Posted December 15, 2016

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) applauded the Senate’s 92-7 vote to pass S. 2943, the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

 

With the House of Representatives having approved the conference report on December 2, the measure now goes to President Obama for his signature to be enacted into law.

 

“This is a good bill,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo. “It supports American troops, strengthens our national security and includes many provisions important to the U.S. textile industry,” he continued, noting that the Department of Defense (DOD) sourced roughly $1.5 billion in textiles and clothing last year under a buy-American procurement provision known as the Berry Amendment.

 

“On behalf of the U.S textile industry, I want to thank the House and Senate, their respective armed services committees and all conferees for their hard work to keep America safe and the Berry Amendment strong,” Tantillo added.

 

Listed below are favorable textile industry outcomes in the FY 2017 NDAA conference report.

 

• There was no increase to the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT). To trigger the Berry Amendment, contracts must exceed the $150,000 SAT. A higher SAT creates the danger of contracts being broken up to fall below the threshold. Threshold increase language was removed from the bill by the House Armed Services Committee during mark up.

• The Berry Amendment was exempted from changes to the procurement of commercial items (Section 874 – see page 774, lines 17-21 of the linked FY 2017 NDAA conference report .PDF).

• A voucher program for athletic footwear was ended and clear steps were taken toward ensuring all athletic footwear purchased by DOD is Berry-compliant (Section 817).

• Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) or reverse auctions are not appropriate contracting methods for DOD procurement of personal protective equipment where the level of quality needed or the failure of the item could result in combat casualties (Section 814).

• DOD and the State Department were directed to brief key congressional defense and foreign relations committees on efforts to make U.S. manufacturers aware of procurement opportunities related to equipping foreign security forces approved to purchase or receive equipment from U.S. manufacturers (page 2688 of the linked FY 2017 NDAA conference report .PDF).

 

The Berry Amendment, 10 U.S.C. 2533a, requires that Department of Defense to buy textiles and clothing made with 100 percent U.S. content and labor.

 

Source: NCTO