Defense Priorities And Allocations

The Commerce Department issued a new rule this week that "clarifies existing standards and procedures by which the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) may require that certain contracts or orders that promote the national defense be given priority over other contracts or orders."

The new rule, posted on the Aug. 14 issue of the Federal Register, "also sets new standards and procedures for such prioritization with respect to contracts or orders for emergency preparedness activities. Finally, this rule sets new standards and procedures by which BIS may allocate materials, services and facilities to promote the national defense."

Here's more detail on the new regulation:

This rule updates and expands the Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) regulations (15 CFR part 700). BIS relies upon and uses the DPAS regulations to implement priority and allocation actions involving industrial resources. The DPAS has two principal components -- priorities and allocations. Under the priorities component, contracts needed to support programs that have been approved for priorities support are required to be given priority over other contracts to facilitate expedited delivery in promotion of the U.S. national defense. Such contracts may be between the government and private parties or between private parties. Under the allocations component, materials, services, and facilities may be allocated to promote the national defense. For both components, the term "national defense" means programs for military and energy production or construction, homeland security, stockpiling, space, emergency preparedness, and critical infrastructure protection and restoration. The term also includes foreign military and critical infrastructure assistance.