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CED-82-111 1 (1982-07-12)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabdmp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE (WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 July 12, 1982 COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIVISION B-208079 RESTRICTED-Not to be released outside the General Accomuting Office except on the basis of sp.#hc approval The H on o r able M k~nfT'o Congressional Relations. Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation.and Related Agencies RELEASED Committee on Appropriations United States Senate 119004 Dear Mr. Chairman: Subject: Analysis of Amtrak's Acquisition of Office Copying Equipment (GAO/CED-82-111) Your letter dated January 29, 1982, asked us to review the overall cost effectiveness of the purchase by the National Rail- road Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) of office copying machines. These copiers were purchased from Xerox and Eastman Kodak. You requested that we determine (1) whether copying machines of- fered by another contractor--Copylease Corporation of America-- would have been suitable for Amtrak's needs and (2) whether Amtrak's position that it is not subject to Federal Procurement Regulations (FPR) is correct. We also looked into Copylease's contention that Amtrak should have used another method of financial analysis in justifying the purchase of the copiers, other than the two analysis methods Amtrak used, and examined the use of all three methods. We found that when compared with the office copiers that Amtrak had been leasing, the machines that were purchased are cost effective in that annual costs to provide copying services have been substantially reduced. We also found that: --Within certain limits, the copiers that Copylease offered would have provided Amtrak with the basic copying services needed. The machines offered for lease by Copylease would have been a more cost-effective acquisition than those offered by Xerox only if the special features which Amtrak considered essential to the success of its total copying equipment operation were disregarded. --As a mixed-ownership Government corporation, Amtrak is not required to conform to the FPR although it can avail itself of General Services Administration (GSA) Federal (343767)