Series S-1239 - Direct Procurement Division - Medical and sanitation Supplies Branch - Executive offices - Subject Files

"The Direct Procurement Division first came into being as a Section of the Procurement Coordination Division in the spring of 1944. On 9 May 1946 the Direct Procurement Branch was given full divisional status. On 1 Oct. 1946 the purchasing functions of the Purchase Section, Purchase and Supply Branch, Administrative Services Division were transferred to the Direct Procurement Division, which consequently became the sole procurement agency of the Administration Printing and duplicating work and the planning and authorization of requirements remained. The primary and basic functions of the Division were: To purchase small quantities of urgently required commodities with non-convertible funds which it would have been uneconomical to channel through the normal machinery of United States Government purchase, i.e. Treasury Procurement, US Department of Agriculture etc. To negotiate procurement, using Free Funds, in markets which were outside the sphere of normal US Government activities, e. g. War Surplus Stores etc. To procure administrative supplies, PX, Commissary and Camp Supplies for UNRRA field missions. To procure supplies with funds contributed by Voluntary Agencies. "