CHAPTER VI SUPPORT SERVICES SECTION | GENERAL The support of OPERATION CASTLE involved certain specialized but broadly inclusive applications of the Contractor’s function and production potential to the technical install- ation work of the scientific groups. This con- tractual obligation, being neither a usual and recurring service operation nor expressly a pre- dictable engineering or construction job, was called Support Services and was separately defined by Job IV of the AEC-Holmes & Narver Contract. These services were related only to the actual test operations as an assistance to tech- nical or scientific groups engaged under the auspices of the Commission in instrumentation and similar implementation of the test series. In general, the units of work called for were of minor magnitude, but because each detail of the complex test technique was important, the men, equipment, fabrication and materials furnished under this phase of the Contract were a high priority concern of Management. Under 1479 separate work orders issued by 78 Using Agencies or Scientific Groups, the Contractor supplied construction equipment, skilled work- ers, shop repair and fabrication, installation and post-test recovery, surveys, decontamination, packing, crating and shipping, and labor and materials. The effort expended 179,424 manhours, the rate being about 30,000 man-hours per month in February, March, April and May of 1954, which was, of course, the period of intense test activity. The need for Support Services was occas- ioned, in part, by factors which the best of long range planning could not foresee or obviate. When Scientific Stations were equipped by their Users and tested, it was found necessary, occasionally, to make improvements. Much scientific equipment was complex and delicate; it suffered damagein shipping or installation, or was found faulty when tested. Support Services were also in part, according to plan, since much pre-test assistance required by Scientific Using Agencies could be more conveniently, more readily, and more economically provided by the Contractor; the alternatives implying duplication of men them are represented a proportion of man-hours attributable to the unexpected destruction and radioactive contamination resulting from the Bravo shot, but in general Support Services were a normal aspect of the Operation. A rigid procedure was followed in screening work requests, in establishing a reasonable priority on each, and in validating them by obtaining adequate approvals. The procedure was designed to hold the work to predetermined limits to accomplish its primary purpose; to schedule effectively and dispose men and equipment for a minimum of non-productive transit time; and to identify and control costs and properly allocate them. This procedure provided that: (1) work orders would be initiated by the group, unit or project desiring the service; (2) the work orders would be forwarded to the AEC Resident Engineer for approval and determination of the relative urgency of the work; (3) approved work orders would then be forwarded by the AEC Resident Engineer to the Con- tractor’s Project Manager for assignment of the work within his organization; (4) on completion of the work, the AEC Resident Engineer and the requesting agency would be given a Notice of Completion. Frequently, consultation with the Contractor’s technical personnel as to methods and procedures was necessary prior to the submission by a Using Agency of the formal work request. In urgent cases, however, Support Services were provided with the verbal approval of the AEC Resident Engineer. All such cases were later confirmed through written work orders. Many work orders called for the furnishing of laborers or artificers to contribute work to an install- ation for which, due to its intricacy or for secur- ity reasons, the requesting agency alone had full knowledge of the end purpose. A number of such work orders were accompanied by requests for employees by name who had previously worked with the same requesting agencies. These requests were honored as a rule, since furnishing the same man for the same job ex- pedited the job by reducing the craftman’s orientation and instruction time, minimized the and material, and imposing an unwarranted burden upon the housing and subsistence cap- supervision time, and resulted in the most effective use of special skills. Harmonious relation- time involved. A_ representative list of such elements of the Task Force in the somewhat indeterminate but vital scope of Support Ser- ability of the Proving Ground for the brief services is appended to this chapter. Among ships existed between the Contractor and other Page 6-1