European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 14, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Peter mount holds a for Sale sign atop the has sea lion moored at Chatham. Charity Hopes buyer will dive at this Deal London a for those seek ing an exotic Home an educational Charity has an offer it Hopes they can refuse a 295-foot submarine for $350,000. The inter action social Enterprise Trust bought has sea lion from the ministry of defense but decided to put the vessel up for Sale when it could not afford to convert it into a children study Center. The porpoise class submarine was commissioned in 1961. Peter mount the Trust s Genera manager said Friday that it had received about 30 inquiries from across the country after placing a Small advertisement in a newspaper offering submarine for  one person wants to turn it into seafood restaurant and live in it he said. Another wanted to use it forgiving to get wrecks out but that s not possible because the engines Are not usable. I suppose somebody might want to live in it. A submarine is rather a strange thing to buy and it has a nov Elty value for eccentrics or people wanting to set up a Leisure  the 1,610-ton sub which housed71 men and had eight torpedo tubes is moored at Chatham the former Royal Navy shipyard in Southeast England and can Only be towed  the equipment remains on Board except the Periscope and navigational aids. One is sad to see it go people be came quite attached to it mount said. Restrictions urged on Navy handling of computer contracts Washington not a congressional committee has asked the govern ment to restrict the Navy s authority toward computer contracts without the supervision of the general services administration. The House government operation committee which has been investigating the Way these contracts have Bee awarded said it had obtained information suggesting a pattern of institutional Bias which has severely  the contracts Are wort several billion Dol Lars. The committee said the information had been provided by executives of six leading com Puter companies that have accuse the Navy of Struc Conyers Turing its bidding procedures to favo International business machines corp. The committee asked the Gas to limit the Navy s authority to award computer contracts to procurements of less than$2.5 million unless the awards Are super Vised by the Agency. The Gas which has jurisdiction Overall Federal computer purchases allows the Navy to award computer contract for As much As $ 15 million. Such a restriction would be an embarrassment to the Navy which contends that its bidding procedures do not Favoran company. It would also significantly limit the Navy s ability to buy needed computer equipment. In a letter the committee urged Thessa to scrutinize All Navy procurement requests particularly those involving computers and related equipment that Are compatible with ism s computer architecture. The letter was addressed to the Gas acting administrator Richard Austin and signed by rep. John Conyers jr., d-mich., who is chairman of the commit tee. Last week in announcing the commit tee s investigation of the awarding of the contracts Conyers noted that the com Puter and telecommunications industries Are among the fastest growing and mos competitive in the United states. Yet if these allegations Are True Navy officials have apparently deter mined that Only one company is capable of meeting their needs Conyers said. Faced with enormous budget deficits Congress cannot sit idly by while Agen cies needlessly waste scarce taxpayer Dol Lars on sole source  Conyers said he had asked the general accounting office to investigate the Navy s procurement procedures. A Simi Lar request has been made by rep. Jamesj. Florio d-n.j., chairman of the House subcommittee on Commerce consume Protection and competitiveness. The six computer companies which manufacture equipment that is compatible with ism s architecture have accused the Navy of writing unfair technical specifications and using subjective evaluation criteria to ensure awards to ism. The companies that made the accusations Are the Amdahl corp., the Mem Orex telex corp., Pacific Orp capital inc.,the vion corp., the storage technology corp. And nor comte. Ism has declined to comment on the investigations. The companies have also contended that when the Navy awards contracts to systems integrators it forces them to us higher priced ism equipment when comparable products Are available fro Mother vendors at lower prices. The Board of contract appeals a Parton the Gas ruled in december that the Navy had violated Federal procurement Laws in writing unfair specifications favouring ism for a major computer con tract. The Navy is rewriting those specifications. Patricia Servo commissioner of Thessa s information resources manage ment service said the Gas would Takeno immediate action on the committee s request because it is reviewing the Navy s procurement system to determine whether the service s procedures pro Mote fair Competition. Although the Gas has jurisdiction Over All government computer purchases Servo said it routinely Grants Federal agencies Blanket authority that exceeds the Dollar threshold requiring the Agency s review and approval. The Gas has granted the Navy a $10million threshold for computer contracts awarded by its naval facilities command a $ 15 million threshold for the Marine corps. If the Gas honors the committee s re quest those thresholds would drop to $2.5 million. Rear adm. Paul e. Tobin director of the Navy s department of information resources management services said the committee s request was an extremely Strong  if granted i would slow procurement he warned. Tobin said he has been meeting wit the computer executives who made the accusations to forge a better working relationship. He became head of the Navy s com Puter procurements a month before the companies made their accusations in Aletter last november to then defense Secretary Frank c. Carlucci. Bid to bar Prince Philip from Hirohito rites rejected London a three judges of the court of Appeal on monday rebuffed an old Soldier s Campaign to prevent Prince Philip from attending the funeral of emperor Hirohito of Japan. George Calvert a world War ii Veteran contended that Britain never officially ended the War with Japan and that Queen Elizabeth h s husband would be Vio lating the treason act of 1351 by attending the feb.24 rites. There is nothing that has been put before us which would justify us in any Way in reviewing or investigating advice which appears to have been tendered by her majesty s government to her majesty said lord Donaldson England s senior civil judge. Calvert 63, said he would Appeal to the House of lords the nation s highest court of Appeal but Don Aldson said the unelected upper chamber of parliament had no Power to intervene where two court Shad already refused to become involved. I must move on and on until they see what they redoing is unjust said Calvert a retired court clerk from Down St. Mary in southwestern England. Calvert has said his father in Law was beaten an starved in a japanese prisoner of War Camp during world War ii. 5 Calvert joined the British army in 1942, lost a leg inthe korean War and was the first British service member allowed to continue with a wooden leg. Reserved for 26 years. Some veterans groups have demanded that Britain Boycott the funeral but the National Council of the17,500-member Burma Star association recently expressed loyalty to Philip its Patron in carrying out his official duties. The 67-year-old Prince served in the far East during the War and attended Japan s formal surrender in Tokyo Bay. An estimated 27,000 British prisoners of War died atthe hands of the japanese Many of them in the forced construction of the notorious Burma railway. Foreign Secretary sir Geoffrey Howe who is rep resenting the government at the funeral has said his attendance does not mean that Britain had forgiven or forgotten japanese War atrocities. The Queen asked her husband to represent her at the funeral after receiving advice from the government