Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/786

 754

5 USC S92b.

PUBLIC LAW 608-AUG. 20, 1954

S T AT,

of the Department of Commerce (33 Stat. 85, 135), as amended and supplemented by the Act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 736), by Public Law 584, Eighty-second Congress (66 Stat. 758), and by section 7 of Executive Order 6166 of June 10, 1933, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: "There shall be in the Department of Commerce a General Counsel, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall have basic compensation at the rate per annum provided for Assistant Secretaries." Approved August 20, 1954.

Public Law 608 August 20, 1954 [S. 3546]

[68

CHAPTER 777

AN ACT To provide an imiuediate program for the modernization and improvement of such merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet as are necessary for national defense.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the R^T^'Ac't^of IIM^ V'^^i^d States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Emergency Ship Repair Act of 1954". STATEMENT OF TURPOSE

SEC. "2. I t is the purpose of this Act in the interests of national defense to provide for the immediate improvement and modernization of needed merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce, and thereby to provide a much needed stimulus to the shipbuilding and ship repair industries of the Nation. R E S E R V E F J - E E T MODERNIZATION AND REPAIR PROGRAM

SEC. 3. The Secretary of Commerce shall, after consulting the Secretary of Defense, formulate and carry out to the extent authorized under the provisions of this Act a program of repairing, modernizing, or converting such merchant-type vessels in the national defense reserve under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce as may be necessary to provide for the purpose of national defense an adequate and ready reserve fleet of merchant and auxiliary vessels. CONTRACTING AUTHORIZATION

63 Stat. 377. 40 USC 471 note.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of Commerce shall, within twenty-four months after the date of the enactment of this Act, enter into such contracts for the repair, modernization, and conversion of vessels as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Such contracts (1) may provide for the expenditure by the United States of not more than $25,000,000, (2) shall be with private shipbuilding or ship repair yards on the Atlantic, Pacific, and gulf coasts of the United States, (3) shall be entered into in accordance with applicable provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. I n entering into such contracts the Secretary of Commerce shall not alter the present Maritime Administration policy of inviting single bids or split bids or both for drydock and nondrydock work.

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