CHAPTER VI SUPPORT SERVICES SECTION | GENERAL The support of OPERATION CASTLE involved certain specialized but broadly inclusive applicatioas of the Contractor's function and production potentiai to the technical instailation work of the scientific groups. This con- tractual obligation, being neither a usual and recurring service operation nor expressly a predictable engineering or construction job. was called Support Services and was separately cefined by Job IV of the AEC-Holmes & Narver Coniract. These services were related only to the actual test operations as an assistance to technical 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, cquipment, fabrication and materials furnished under this phase of the Contract were a high priority concern of Management. Under 1479 separate work orders issued by 72 Using Agencies or Scientitic Groups, the Contractor supplied construction equipment, skilled workers, 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 Mav of 1954, which was. of course, the period of tntence test activity. The need for Support Services was ocvasioned, in part, by factors which the best of long range planning could not foresee or cbhviate. 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 damage in shipping or installation, or was found faulty when tested. Support Services were aiso in part, according to plan, since much pre-test assistance requirca bv Scientific Using Agencies could be more conveniently, more readily. and more evonotnically provided by the Contractor; the alternatives implying duplication of men and material, and imposing an unwarranted burden upon the heusing and subsistence capability of the Proving Ground for the href time involved. A representative list of such services is appended to this chapter. Amorg them are represented a proportion of :nan-hours attributanle to the unexpected destruc*ion 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 privrity on each, and in validating them by obtaining adequate approvals. The procedure was designed to hold the work to predetermined limits to acconiplish its primary purpose: to schedule effectively and dispose men and equipment for a minimum of non-productive transit time; and to identify and control custs and properly allocate them. This procedure provided that: (1) work orders would be initiated by the group. unit or project desiring the servicc, (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 ef the work, the AEC Resident Engincer 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 tu the submission by a Using Agency of the formal work request. In urgent cases, however. Support Services were provided with the verbal annraval af the AEC Resident Engineer. All such cases were |ster confirmed through written work order... Many work orders called for the furnishing of laborers or artificers to contribute work fe an installation for which, due to its intricacy or for securitv reasons, the requesting agency alone had full knowledge of the end purpose. A rumber of such work orders were accompanied byrequests for emplovees 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 expedited the job by reducing the craftman's orientation and instruction time. minimized the supervision time, and resulted in the most effective use of special skills. Harmonious relattonships existed between the Contractor and other clements of the Task Force in the somewhat indeterminate but vital scope of Support SerPage 6-1