The Marshall Plan and the Shaping of American Strategy by Bruce D. Jones

Author:Bruce D. Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

5. Relations with other agencies

In administering the program, it is important to avoid a split arrangement that would center authority for policy determination in one department or agency and vest responsibilities for execution in another agency. Experience has amply demonstrated the impracticability of achieving the necessary unity of direction and administration by that method. Such a concept of administration is essentially negative or at most permissive in that it sets many limitations but offers few directions for positive action. In this case, it is essential to place primary responsibility for the formulation of operating policies and programs clearly upon the official who also has the responsibility for seeing to their execution. Only by such concentration of responsibility can there be adequate coordination of the complex considerations involved and the strong sponsorship that will be necessary if the program requirements are to receive the full recognition which their merit warrants.

Hence, the administrator, subject to the overall authority of the President, should be responsible for formulating programs, determining financial and material requirements, and, in consultation with the departments and agencies concerned, insuring the fulfillment of those requirements.

In obtaining allocations of scarce materials and services, the administrator should proceed in consultation with the departments or agencies that are responsible for conserving supplies. The procedures or special arrangements required for interagency consultation and assistance in the allocation process should be prescribed from time to time by the President, in the light of experience. These procedures should cover both domestic allocations and foreign allocations, including commercial exports, and should be carried out within the framework of the existing arrangements for the administration of export and other controls involved in the execution of the program. In case agreement cannot be reached with respect to the allocation of scarce materials, the matter would of course have to be referred to the President.

The administrator should have the responsibility for determining what services of procurement, storage, transportation, or other handling are necessary to insure delivery of supplies in conformity with approved programs, and should be responsible for working out arrangements for the effective performance of these services. Hence, he should determine when supplies are to be purchased through private trade facilities and when public procurement is necessary. He should have authority to enter into arrangements with other agencies for the utilization of their facilities or personnel in carrying out those functions, on such terms as may be mutually agreed upon, to prevent duplication of facilities, to insure efficient performance of the necessary procurement and handling series, and to protect his position as the official primarily responsible for execution of the program.

The control and allocation of funds, under the provisions of the legislation, should be the responsibility of the President.

The financial arrangements to be used should be the responsibility of the administrator, in consultation with the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems. If decision is made to permit the Export-Import Bank to act as the administrator’s agent in arranging loans to the participating countries, its authority should be accordingly amended.

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