Manhattan District History: Book I - General; Volume 9 - Priorities Program (redacted)

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This volume 1b an account of the priorities and expediting operations pertinent to the procurement of materials and equipment required by the Manhattan District projeots. It discusses briefly the national objectives and broader aspects of the regulations of the War Production Board and shoes hoe the organization* policies and operations of the District were shaped to conform with these national objectives and regulations. Underlying the purpose of this volume is the intention t o illustrate not only how the District Priority Program facilitated the expeditious completion of the p r o ject# but also hew it gave due regard to the necessity for minimising interference to other important w a r programs. The tempo of the District's work was dependent to a great extent on prior It lee and this book sets forth the progressire steps taken to keep the project current with the gradual inflation of priorities that took place throughout the war period. The history of the Priorities Program has been carried through 51 December 1946 when the activities of the Manhattan District were transferred to the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.

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MANHATTAN DISTRICT HISTORY VOLUME 9 - PRIORITIES PROGRAM I ABLE OF CONTE KTS 1-3 A gen cies In volved 1*2 1 -4 Instrum ents U t iliz e d 1*5 SECTION 2 - DISTRICT AUTHORIZATIONS AND ORGANIZATION 2 -1 N ational Urgency o f the Pro je c t 2*1 (4)E xceptions t o WPB D ir ect iv e 23 and 41 2 .4 c.D is trio tO ffic e Priorities Sect io n 2 .5 e.C on tra ctors Priorities Groups 2 .7

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Key Dist riot Personnel Ass ista n ce from oth er Government A gencies R ela x a tion o f Government C on trols a , Manhattan District Priorities Sec tio n Scope o f Procurement Requirements Pro je ctR atings and Spec ia l AAA Priority R ating General Procurement Procedure C on serva tion Measures a# Use ofS ilv e r in L ieu o f Copper b . Used Machine Toole a , Hanford Pro je c t Power D ir ect iv e a* Leeds and Northrup Company d,Fu lton Sylphon Company Measures Taken t o Minimize P rod u ction I n te r fe rence Secur ity and E xpeditin g o , Canadian Pro je c t NEX

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1* Introduction. » The Manhattan District Priorities Program functioned to facilitate procurements under the national wartime system of produotion controls* These controls were initiated by Act of Congress 28 June 1940 and were expanded b y subsequent Acts as the national defense program grew into the national w ar effort* Frau the initiation of the Manhattan Distriot to 8 November 1945 national controls were cantered in the tiPB, whloh was established 16 January 1942* Control was accom plished b y evaluating and arranging the nation*• productive facilities to meet anticipated wartime needs, classifying the relative needs of various programs as to their national urgenoy and requiring producer* to fill orders on the basis of those olassifioations* In addition to WPB, Manhattan Distriot priorities and procurement were further con trolled by the Army and Wavy Munitions Board* whloh was concerned with the coordination of procurement of supplies for the Army and Navyj the ASF, which was concerned with military procurement and whioh main* tained liaison thereon with WPBj and the Corps of Engineers, which supervises the procurement* produotion and inspection of its Division and Distriot Offices and in certain oases acts a« a central procure The instruments used in controlling procurement were priority ratings, by whioh crderc were classified on the basis of the urgenoy of the project involved) urgenoy standings, which were priority ratings applicable to procurement of machine toolsf produotion schedules, by

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which the production of certain prod u cts was scheduled in advance; the Controlled Materials Plan, by which steel# copper and aluminum were allotted to various agencies on the basis of their priority and needs) and directives# which were fundamentally overriding production instructions. The priority rating which was assigned an individual project was designated on purohase orders for that project and manu facturers were required to produce in accordance with the priorities of orders received. UPB oould authorise the issuance of higher ratings on individual orders of a particularly critical nature and in oase of •onfliot between a number of orders in a plant# the differences were resolved by directive. 2. District Authorisations and Organization. • The urgency and importance in the war effort of the Manhattan Distriot Project was re* cognised at the outset by top echelons but, in order not to attract undue attention to the project# the overall priority rating was kept on a par with other w a r construction. The projeot was assigned a priority rating of AA-S on 25 July 1942, AA-2X on 22 March 1948# and AA-1 on 1 July 1944. To augaent the project rating# special arrange* ments were made whereby the urgenoy of the work was established# in cluding the authority to assign AAA or lower ratings when justified# the granting of a high urgenoy standing for maohine tools and a special exemption from the requirement* of prior approval by WPB or purohase of capital equipment and maohine tools. To prooess the various doouments and to handle the speoial arrange ments made for the Manhattan Distriot# appropriate organisations were

