PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the PURCHASING COMMISSION JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31 1966 Printed by A. Sutton, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in right of the Province of British Columbia. 1967 Victoria, B.C., January 24, 1967. To Major-General the Honourable George Randolph Pearkes, V.C., P.C., C.B., D.S.O., M.C., CD., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of British Columbia. May it please Your Honour: Herewith I beg respectfully to submit the Annual Report of the Purchasing Commission of the Department of Finance for the period January 1, 1966, to December 31, 1966. W. A. C. BENNETT, Minister of Finance. The Honourable W. A. C. Bennett, Minister of Finance, Victoria, B.C. Sir,—We have the honour to submit the Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Purchasing Commission, covering the period January 1, 1966, to December 31,1966. R. G. McKEE, Chairman. A. E. WEBB, Member. L. J. WALLACE, Member. Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Purchasing Commission January 1 to December 31,1966 GENERAL Since the total purchases under the Act also include purchase orders made by the divisions of those departments with authority to purchase delegated under section 10 of the Act, the records from those divisions are also included in the table below. Since 1965 was a record year in value of purchases, we are including last year's figures in the table below for quick comparative purposes. Department Number of Purchase Orders Total Value of Purchase Orders 1965 1966 1965 1966 1,900 786 166 4,248 2,365 52,259 1,870 814 206 3,820 1,590 45,537 $2,800,000 10,000 37,100 1,393,900 4.120.000 $3,200,000 10,460 64,370 1,205,500 4.670.400 Provincial Secretary— (c) Queen's Printer Finance—Purchasing Commission— (b) For all departments... 37,750,000 | 40,106,400 Totals 61,724 53,837 $46,111,000 | $49,257,130 1 It will be noted that the over-all value of business transacted increased by 6.8 per cent, most of which is accounted for by the rising cost of goods. The significant figures in the above table are the total number of purchase orders which, for approximately the same value of business, dropped 7,887 in number in 1966. This is in line with the intent expressed repeatedly in the 1965 Annual Report, which was that bulk buying would be carried out wherever possible. It should be pointed out that, in the above table, the total value of purchase orders includes the value of all the emergency purchase orders issued during the year, but the number of same is not included in columns 1 and 2. To do so would give a very distorted picture of the annual business of the Commission. The total annual value of these emergency purchase orders is estimated at less than 5 per cent of the total value of purchases made in any one year, whereas the number of emergency purchase orders issued by approved officials in the departments concerned were 30,390 in 1965 and 25,793 in 1966. Although this represents a reduction of some 4,600 emergency purchase orders in one year, it will never be possible to eliminate the use of these relatively small emergency purchase orders as long as there are rush food supplies to be purchased for fire-fighters, frequent purchases of equipment parts for Government repair garages, emergency repairs to Government ferries, etc. STAFF Last year's report dealt at some length with the work load of the six purchasing agents of the Commission. This year it is gratifying to report that an additional Purchasing Agent 1 was added to the staff on June 1, 1966. 5 W 6 BRITISH COLUMBIA In addition, this past summer the Chairman completed a detailed study of other purchasing agencies in Canada and in British Columbia. This report, with its recommendations, was submitted to the Civil Service Commission on October 13, 1966, and is still under advisement. BUSINESS MACHINES SERVICE DIVISION A comprehensive report on this Division was included in the 1965 report of the Commission. However, to illustrate the growth of the machine population explosion, two tables are given below showing an increase of 1,385 machines, or 18 per cent, in 18 months. Table 1.—Machines as at June 28,1965 Type of Machine Number in Departmental Offices Number in Five Vocational Schools Number in B.C. Institute of Technology Total Number 3,920 1,460 1,061 671 228 75 55 101 61 62 55 4,209 1,597 Dictating and transcribing machines Miscellaneous equipment — posting, bookkeeping, 1,116 827 Totals at June 28, 1965 7,112 459 178 7,749 Table 2.—Machines as at December 31,1966 Type of Machine Number in Departmental Offices Number in Seven Vocational Schools Number in B.C. Institute of Technology Total Number 4,298 1,676 1,285 730 398 53 93 274 64 191 26 46 4,760 1,920 1,404 Miscellaneous equipment — posting, bookkeeping, cash registers, etc— 1,050 Totals as at December 31,1966 7,989 12.2 818 78 327 84 9,134 18 From the standpoint of the maintenance staff, not only are the number of these business machines throughout the Province increasing at an alarming rate, but the acquisition of the more sophisticated equipment is likewise increasing. For instance, during the past 18 months one out of every three typewriters purchased was electric, which raised the percentage from 9 to 13.8, as shown above. Similarly, dictating and transcribing equipment during the same period increased by 288 machines or 26 per cent, as shown above. Such electrical equipment not only takes twice as long to repair but requires more skill and training than for manual equipment. In the 1965 Report of this Commission the staff was detailed as 1 supervisor, 2 foremen (Mechanics 2), 8 Mechanics 1, and 4 trainees, making a total of 15 men. This year an additional Mechanic 1 was added through the courtesy of the Department of Education, which Department, as a result of the phenomenal increase of 84 per cent (see above) in business machines for the vocational schools and the British Columbia Institute of Technology, has agreed to add another trainee for the 1967/68 fiscal