At the request of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Spending Practice and Open Government. the National Bureau of Standards conducted tests on "double shell" chairs to determine their compliance with Federal Specification AA-C-001771B. Chairs from each of five manufacturers of "double shell" chairs were inspected for visual, dimensional, materials, and physical characteristics for adherence to the requirements in the specification. Mechanical tests were also performed where possible. The results of the evaluation procedures and tests show that none of the chair tested passed the specification in its entirety. Each chair had several defects. These defects include both major and minor defects as classified in Table III of the Federal Specification AA-C-001771B as well as defects which are "not listed". The "not listed" defects, if included in Table III, would have been divided between "major" and "minor". This lack of specification compliance may not necessarily mean that a particular defect even those classified as "major", will result in an inferior product. For example, in the particular cases involving materials, the specification of a particular material for product construction precludes the use of any better, recently developed material. In such cases, the desirability of a performance standard rather than a "prescriptive" specification is readily

seen.

This work was centered in the Product Performance Engineering Division of the Center for Consumer Product Technology. The efforts of James Huckeba and Robert Snyder, members of the Center staff, in several task areas associated with the chair evaluations are gratefully acknowledged. Assistance was also received from Fielding Ogburn of the Center for Materials Science, and Dr. Paul Campbell and Dr. Gerald Sleater of the Center for Building Technology for analysis and testing of chromium platin specimens. Sincere appreciation is extended to Dottie Clayton, with assistance from Rose Massengill. for her excellent efforts expended in manuscript preparation.