Sec. 856. Acceleration of qualification of compliant sources
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/bill/119/hr/3838/eh/section-856A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish in the Defense Industrial Resilience Consortium established under section 1842 a working group for the exchange of information about compliant materials and to accelerate the qualification of such materials for use by the Department of Defense and the integration of such materials into the supply chains of contractors of the Department of Defense. Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the working group shall consist of members of the Defense Industrial Resilience Consortium with expertise or interest in— the qualification and acceptance of materials, parts, components and end items by the Department of Defense; supply chain management; or supply chain illumination.
The Secretary may exclude from participation in such working group any individual or entity that— is headquartered within, owned or controlled by, or subject to the influence of a covered nation; is functioning as the agent of any foreign State; or is otherwise determined by the Secretary to be a significant threat to the national security interests of the United States. The working group shall— establish processes for exchange of information about compliant materials among consortium members, procurement agents of the Department of Defense, and contractors of the defense industrial base, while maintaining appropriate safeguards of commercially proprietary information; develop processes and procedures to streamline identification, testing, and qualification of compliant sources and compliant materials; seek to reduce the unnecessary application of requirements that specific to a single Armed Force for identification, testing, and qualification of compliant sources and compliant material; provide a forum for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force and other elements of the Department of Defense to share technical and supply chain data related to requirements for covered materials; identify compliant sources at each step of the supply chain, to the extent that such supply chains are subject to subchapter III of chapter 385 of title 10, United States Code; at least once a quarter, publish for the members of the consortium and for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, a list of compliant sources for each critical material, including a general description of what step of the supply chain in which each compliant source is participating, if any; develop and recommend processes to enable the Department of Defense to rapidly identify, qualify, and integrate compliant materials into programs of the Department at scale; seek to reduce future requirements for critical materials in defense systems by encouraging contractors of the Department of Defense to design and develop systems that use commercially available critical materials, when such materials are capable of meeting mission needs; seek input from small and nontraditional contractors and ensure the working group considers the unique attributes of such businesses in carrying out the responsibilities of this subsection; develop and provide recommendations to reduce impediments or disincentives for a supplier of an end item to the Department of Defense to revise a supply chain agreement or other arrangement, to eliminate the reliance of the supplier on noncompliant sources; any other matters assigned to the working group by the Secretary; and provide the Secretary with timely recommendations developed pursuant to this section.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall develop and implement guidance to ensure that critical materials from noncompliant sources that are present in covered systems of the Department of Defense are identified and replaced as rapidly as practicable with compliant materials. The guidance required by
(1)shall— ensure that a supplier of an end item is actively managing the supply chain, and shall address impediments or disincentives for the supplier to revise a supply chain agreement or other arrangement to eliminate the supplier’s reliance on noncompliant sources; require the use of compliant sources included on the list required by paragraph (a)(3)(F), where appropriate; require use of commercial qualification processes to the maximum extent practicable in determining whether a new supplier is capable of meeting defense requirements; minimize the number of qualification events required, including minimizing the use of real-world testing, when replacing components or raw materials with functionally identical commercial offerings; provide for waiver of defense-unique qualification requirements, including operational test and evaluation processes, unless compliance with such requirements is determined to be essential by the head of the contracting activity: and prohibit additional testing of the end item if a component or subcomponent has shown to have substantially similar or identical performance after replacement of a noncompliant critical material with a compliant critical material, except where the service acquisition executive determines otherwise. The Secretary of Defense shall deem that any acquisition of a critical material, by the Department, a contractor to the Department, or a subcontractor at any tier, from a supplier of critical materials that is included on the list required by paragraph (a)(3)(F), is in compliance with the requirements of subchapter III of chapter 385 of this title, if— the supplier of a critical material was on the most recent such list of compliant sources for such critical material at the time the acquisition contract or other agreement was entered into; the supplier is included on such a list not less frequently than once every two years during the period beginning on the date on which such contract or other agreement is entered into and ending on the date on which such contract or other agreement expires or terminates; and it would have created an unreasonable hardship, including an interruption of needed supplies or significantly different cost, for the acquiring entity to switch suppliers to a compliant source during the time between the signing of the contract or other agreement and the time of delivery under such contract or other agreement. The service acquisition executive for each service or agency shall, for each program under supervision of such service acquisition executive, identify the individual responsible for establishing the statement of work and qualification requirements associated with the replacement of components or raw materials critical materials from noncompliant sources in covered systems as required by this section. The Secretary shall ensure that the guidance required by this subsection applies to commercial products and commercial off-the-shelf items to the extent that the requirements of chapter 385 of title 10, United States Code, apply to commercial products and commercial off-the-shelf items. Notwithstanding section 4872(a) of title 10, United States Code, the Department of Defense is authorized to procure a covered material stockpiled in an allied or partner nation if such covered material has been under uninterrupted control by an entity in such allied or partner nation since 2000. Not later than five days after the date on which the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress the materials in support of the budget submitted by the President to Congress under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, for a fiscal year, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, in collaboration with the service acquisition executives of the military departments, shall submit to the congressional defense committees a comprehensive estimate of the funds necessary to provide for the qualification and integration of compliant sources into the covered systems of each military department. In this section: The term compliant country means a country that is not a covered nation. The term compliant source means an entity engaged in the production, manufacture, or distribution of a critical material that is compliant with the requirements of subchapter III of chapter 385 of title 10, United States Code. The term compliant material means critical material that is sourced from a compliant source. The term covered nation has the meaning given such term in section 4872(h) of title 10, United States Code (as redesignated by this Act). The term covered system means an end item that is currently in production or has been delivered to the Department of Defense. The term critical material means a material subject to sourcing restrictions under subchapter III of chapter 385 of title 10, United States Code. The term end item has the meaning given such term in section 4863 of title 10, United States Code. The term service acquisition executive has the meaning given such term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code. The term working group means the working group established under subsection (a).