White House Press Release, Message of President Harry S. Truman to the United States House of Representatives

361 #801 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE August 1, 1946 CONFIDENTIAL: To be hold in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in the House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I return herewith, without my approval, enrolled enactment H.R. 1469, entitled "AN ACT For the relief of Cox Brothers." It appears that, in response to an invitation for bids by the constructing quartermaster, Fort Lewis, Washington, for the rental of tractors and scrapers to the Government, Cox Brothers submitted a bid wherein they proposed to rent to the Government two tractors and scrapers, with operating personnel and maintenance, at $7.40 an hour, or with maintenance but without operating personnel at $5.90 an hour. In the space provided therefor the contractor specified an initial sale price of $15,000 for one tractor and of $14,500 for the other, which amounts represented the prices at which the Government might purchase the tractors under the provisions of the recapture clause contained NARA in the specifications accompanying the invitation. on the date the bids were opened, Cox Brothers requested permission to withdraw their bid for the alleged reason that errors had been made therein with respect to the initial sale prices of the tractors. However, such per- mission was refused and on December 10, 1940, the bid was accepted. Thereafter, by letter of January 16, 1941, Cox Brothers informed the constructing quartermaster that, in entering the initial sale prices on the form provided therefor, they erroneously inserted prices of $15,000 and $14,500 instead of the correct prices of $18,75 and $18,125, respectively. In connection with the alloged error of the contractor, it appears that the specifications provided that the initial sale price should represent a fair and just appraisel of the unit "as is," taking into account the original purchase price thereof, its age and past service, but that bidders' initial sale price should not exceed the original cost plus 25 percent, less a yearly depreciated value of 15 percent. The contractor alleges that in entering the initial sale price of the tractors in its bid, it overlooked the fact that it was permitted by the specifications to add 25 percent to the original cost of the equipment and that, if it had done so, the initial sale price at which the Government could have purchased the equipment would have been $7,375 greater than the price specified in its bid. However, it is to be noted that, under the specifications on which bids were submitted, it was the responsibility of bidders to fix the initial sale price of their equipment at the fair and just appraised value thereof and the formula using the original cost plus 25 percent, less depreciation, merely constituted a ceiling which the appraised value was not to exceed. The record shows clearly that the initial sales price stated in the contractor's bid was exactly what it had intended to insert in the bid as the appraised value of the equipment. At no time prior to submitting its bid did the contractor intend to fix the appraised value on the basis of the original cost plus 25 percent. Under such circum- stances, I do not feel that the record supports the conclusion that the contractor made a mistake in its bid so as to warrant the relief pro- posed by the legislation. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the contractor suffered any out-of-pocket loss by reason of the alleged mistake and the effect of the legislation would be to grant the contractor a profit of $7,375 in addition to that contemplated at the time its bid was prepared and submitted. (OVER)