Major KEER and Mister D'AYGUESVIVES carefully examine
the clauses of a projected contract. Each U. S. Air Base in France has to have an Office of the Purchases and
Contracts. The purpose of office is to provide all the installations on
the Base the materiel and equipment that they need. It is should be
noticed that a big American Air Base has many operations for which the
needs are enormous. One can say without exaggerating that this Base is
like a small city in its organization as in the multiplicity of its
departments. Thus the Base of Dreux has:
A Hospital of 100 beds with rooms of radiography, dentist's surgery of 12 chairs and also a veterinary service. Schools for 300 students A Church that seats 300. A Theater, a Gymnasium, Cinemas, Ball diamonds, ect An officer's club, An NCO club, a Snack bar, Mess for aviators, A Bank, a travel Agency, a Dry-Cleaners A Commissary, a PX ect...An Automatic telephone exchange (400 lines) ect...The Base has also: A distribution network of electricity (from a transformer of 30,000 volts) Transfered by more than 10 kilometres of buried cable, A water system with two pump stations and 20 kilometres of pipes. A heating network with 3 power stations of a power of 21 million cal/h. A refrigerating installation with a warehouse of storage of 78.000 fg/h.and 22 freezer rooms. A railway system of 10,000 kilometers. General warehouses of 10,000 square meters. Fire stations, ect
Assured quality and speedy behaviour at
contract meetings. This necessary criteria fits well with the workings of
the Office of Purchases and Contracts at Dreux Air Base. Left to Right:
MM. D'AYGUESVIVIES, C. MAURETTE, and J. MAURETTE. The office of the Purchases and Contracts has the mission of providing for all their needs. Those are innumerable in their diversity and their quantity. They go as well since a dozen ordinary pencils will have a lot to do just as the power generating units. The transformations and constructions of buildings and the value of these purchases can go to a few hundred francs and has gone as much as a hundred million and more. The personnel which composes a bureau of Purchases and Contracts must thus possess solid knowledge as well as commercial and technical knowhow in order to be able to discuss usefully with suppliers and contractors. In this field specialization is essential and one purchaser will receive the mission of dealing with the purchases concerning electricity, plumbing, hardware, and chemicals, ect...Another will have the mission of getting the supplies and equipment for offices, the spare parts for automobiles, and the materiel of the civil engineers, ect... and others will take on the duties of making the contracts of construction and maintenance, Continued.(This story was continued to another page which we do not have.)
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