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October 15, 1998 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks E2177 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS AMENDMENT OF THE SAVINGS The great irony is that a few months earlier, The result has been to take the commissaries PROVISIONS OF THE CLINGER- the Congress repealed the Brooks Act, elimi- to within an inch of disaster. I am very happy COHEN ACT OF 1996 nating this paperwork requirement for all of the that just a few words from us about our inten- agencies. Thus the contract was being held up tions, in the form of this technical amendment, HON. ROSCOE G. BARTLETT by paperwork that wasn't even required any will have the extraordinary effects of providing OF MARYLAND more. This repeal was accomplished in the the Government with almost $100 million in IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Clinger-Cohen Act, authored by our dear cash and free services, avoiding the sheer Thursday, October 15, 1998 former colleague William Cohen, who now waste of duplicating these services at the tax- oversees the military commissaries and the payers' expense, and also avoiding the crush- Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, it rest of DoD. ing blow of a $45 million judgment against the is not too often that a single, simple change in With the commissaries doing nothing to commissaries. I want to thank my respected the law can save the Government tens of mil- solve this problem, MMI appealed the GSA's colleague Congresswoman MORELLA, and oth- lions of dollars, but this is true of a technical decision. Rather than helping MMI, the com- ers who have supported this effort. On a day amendment that the House has enacted. I be- missaries imprudently claimed that they could like today, I am very proud to be a member of came aware of this opportunity as a member do without MMI's money and free services, the subcommittee overseeing the com- of the House subcommittee overseeing DoD's and would provide the same services with missaries, and a Member of this august body. commissaries, which are supermarkets oper- their own staff at Government expense. I f ated at military facilities around the world. asked the commissaries to provide me with a In October 1995, the commissaries awarded 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PASCACK single example of any MMI report that they an important contract for category manage- VALLEY HOSPITAL AUXILIARY ment services to Marketing and Management were able to generate themselves. They were Information, Inc. (MMI), a small company in unable to do so. In other words, the com- HON. MARGE ROUKEMA my State. Under this contract, MMI was re- missaries were wasting public money in an unsuccessful effort to duplicate services suc- OF NEW JERSEY quired to provide the commissaries with al- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES most $100 million in cash and free services, in cessfully performed by private enterprise for Thursday, October 15, 1998 exchange for sales data that the commissaries the past 15 years, at no cost to the Govern- collect automatically. MMI first conceived this ment. Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to con- arrangement more than a decade earlier, and In the appeal, MMI succeeded in getting the gratulate the Pascack Valley Hospital Wom- already had paid millions of dollars to the GSA's decision vacated, meaning that nothing en's Auxiliary on 50 years of dedicated service commissaries under earlier contracts. The prevented the commissaries from proceeding to their community in northeastern Bergen 1995 contract was awarded after full and open with the contract. Since the commissaries County, New Jersey. The Pascack Valley Aux- competition, in which MMI prevailed against claimed that they would do without the money iliary is an excellent example of my longstand- three competitors literally 50 times larger than and free services, the court left it to the com- ing philosophy that all issues are ``women's MMI. In other words, this David beat three dif- missaries and MMI to work things out. issues.'' The Women's Auxiliary was formed in ferent Goliaths. At this point the commissaries, again acting 1948Ðnot only to support the professional At this point, the losers turned to high-priced on poor advice from Mr. Sherman, still main- staff and patients but with an additional goal Washington lawyers, who conceived the strat- tained that they would needlessly deprive as wellÐthe establishment of a hospital. The egy of arguing that the competition ran afoul themselves of MMI's money and free services, Pascack Valley Hospital Women's Auxiliary of the Brooks Act, one of the great achieve- and try to make up for these losses in other was actually formed before the hospital itselfÐ ments of our well-remembered former col- ways. MMI then filed a $45 million claim because these pioneering women knew that league from Texas. Now, this was simply sour against the commissaries. Thus, through the community health care was a ``women's grapes on their part, because they never commissaries stubborn insistence on infringing issue.'' raised this argument during the competition, on private enterprise, we reached a point Pascack Valley Hospital had its beginnings when each of them was hoping to receive the where the Government could end up losing in May 1941 when Westwood resident Louise contact. In fact, the commissaries said months $45 million, rather than receiving almost $100 Bohlin was shocked that a Hillsdale friend died before the award that the Brooks Act didn't million in cash and free services. because they had to wait three weeks for ad- apply, and none of them made a peep at that I am happy to report that a simple technical mission to the nearest existing Bergen County point. Nevertheless, they all got together right amendment adopted by the House solves this hospital because of a shortage of beds. Mrs. after the award and sued the Government to problem. The technical amendment makes it Bohlin vowed that the Pascack Valley would stop the contract. clear that the Clinger-Cohen repeal of the have a hospital of its own and organized local Now, the Brooks Act gave the GSA author- Brooks Act means that there never was any physicians, mayors and concerned citizens ity over computer purchases by the other requirement for the commissaries to obtain a into the Pascack Valley Hospital Association. agencies. The contract awarded to MMI was ``delegation'' here, nor is there any valid basis The association held its first meeting Novem- for the sale of commissary scanner data, of any kind for protesting the award to MMI. ber 27, 1941. Unfortunately, that meeting which has as much in common with computer As a result, the amendment orders the com- came only 10 days before the bombing of purchases as a hat does to a rat. Neverthe- missaries to proceed with the MMI contract Pearl Harbor, and plans for a hospital were less, the GSA saw an opportunity to expand beginning 15 days after enactment, and to put on hold for the duration of World War II. its little empire, and it tried to do so. The GSA continue that contract for its full five-year term The end of World War II brought an influx told the commissaries that they needed written from that date, through the year 2003. Under of returning veterans and expanding families, permission (a ``delegation'') to proceed with the contract, MMI alone will receive the com- and renewed interest in a community hospital. the contract. missary sales data during this period, and it The Pascack Valley Hospital Association was Interestingly enough, the same thing had will provide the commissaries with the valu- reorganized in 1946 and a Women's Auxiliary happened five years earlier. Then, the com- able cash and free services stipulated in the was named to supplement efforts of the Board missaries pushed the paperwork through, and contract. of Trustees. Mary G. Walker of Westwood was everyone was happy. This time, however, act- Here in Congress, we rely on the other named as the first president. The Auxiliary ing on poor legal advice from William Sher- Branches of Government to carry out our in- held its first meeting in 1947 and worked for man (the Government attorney responsible for tentions. With the repeal of the Brooks Act, the next decade establishing branches in the losing the protest), the commissaries unwisely there is no doubt that we wanted to eliminate various municipalities that would be served by dug in their heels, and did nothing to clear the GSA oversight of other federal agencies, once the hospital. paperwork. MMI's contract remained at a and for all. In the case of MMI's contract, how- On June 1, 1959Ð18 years after the idea standstill. ever, the other Branches just weren't listening. was bornÐthe single-story, 86-bed hospital · This ``bullet'' symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. E2178 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks October 15, 1998 opened its door and welcomed its first pa- cation. He has served as a member of the sociation's National Tibbetts Award and na- tients. The hospital has, of course, grown tre- Robert T. Coles project team, which has im- tional recognition for pollution prevention. This mendously since then. Today, it is a full-serv- plemented ``Citizen Participation'' components company's innovative process virtually elimi- ice, 291-bed hospital providing a wide range for the Buffalo War Memorial Stadium Ren- nates pollution from the process of metal plat- of the most advanced, technically sophisti- ovation Project, the Buffalo Light-Rail Rapid ing.