(a) There shall be superintendents for the industries. Preference shall be given to blind persons with the skill and experience to perform such jobs. The department shall provide for the equipment, maintenance, and management of the industries; shall provide for the selection and eligibility of applicants for admission to an industry; shall provide for the sale of supplies manufactured at the industries to the departments of the state, its subdivisions, and institutions, and to the federal government and other states and to individual and corporate dealers in such supplies; shall provide for housing, rationing, hours of labor, scale of pay, or division of profits, subject to this chapter; and shall provide all other rules for the proper management of the industries not in conflict with this chapter. The department shall procure necessary machinery, equipment, and furnishings for the industries; shall make contracts for power, lighting, and heating; and shall arrange for all other things necessary and proper for the conduct of the industries.

(b) All departments, subdivisions, and institutions of the State of Georgia are directed to give preference in purchases to goods manufactured at the industries, provided said goods are of equal quality and competitive in price.