Requirements of the bureau of old-age and survivors insurance for electronic data processing equipment

The activities of the Division of Accounting Operations of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance have been referred to, upon occasion, as one of the biggest bookkeeping jobs in the world. Whether this condition is true or not depends on how it is measured. Certainly, by the yardstick of costs, it would not appear that the job is at all near the biggest. On the basis of comparisons similar to those made in business, the gross costs of operations represent only 1/2 of 1 percent of total gross income. Furthermore, the system shows no signs of becoming the biggest in terms of cost. In a ten year period, an approximately 50 percent increase in basic work loads has been absorbed with no significant or compensatory increase in personnel. It is felt, therefore, that if the job qualifies as being one of the biggest in volume, it also might qualify as one of the smallest in terms of proportionate costs. However, regardless of how it is measured, the job represents a real challenge to those who administer it and to those who would furnish it with suitable electronic paraphernalia. For these reasons, the following problems are presented with pleasure at the opportunity and with confidence in the know-how represented at this conference to solder together whatever combinations of wires, tubes, diodes and transistors that are found to be necessary in each case.