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Bet up in the District Office end in the Area Offices, In addition, a Liaison Office was established in Washington to handle all contacts with the various federal departments* Valuable assistance has been given the Manhattan District by numerous agencies, particularly, ASP, WPB, Foreign Eoonoaio Administration, Treasury Department and the Kavy. *• Operations. * The size, speed of construction, security re quirements and above all the Importance of the Manhattan District pro ject* necessitated special consideration in the national priorities system. The majority of the procurement activities were performed by the District*s contractors under the supervision and with the assistance of the District organisations. The District used every means available to minimise the demands tax the production facilities of the nation, through transfer of equipment, materials and supplies and conservation of critical materials in accord ance with AHMB and Corps of Engineers policies. Nevertheless, it was necessary to purchase large quantities of equipment, supplies and mater ials to insure the fulfillment of the District's needs* Under the Controlled Materials Plan, the District obtained allotments of steel, copper and aluminum, even though its forecasts of requirements were necessarily inaccurate in many eases because of the peculiar circum stances affecting its construction and operations* Successive raises in the project priority rating fran AA-5 to AA-1, special authority for the use of AAA or lesser ratings, a high urgency standing for the procurement of machine tools and hundreds of special WPB directives were obtained to maintain or advance District orders in production

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schedules. In addition, special arrangements were made with the ASF to establish the District** primary importance and resolve oonfliots with other agenoles speedily*

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MANHATTAN DISTRICT HISTORX Program has been to facilitate the procurement on time of required materials and manufactured products without interfering unnecessarily with other governmental and civillan activities* of the productive facilities of the nation was Initiated b y Act of Congress approved 28 June 1940 (App. C-l), b y which the President was authorised to establish precedence in the delivery of orders for the A m y and Navy over those for private account* As the program of national defense expanded and developed Into the national war effort with the entry of the United States Into World War II, the President's authority for the control of the nation's produotion facilities was successively extended b y Acts of Congress (App. C-2, 8 and 4) to meet the expanded national needs* Acting upon the authorities -thus conferred, the Presi dent established the Office of Production Management on 7 January 1941 (App. C-6). Ultimately control was centered in the War Produotion WPB and its predeoeasors mobilised the productive facilities of the nation b y evaluating the capacities of eaoh industry in comparison with periodic estimates of demands for the war materialej by the expanaion.

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con version # or elimination of certain facilities as indicated! and b y the control of orders on the facilities essential t o the war effort* and supply facilities of the nation from the initiation of the Man hattan Distriot to 5 November 1946 when IPS went out of existence* 1PB made investigations of the supply and demand of materials# equip ment and facilities needed in the war effort# issued regulations a s suring the most equitable distribution of these Items and maintained a compliance group to enforce their regulations* b* Army and Mayy Munitions Board* <- The Army and Navy Munitions Board (ASMB) was organised in 1922 for the purpose Of coordinating the plans of the Army and Navy in the proourement of munitions and supplies* By Executive Order (App* 0*6) ABMB reported to the President through the Chairman of the WFB and during the war was vested with the authority to establish and maintain schedules of preference ratings and to assign ratings to contracts of the Army# lavy# various U. S* Government agencies and certain foreign governments the major command responsible for providing supplies and services for the Army. It directed and coordinated proourement, supply and other functions of the servioe commands and the seven technical services* Continuous liaison with the WPB in matters of military procurement was maintained by this command*

