Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Federal Supply Service [FSS]


(Record Group 137)
1909-79

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 137.1 Administrative History
  • 137.2 Records of the General Supply Committee 1909-31
  • 137.3 Records of the Federal Coordinating Service 1918-33
  • 137.4 Records of the Procurement Division 1933-47
    • 137.4.1 Records of the Office of the Director of Procurement
    • 137.4.2 Records of the Federal Traffic Section, Branch of Supply, and its successors, the Federal Traffic Division and the Traffic Division, Contract and Purchase Branch
  • 137.5 Records of the Federal Supply Service 1937-79

137.1 Administrative History

Established: In the General Services Administration (GSA), effective November 17, 1985, by GSA Order ADM 5440.333, November 1, 1985.

Predecessor Agencies:
  • Board of Awards (1894-1909)
  • General Supply Committee, Board of Awards (1909-10)
In the Department of the Treasury:
  • General Supply Committee (1910-34)
  • Federal Coordinating Service, Bureau of the Budget (1921-33)
  • Procurement Division (1933-46)
  • Bureau of Federal Supply (1947-49)
In the General Services Administration:
  • Federal Supply Service (FSS, 1949-82)
  • Office of Personal Property (1982-83)
  • Office of Federal Supply and Services (1983-85)
Functions: Procures, stores, and provides supplies and services to federal agencies; regulates the supply functions of other agencies; and standardizes purchase specifications.

Finding Aids: Edward E. Hill, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Federal Supply Service, NC 106 (Apr. 1965).

Security-Classified Records: This record group may include material that is security-classified.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Federal Supply Service in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.

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137.2 Records of the General Supply Committee
1909-31

History: Board of Awards, consisting of an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and an Assistant Postmaster General, established by an act of January 27, 1894 (28 Stat. 33), to award supply contracts for federal agencies within the District of Columbia. General Supply Committee established in the Board of Awards, January 1909, to consist of representatives of the federal agencies, to standardize requirements and prepare annual schedules of supplies. Confirmed by EO 1071, May 13, 1909. Replaced by the General Supply Committee, Department of the Treasury, established by an act of June 27, 1910 (36 Stat. 531). General Supply Committee (Treasury) abolished by EO 6166, June 10, 1933, effective March 2, 1934, and superseded by the Procurement Division, Department of the Treasury. See 137.4.

Textual Records: Minutes, 1909-26, 1929-31. Correspondence, 1927- 30. Circulars, 1924-28.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the General Supply Committee in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.

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137.3 Records of the Federal Coordinating Service
1918-33

History: Established by a Presidential order issued as Circular 15, Bureau of the Budget, July 27, 1921, to coordinate the disposal of surplus war material, the purchase and liquidation of supplies, and the development of standardized specifications for materials. Abolished by EO 6166, June 10, 1933, as amended by EO 6236, August 2, 1933, which set termination date as October 2, 1933, with most functions, including those of its Federal Traffic Board, transferred to the Procurement Division, Department of the Treasury. See 137.4.

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137.3.1 General records

Textual Records: Subject files, 1921-33 (270 ft.). Reference file, 1918-33.

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137.3.2 Records of the Federal Traffic Board

History: Established in 1921 as part of the Federal Coordinating Service, to coordinate government freight, express, and other traffic activities. Transferred to the Procurement Division by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, approved by the President, October 9, 1933.

Textual Records: Subject files, 1921-33. Letters sent and memorandums ("Reading File"), 1923-30, August-September 1933. Letters and memorandums sent to and received from the Chief Coordinator, Federal Coordination Service, 1924-30. Daily register of mail, 1922-25. Reading files of the Rail Routing Division, 1922-25; and the Rate, Classification, and Tariff Division, August 1922.

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137.4 Records of the Procurement Division
1933-47

History: Established in the Department of the Treasury by EO 6166, June 10, 1933, under authority of an act of March 3, 1933 (47 Stat. 1517), to consolidate all procurement functions for federal civilian agencies. Public Buildings Branch transferred to Federal Works Agency and consolidated with Branch of Buildings Management, National Park Service, to form Public Buildings Administration by Reorganization Plan No. I of 1939, effective July 1, 1939. Procurement Division renamed Bureau of Federal Supply, effective January 1, 1947, by Treasury Department Order 73, November 19, 1946. Abolished and functions vested in GSA by the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 377), June 30, 1949. See 137.5.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Procurement Division in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.

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137.4.1 Records of the Office of the Director of Procurement

Textual Records: Security-classified records relating to Lend- Lease, 1940-45.

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137.4.2 Records of the Federal Traffic Section, Branch of Supply,
and its successors, the Federal Traffic Division and the Traffic
Division, Contract and Purchase Branch

Textual Records: Letters received, copies of letters sent, memorandums, copies of agreements, completed forms, and tables, 1933-36. Records relating to Lend-Lease, 1941-47.

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137.5 Records of the Federal Supply Service
1937-79

History: Functions vested in GSA Administrator by the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 377), June 30, 1949, delegated to Federal Supply Service, December 11, 1949. FSS redesignated Office of Personal Property by GSA organization manual issuance OHR P 5440.1, Change 35, August 17, 1982. Redesignated Office of Federal Supply and Services by GSA Order ADM 5440.284, January 22, 1983. Redesignated FSS, 1985. See 137.1.

Textual Records: Security-classified operating records of the Procurement Division, Bureau of Federal Supply, and FSS; and reports and correspondence of subordinate units, 1937-50. Records of the Standardization division, 1955-63. Issuances of the Commissioner of Federal Supply, 1959-63. Traffic management surveys and transportation management studies of the Office of Transportation, 1968-72. Directive case files and cancelled orders, 1959-63, 1973. Records of the Traffic and Travel Service Branch, GSA Region 4, consisting of traffic management surveys, 1977 (in Atlanta). Records of the Office of Transportation and Public Utilities, GSA Region 7, consisting of traffic management surveys for TX and OK, 1977-79 (in Fort Worth).


Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.

Ordering information

This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.


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