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 PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the
PURCHASING COMMISSION
IANUARY 1 TO DECEMBER 31
1968
Printed by A. Sutton, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty
in right of the Province of British Columbia.
1969
  Victoria, British Columbia, January 17, 1969.
To Colonel the Honourable John R. Nicholson, P.C., O.B.E., Q.C., LL.D.,
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, 1968, to
December 31, 1968.
W. A. C. BENNETT,
Minister of Finance.
 The Honourable W. A.C. Bennett,
Minister of Finance, Victoria, British Columbia.
Sir,—We have the honour to submit the Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the
Purchasing Commission, covering the period January 1, 1968, to December 31,
1968.
R. G. McKEE,
Chairman.
A. E. WEBB,
Member.
L. J. WALLACE,
Member.
 Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the
Purchasing Commission
January 1 to December 31, 1968
GENERAL
As stated in previous Annual Reports, the total purchases under the Act include
purchases made by the divisions of those departments with authority to purchase
delegated under section 10 of the Act.   Records for these divisions are therefore
included in the table below.
Department and Division
Number of Purchase Orders
Total Value of Purchase Orders
1967
1968
1967
1968
Education—Textbook Branch	
Provincial Secretary—
(a) Provinciai Library and Archives . 	
2,184
935
194
3,190
1,719
45,455
2,460
853
172
3,325
44,845
$2,575,000
8,630
51,680
2,000,540
5,246,380
43,985,810
$3,170,000
11,140
55,360
(c) Queen's Printer  	
Finance—Purchasing Commission—
(a) Ferry Authority	
(6) All departments	
Totals	
1,899,840
47,268,620
53,677
51,655
$53,868,040
$52,404,960
From the above it will be noted that in 1967 separate figures were given for the
Ferry Authority.   At the last Session of the Legislature an Act was passed vesting
the undertaking of the Ferry Authority in the Crown, hence this entity is now a
division of the Department of Highways.   Thus for 1968 the above figures for it are
included in those for " all departments."
The fact that purchase orders decreased by 3.8 per cent, whereas their value
decreased by 2.7 per cent, in spite of rising costs, indicates that bulk buying is continuing wherever possible.   To this end, again, the buyer for janitorial supplies,
paint, etc., attended the annual meeting of the building superintendents of the
Department of Public Works to discuss mutual problems of obtaining supplies under
simplified procedures.   After considerable negotiations with the equipment staff of
the Department of Highways, arrangements were completed this year to buy the
quarterly requirements of tires for its 47 repair-shops throughout the Province on
a bulk basis.
As usual, the value of emergency purchases is included in the above figures
for value of purchase orders, but the number of them (23,910) is not, as their total
value is less than 5 per cent, hence to include them would give a distorted picture.
Actually there were 12.7 per cent less emergency purchase orders than last year
because the 1968 fire season was lighter and because more use of bulk and contract
purchasing is in effect.
STAFF
There are in all 62 permanent employees on the staff of the Commission, including the Chairman. 1 Administrative Officer 2, 8 purchasing agents, 13 business
machine mechanics, 35 clerical, 2 warehousemen at the Langford Warehouse, and
2 carpenters.
5
 Q6
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Since the two carpenters have been employed by this Commission to make
and repair furniture in the Vancouver area, these permanent positions, as of April 1,
1969, are being transferred to the Department of Public Works, and these men will
then be part of the staff of its maintenance-shop in Burnaby.
In addition to the 13 business machine mechanics shown above, there is one
Mechanic 1 and one mechanic trainee paid for by the Department of Education for
the maintenance of vocational-school equipment, and one mechanic trainee is
included temporarily as a clerk among the 35 clerks of the Commission staff.
BUSINESS MACHINES SERVICE DIVISION
This Division was set up 26 years ago to service the Government-owned business machines throughout the Province. At that time the Division was responsible
for the maintenance of 1,032 machines, whereas the following table shows that the
present total is 10,637. The bulk of this equipment is serviced by the staff, but,
as explained in section 6.25 of the Purchasing Commission Manual, a small percentage of custom-made or specialized equipment is serviced on a contract basis
by the firms concerned.