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d. Corps of Engineers. - The Corps of Engineers# in con junction with the execution of its responsibilities for the design and construction of buildings and facilities end the providing of engineer services for the Army was engaged in procurement to a raaj or degree* It supervised the procurement and distribution activities of subordinate units in accordance with instructions issued b y ASF. The Corps of Engineers also acted as a central procurement agency for certain critical construction materials and equipment required b y its subordinate units. 1-4. Instruments Utilised. * The instruments established by the 18PB for the control of the aationvs production facilities consisted of Materials Plan allotments# and directives# all as described below. a. Priority Ratings. • Programs involved in the war effort were classified as to their relative urgency and assigned a priority rating on that basis. Producers were required to accept orders bearing priority ratings and give them their appropriate position in production schedules. Individual critical items not otherwise obtainable were "" procured with a special up rating issued b y WPB. ' b. Crgonoy Standings. «*> A system of urgency standings established to control the procurement of machine tools. Seventy^five per cent of all machine tool production was allotted to the Armed Forces. The quota and relative urgency of each program were established « periodically b y the AHMB and published in its Numerical Master P re fe re n ce

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enabled manufacturers to produce a maximum quantity of oritioal items by freesing schedules for predetermined time periods. Priority ratings were not permitted to interfere with these schedules* d. Controlled Materials Plan Allotments. - The Controlled Materials Plan was established to insure maximum utilisation of steel, oopper and aluminum* Agencies using these materials were required to submit quarterly forecasts of their requirements to 1NPB, who established allocations on the baeis of available supply. specific manufacturers regarding* (l) produotion and delivery of specifio items; and (2) use of manufacturing faoilities and manpower. In Bpeoific instances, they were issued to Insert or advance a special order in produotion or to divert all or part of an order already scheduled from one program to another* 1-6. General Plan of Operation. - The W B established the basio regulations b y which the relative urgenoy of war programs was to be evaluated. The ANMB, ASF, and Corps of Engineers applied these regu lations and set up the neoe^sary procedures for the administration of the plan. Oritioal items, delivery of which oould not be secured in time by using the basic projeot rating, were obtained by use of the instruments previously described, i.e., priority ratings, urgenoy

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SECTION 2 - DISTRICT AUTHORIZATION AND ORGANIZATION Manhattan District Pro je c t was re co g n iz edby the P resid en tof the United S ta tes and oth er high Government officials as b e in gof utmost im portance t o the war effort. That priority was never withdrawn - w ith out it, the pro je c t cou ld n ot have su cceed ed . This priority position was rea ffirm e d from tim eto tim e during th e cou rse o f th e work, particularly when priorities of va riou s oth er war programs for mater ia ls , equipm ent, o r manpower were b ein g co n s id e re d . a . In June o f 1942, a form al report on th e uranium pro je c t o f War, and th e V ioe Pres id e n t, was subm itted toP resid en tRoo s eve lt. The repo rt summarised the scientific sta tu sof th epro je c t as i t then e x is ted.Its ta te d th a t an exp lo s io n equ alto many thousands o f ton s o f TNT might be caused to o ccu rata des ir e d in stant) th a t the des ir e d exp lo s iv ema te ria l might be produced b y any one o f fo urd iff erent m ethods. The P re sid ent approved the report, which con ta in ed th efo llo w in g recomm endations: r M4 .g, As soon as the p re p a ra tio nof the deta ile d plan s and d esig n s has p rog ressed sufficiently, th e h ig h e st priority should be a ssig n ed t o th e p la ntorp la n ts which a t th a t tim e show th e most prom ise ofsu cce s s and which in demands for critical ma te ria ls will have th e le a st ser io us effect on o th e r urgent program s, and th a t such p la ntorp la n ts be p la ce d under cons tr u c tio nat the earliest pr act ic a b le

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" 4 .h . That the remaining p la n ts be a ssig n ed a priority and apre fe rence ra tin g after bills of ma te ria l hare been eva lu ated in com parison w ith requirem ents for oth er u rgen t programs and th atthe ir cons tr u c tio n s be exeou ted accord in …