year. REPORT OF PURCHASING COMMISSION W 7 In addition, at the suggestion of the Business Machines Service Division, the Department of Labour and the Department of Education are sponsoring the first eight months' night-school course at the Victoria Vocational School. This course in electronics is tailored to the maintenance of sophisticated business machines, both theory and practical application. In all, some 15 trainees are involved, including 8 of the Division's Victoria staff. THE PURCHASING MANUAL As stated in the 1965 Report, the Chairman and staff were busy writing a Purchasing Manual. This manual was completed in 1966, and in September 250 printed copies were received from the Queen's Printer. This is a manual of policies as authorized by the Purchasing Commission Act and of procedures which, by trial and error, have been proven correct during the 24 years of the Purchasing Commission's existence. A sample copy was issued to the Deputy Minister of each Government department, and already 167 copies of this in-service training manual have been distributed to the departments requesting same. MISCELLANEOUS The functions of the Vancouver office and staff of eight were fully explained in the 1965 Report of the Commission and will not be repeated here, and under the able guidance of Mr. T. L. Vardy, Purchasing Agent 4, that office had another very successful year. The fact that the Commission is responsible for all purchasing, except capital expenditures, for the British Columbia Ferry Authority was already explained in the 1965 Annual Report. The amount of buying carried out in 1965 and 1966 for the Authority is shown on page 5 of this Report. SURPLUS MATERIALS DISPOSAL SECTION Under section 20 of the Purchasing Commission Act it is the responsibility of the Commission to sell all unserviceable equipment, surplus supplies, and all tangible property declared surplus in writing by the department concerned. The bulk of the work done by the Disposal Section is for the Department of Highways, as shown in the following breakdown:— For Department of Highways— (a) Equipment and scrap $39,660 (b) Houses and chattels (rights-of-way) 51,910 For other departments 26,160 Total value $117,730 LANGFORD WAREHOUSE Under authority of section 5 of the Act, the Purchasing Commission maintains a warehouse at 2914 Jacklin Road, where supplies for Government departments are stored and distributed. The main functions of this warehouse were fully described in the 1965 Report of the Commission, hence will not be repeated here, except to report that the departments are making still further use of this non-profit convenience which operates on a $10 vote. W 8 BRITISH COLUMBIA In 1965 the turnover was $371,893.10, and in 1966 this increased 6.8 per cent to $407,829.02. The most of this increase was due to inflation, but the fact remains that due to bulk buying for several departments at one time, with delivery to a central warehouse, the savings on the essential goods handled, such as tire chains, antifreeze, truck flaps, batteries, etc., is from 30 to 50 per cent. Another major saving for the departments that use Langford Warehouse is the elimination of paper work. For instance ihe annual order from the Forest Protection Division for replacement of fire-fighting equipment is on one requisition, with an attached list, to the value of from $80,000 to $90,000. If there were no warehouse, this list would have to be broken down into 25 or more categories of suppliers, and each category quoted separately and subsequently purchase-ordered separately. Another factor that makes the Langford Warehouse so popular is the fact that many hard-to-get items, such as tire chains, hickory handles, etc., are carried in stock. From experience, the Supervisor of Stores knows the amount of lead time required (from three to six months) to get delivery, and governs his requisitions for replacement stock accordingly. CONCLUSION The Commission again gratefully acknowledges the co-operative work done by the Materials Testing Branch of the Department of Highways, and by the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and for the specialized purchasing done under delegated authority by the Queen's Printer, the Director of the Textbook Branch, the Provincial Librarian and Archivist, and the Superintendent of the Public Library Commission. Printed by A. Sutton, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in right of the Province of British Columbia. 1967
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Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the PURCHASING COMMISSION JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31 1966 British Columbia. Legislative Assembly [1967]
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Title | Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the PURCHASING COMMISSION JANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31 1966 |
Alternate Title | REPORT OF PURCHASING COMMISSION |
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British Columbia. Legislative Assembly |
Publisher | Victoria, BC : Government Printer |
Date Issued | [1967] |
Genre |
Legislative proceedings |
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Text |
FileFormat | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Identifier | J110.L5 S7 1967_V02_17_W1_W8 |
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Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia |
Source | Original Format: Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Library. Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia |
Date Available | 2018-03-09 |
Provider | Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library |
Rights | Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy or otherwise distribute these images please contact the Legislative Library of British Columbia |
CatalogueRecord | http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1198198 |
DOI | 10.14288/1.0364230 |
AggregatedSourceRepository | CONTENTdm |
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