GSA Request for Determination of Insulating Material Classification

The General Services Administration (GSA) requested reconsideration of a previous decision which held that a commodity shipped by GSA was insulating material, rather than "vermiculite, other than crude," as described in the National Motor Freight Classification. GSA took exception to the purported reliance on the use of the commodity for insulation as the sole classification criterion, presenting a letter from a manufacturing plant manager and a prepaid rail commercial bill of lading to support its contention. References to rail shipments, without Government contract identification, were of no value in the factual determination of what article moved in a particular shipment. Federal specifications described the article for procurement purposes, and value was related to the commodity's worth after expansion to these specifications; not to the array of uses to which the aritcle could be put. The decision was affirmed.