Volume 68 · 755
Public Law 83–608
To provide an immediate program for the modernization and improvement of such merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet as are necessary for national defense.
Approved August 20, 1954
Statutory text
AN ACT
To provide an immediate program for the modernization and improvement of such merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet as are necessary for national defense.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That this Act may be cited as the “Emergency Ship Repair Act of 1954”.
Sec. 2. statement of purpose
It is the purpose of this Act in the interests of national defense to provide for the immediate improvement and modernization of needed merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce, and thereby to provide a much needed stimulus to the shipbuilding and ship repair industries of the Nation.
Sec. 3. reserve fleet modernization and repair program
The Secretary of Commerce shall, after consulting the Secretary of Defense, formulate and carry out to the extent authorized under the provisions of this Act a program of repairing, modernizing, or converting such merchant-type vessels in the national defense reserve under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce as may be necessary to provide for the purpose of national defense an adequate and ready reserve fleet of merchant and auxiliary vessels.
Sec. 4. contracting authorization
The Secretary of Commerce shall, within twenty-four months after the date of the enactment of this Act, enter into such contracts for the repair, modernization, and conversion of vessels as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Such contracts (1) may provide for the expenditure by the United States of not more than $25,000,000, (2) shall be with private shipbuilding or ship repair yards on the Atlantic, Pacific, and gulf coasts of the United States, (3) shall be entered into in accordance with applicable provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act
of 1949. In entering into such contracts the Secretary of Commerce shall not alter the present Maritime Administration policy of inviting single bids or split bids or both for drydock and nondrydock work.
Sec. 5. authorization of appropriation
There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums
Post, p. 807.
not in excess of $25,000,000 as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
Approved August 20, 1954.