year ending June 50, 1916, 43 pages of the proceedings at $2,60 "per page were consumed with printing the orders placed against contracts made at the beginning of the year. This print- ing is a needless expenditure of money, The proceedings are used by the accounting division, and by the clerk in the storehouse #hen checking up 'invoices and deliveries but for this purpose a carbon copy of the order V7ill serve as well. It is suggested also that in making purchases of articles for v/hich price agreements are not in force, the Board of E3.ucation decide upon a minimum amount to be con- sidered and approved by the Board, and that below this mir,i- - 20 - mum the Business Manager be allowed to make the piarchase upon his own responsibility and initiative. The Board can insure proper expenditure thru periodic financial reports which will be dealt with in connection with the accounting procedure. To prevent overdrav/ing of an appropriation it is recommended that before any order for supplies, materials or equipment is issued, ghe Business Manager certify on one copy of the order to the effect that there are suffic' unencumbered funds in this appropriation to meet the lia- bility incurred; that no orders be issued unless there are adeuqate unencumbered funds in the appropriation at the time of issuance. The mattsr of the order form, the number of copies desired and the routine of issuing orders and check- ing deliveries will be taken up with the Business Manager and worked out with him in the actual installation of a recommended procedure, 6» Checking use o:f su p plies The Business Manager promotes an efficient use of supplies and checks consumption b.y publishing t?/ice a year a "Comparative Statem.ent of the Cost of Text Books and Supplies sent to Schools iipon Requisition" and a "Com- parative Statement of Cost of Engineers' and Janitors' Supplies Sent to Schools upon Requisition". In addition to these the Business Manager receives monthly comparative statements. - 81 - Current checks upon consumption will be furnished ■by a requisition from principals which carries the quantitie; on hand of the requested commodity and the quantity used . during the periods covered iDy requisitions; by the employ- ment of the proposed stores records which will furnish de- ■tailed data of consumption records for each school, for each kind of activity can be obtained and from which the per capita cofet f-^r supplies for various branches of education fean be ascertained. These controls are bain^- developed nov/ in the accounting division, PAYMEFT OF BILLS In spite of the fact that the Bo^rd of Education meets its financial obligations promptly, the minimum amoimt of time necessary for the payment of a bill is two weeks. This is due to the fact that the procedure of pay- ment is governed by the charter which provides that both the Board of Education and the Ilayor raiist approve all claims before a payment is made. Discounting bills is therefore j)recluded under these conditions. A charter amendment -providing for payment vd thout the approval of the J/Ia^^'or is desirable. If the provision of a city charter requiring that an affidavit of the vendor be affixed to each invoice before -payment be made reading to the effect that this claim is valid and the goods ha.ve been delivered etc, were eliminated the procedure for the -r.h -f cn»-rf;e - 22 - payment of bills would be expedited. The requirement of an affidavit lends nothing- of importance to the city in that nearly all cases a minor clerk performs the perfunctory duty and swea;rs to the affidavit before the vendor. CBHTRAL STORES Organization Under the rules of the Board of Education, the Business Manager shall keep in charge and asistribute, on proper requisition, all free text books and school supplie He shall have charge of all janitors' supplies and deliver them to the school buildings on a requisition properly Signed by the principal. He shall keep an account with each school, shov7ing all the ±tems of expenditure thereon, except tuition. Carrying out the provisions of this rule the Board of Education maintains at the Washington School a store room where were received, stored an* issued approximately ^75,000 ../orth of educational, janitorial and engineers' sup- plies. To handle this amount and to keep recording accounts of the same, the followni.s' organization is employed: - 23 - Present Staff 1 clerk, book room 1 asst. clerk, book room 1 clerk, supply room 5 clerks, Accounting Dept. $900.00 each 1 driver, team 1 driver, auto truck 1 liiborer, (^2,75 per day Staff begin- ning July 1, 1917 Sl65O.0e per year $1680,00 " 960,00 " 1200.00 " 2 '700. 00 " 8040.00 " 853.00 II $8433.00 1100.00 " 1200.00 " 4500.00 " 1000., 00 " 1000.00 " 858.00 " ^11333.00 The clerk of the book room or storekeeper iR as- sisted in the actual stock keeping and s"'"/;3ok issuing functions by two assistaat clerks and a laborer. The clerk'?, own duties consist mainly in checking of price ex- tensions on the invoice and in approving invoices for pay- ment, functions which are du.plicated in the main accounting office and in the stores accounting office. In addition to these duties the clerk verifies d.eliverieB against purchase orders, reporting of shortage of stock to the Business Manager for repurchase, and v.'hen necessary, in filling re- quisitions of supplies for schools. Inasmuch as the proposed centralised accounting procedure will relieve the d-uties, leaving to him only the approval of invoices in so far as the delivery of goods is concerned, it is suggested that this clerk in addition to his duties as storekeeper, be designated purchasing agent of the Board, in accordance vd th the recommendations in a previous section of "Ghis report. To assist him in the - 24 - v^ork of preparing proposals for bids, makins out oMers, etc., it is suggested that he he given a stenographer, one from the Business Manager's office. This can he done without handicapping the stenographic and clerical work of the Business Manager, because all matters relating to purchasing will under this ari-angement be taken out of the Department of Stenographers. Beginning July 1, 1917, the number of clerks in the Accounting Department of the store house will be re- duced from five to three, but with the introduction of im-- proved accounting methods it will be possible to maintain more complete records than at present, in spite of the deduction in personnel. This matter is taken up fully by the accountant of the Bureau. The rest off the staff at present consist of two assistant clerks or stockkeeper, one laborer and two drivers. It is suggested that with the introduction of monthly instead of weekly deliveries to the schools, that one driver and vehicle be turned over to the Chief Engineer's division, and that the stockkeeping and filling requisitions be car- ried on by one assistant clerk and laborer instead of two clerks as at present. Deliveries to Schools Deliveries are made weekly. From a study of the loads delivered over a three months period, - October, November, December, 1916 - it v/as found that the vehicles - 25 - are not iixxed to capacity. It is therefore recommended that monthly deliveries of supplies he made, a plan which will reduce record keeping and deliveries l^'^o. Stores Records The whole question of the stores system and ac- counting records are being worked out no?/ with the Business Manage r. ImprovemiSnts are heing made which v>/ill furnish control of consumption of supplies, checks on deliveries, and will make available data and statistics which should aid materially in more effective expenditu.re and planning expenditures. REPAIRING OP EQUIPMBMT Repairing Books The Board of Education is allowed 1^^5,000 for 1917-18 for repairing, books, in 1916-17 |)4,000 V/as allowed. All ^ooks costing %Qi(f. or more are reboind, badly mutilated pages being replaced by good pages from discarded books, I: found v/orth while, books costing less than 50{i are also rebound. All books are returned to the store room, and thei inspected by feirls employed for the purpose. It is sug- gested that costs be kept on this work, in order to ascer- tain whether the results are justifying tha expenditure. .. D>Siir a i - 26 - EeDairiiiR Qlsher Equipment Thruout the school yee.r and during the suimier, broken and hadly used up equipment, such as clocks, com- passes, glohes, maps, etc., are repaired by one of the clerks. The suggestion given above relating to cos t records, applies also in this instance. '■iiiiiilL 0021 324 802 9