CO885-(7-8) — Page 537

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

FLITTI C.O. 885

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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106. The order is then press copied (into the press-copy book of Orders and Memoranda), and despatched with a copy of the specification; and at the same time, or at the latest next morning, notices of non-acceptance are sent to the unsuccessful firms.

107. If there appears to be any reason why the recommendation of the Consult- ing Engineer should not be at once adopted, or if, as frequently happens, questions arise on matters of cost, excess beyond Colonial or other estimate, or on technical details, correspondence ensues before the order can be placed. When it is a case of exceeding the Colonial estimate, reference is generally necessary, either to the Colonial Government or to the Colonial Office.

108. The strictest watch is kept in all cases on the relation between the estimate and the tendered prices, and to assist in this the amount of the estimate is always shewn on the face of the schedule of tenders.

109. The day after the order has been given, a copy of the tender (unless printed or lithographed) is made for office record in the press-copy book of Tenders and Esti- mates (see list of books) and another copy for the Inspector, to whom the requisite instructions, accompanied by any drawings or other original papers, are sent as promptly as possible under cover of the proper form; this form is press copied, as it is important to have a record of the issue of such instructións, especially when original documents have to be sent out of the office. When the tenders are on lithographed forms, two copies of the form are filled in, one of them being gummed into the press- copy book of Tenders and the other sent to the Inspector. With printed forms of tender the process is the same, except that instead of being put into the press-copy book, one filled-in copy of the form is placed in a special box, the other being sent to the Inspector as before. From time to time the copies in the box are bound into volumes for office record.

110. At the same time a third person notice form is sent to the Consulting Engineer, so that he may know what action has been taken on his recommendation and to whom the inspection has been entrusted.

111. At the same time the shipping order is made out and despatched to the shipping agents. This order is made on a special form and gives the following particulars:

Name and address of contractor.

Description, quantity and value of the work.

Date or dates of delivery.

Port to which the work is to be sent.

Name of Inspector,

and any special instructions.

As all these particulars appear on the face of the requisition jacket, no further exami nation of the papers is needed in preparing the shipping orders.

112. The necessary entries on the jacket are now completed up to and including the issue of the shipping order.

113. If the indent is merely for one article, or is the subject of only one order, the Works Register is now posted and the papers carefully examined by the responsible Assistant to see that all items on the indent have been crossed off and all necessary action taken. He also sees that the papers are all in proper order and properly filed, and, in short, that the whole matter has been completed up to date.

114. The jacket is then passed to the Deputy Head, who settles whether a report should be sent to the Colony of the action taken. If a report is necessary, it is sent on a special form. Such reports are usually sent:-

(1.) In cases in which the Colonial authorities ought to have timely notice of the probable date of shipment so that local arrangements for receiving or erecting the work may be made in advance.

(2.) When deviations from the indent, either in matters of quantity, design, or cost, have been made on the recommendation of the Consulting Engineer (unless, as is usually preferable, these were specially reported immediately they were decided on).

(3.) In case of contracts involving large expenditure; or when the Colonial Government has specially asked to be informed of the action taken, or when there has been much preliminary correspondence or other reason to suppose that the Colonial Government would specially desire to be informed.

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(4.) In all cases where the indent has been prepared in England, either by the

Consulting Engineer, or by a Colonial officer on leave.

(5.) When there has been much delay in placing the order, or the contract

time for delivery is long.

As a rule, when in doubt whether to report or not, it is preferable to report, as this course often forestalls queries from the Colonial Government, to whom it is frequently a great convenience to know when their supplies may be expected.

115. The report to the Colony is not usually needed (except in case (4) in last paragraph) when Railways or other important works are being carried out under the estimate and immediate control of a Consulting Engineer in England, as the Consult- ing Engineer furnishes the Resident Engineer with all necessary information as to the contracts made in England.

116. After the report, if any, has gone, the jacket is at once sent to the Checking Department, where the liability for monthly estimate purposes is recorded and the jacket initialled to shew that this has been done.

117. It is then passed to the Contract Registration Branch, which enters up the main Register from the information given on the jacket, and returns the jacket to the Works Department.

118. On its receipt in this department the jacket is placed in its proper sequence of number in a rack, where it remains until the invoices come in. In this rack the jackets are arranged so that each Colony or Railway is kept separate.

119. If the indent is for a variety of articles entailing more than one order, all the contracts are, when possible, dealt with at the same time, and all the steps up to "shipping order" stage are completed before that order is given. This is especially desirable in the case of permanent way materials or telegraph equipment for con- struction purposes and for materials and stores for survey or other special expeditions, so that deliveries and shipments may be the more easily arranged to meet the require- ments of the services. It, however, frequently happens that considerable intervals are unavoidable between the dates of the several orders on an indent, and when this can be foreseen it is usual to proceed with all steps up to and including the reference to Checking Department after each order, or each batch of orders, has been given, sca to avoid delay in the shipment of work under the earlier orders.

120. After the orders have been given, the work of watching the progress of the contracts and keeping the contractors up to time commences. Each Assistant is responsible that everything possible is done to keep the requisitions of which he is in charge up to time.

121.

At the beginning of every month all the Inspectors send in a detailed report of the progress of the contracts under their care. These reports are examined as well as the Works Register and every requisition jacket, and reminders are sent by the Assistants to every contractor who may have failed to give delivery by contract date without due explanation beforehand, or who may appear by the Inspector's report to be making unsatisfactory progress.

122. A monthly report of overdue contracts is also sent in by the shipping agents as an additional check, and to shew whether any of the delays are due to shipping arrangements over which the contractors would have had no control.

123. The case of orders not under inspection is met by the scrutiny of the register, the jackets, and the shipping agents' report, so that every order in the books comes under observation at frequent intervals. With specially important or pressing orders, more frequent steps will, of course, be taken to whatever extent may appear necessary. The responsibility for taking proper measures rests primarily upon the Assistants, who will, as usual, take instructions in special cases.

124. When the contractors' replies to reminders come in, they are, if considered necessary, minuted to the Consulting Engineers concerned, for their observations as to the sufficiency of the contractors' explanation, and further correspondence some- times ensues.

125. All correspondence of this nature is filed with the tender, so as to facilitate future reference, instead of in the general file of correspondence.

126. Frequently also it is necessary at this stage to write to the Colony to warn the Government of possible delay, or to explain delay which has already occurred.

127. As an additional safeguard against delays, the Inspectors are instructed to report specially whenever they find by a visit to the works, or from their Sub-Inspectors' reports, that the contractors are making such unsatisfactory progress that a formal * protest from the Crown Agents is desirable.

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