Again, to illustrate how the machine population is growing, two tables are given
below to show that in the calendar year 1968 the increase was 7 per cent or 696
machines.
Table 1.—Machines as at December 31, 1967
Type of Machine
Number in
Departmental
Offices
Number in
Seven
Vocational
Schools
Number in
B.C. Institute
of Technology
Total
Number
Typewriters (16.2 per cent electric)   :	
Adding-machines and printing-calculators.. _	
Dictating and transcribing machines 	
Miscellaneous equipment—posting, bookkeeping, cash
registers, etc ,	
4,485
1,815
1,383
761
484
141
105
291
Totals as at December 31, 1967..
Percentage increase in 12 months —
8,444
6
1,021
25
76
321
27
53
477
46
5,045
2,277
1,515
1,105
9,942
9
Table 2.—Machines as at December 31, 1968
Type of Machine
Number in
Departmental
Offices
Number in
Eight
Vocational
Schools
Number in
B.C. Institute
of Technology
Total
Number
Typewriters (22.5 per cent electric)  	
Adding-machines and printing-calculators ....	
Dictating and transcribing machines-
Miscellaneous equipment—posting, bookkeeping, cash
registers, etc.— . —.....——
Totals as at December 31,1968..
Percentage increase in 12 months .-'-....
4,652
1,911
1,457
805
557
202
138
319
8,825
4.5
1,216
19
91
351
29
126
597
25
5,300
2,464
1,624
1,250
10,638
7
From the above tables, and again as a sign of the times, the increase in the
purchase of the more sophisticated equipment is evident;. for instance, the increase
in electric typewriters was 22.5 per cent in 1968 as compared to 16.2 per cent in
1967. Actually the number of electric machines increased by 132 as compared to
114 manual typewriters in 1968. In 1968 the average cost of an electric typewriter
was $432 and of a manual typewriter was $138.
 REPORT OF PURCHASING COMMISSION Q 7
It will be noted also that of the 696 machines increase in population, 45 per
cent or 315 were for the vocational schools and the British Columbia Institute of
Technology. In view of this increase in machines, permission was secured to employ
an additional temporary continuous mechanic trainee in December of 1968.
THE PURCHASING MANUAL
No additional sections were written for the manual in 1968 as it is now complete. A few minor amendments have been issued, the most important being
section 3.61, on the rental of copying equipment. The alarming increase in the
annual cost of this equipment necessitated the promulgation of a few ground rules
governing the preparation of requisitions for same.
In due course a revision of chapter 8 of the manual entitled " Purchasing for
the British Columbia Ferry Authority " will be written as many of the sections no
longer apply since this entity is now a division of the Department of Highways.
THE VANCOUVER OFFICE
The functions of the Vancouver office of the Purchasing Commission are fully
explained in chapter 5 of the manual. Suffice it to say here that the staff of eight
under the able guidance of Mr. T. L. Vardy, Purchasing Agent 4, again had a
successful year.
SURPLUS MATERIALS DISPOSAL SECTION
It is the responsibility of the Commission to sell all equipment and property
declared in writing to be surplus by the department concerned. Efforts are, of
course, first made to ensure that such surplus equipment cannot be used to advantage by some other department before advertising same for sale. The functions
of this section are fully described in chapter 7 of the Purchasing Manual.
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  $25,850
(b) Houses and chattels (rights-of-way)     27,250
For other departments     32,900
Total value   $86,000
LANGFORD WAREHOUSE
The functions of this warehouse are fully described in chapter 7 of the Purchasing Manual.
It is operated as a service to all departments on a $10 vote (Vote 113) on
approved gross stores purchases of $400,000. The turnover in 1967 was $414,480,
and in 1968, $411,600. It is gratifying to report that when the cold weather and
snow hit at the end of the year, there was in the warehouse an ample supply of tire
chains and anti-freeze to take care of the needs of all departments.
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.
1969
125-169-767