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1 [1] (January 13, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govebqt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Informin th leiltv dbtsIce14 0 Updated January 13, 2021 Buying American: The Berry and Kissell Amendments Two U.S. laws require the Department of Defense (DOD) and some agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to purchase only domestic products for certain military and nonmilitary purposes. These laws are known as the Berry Amendment and the Kissell Amendment. Congress typically debates the Berry Amendment in the context of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. The laws are controversial. Supporters argue they help preserve the U.S. industrial base and create domestic manufacturing jobs. Some lawmakers also assert that production of government uniforms outside the United States raises national security concerns. Opponents believe the laws give monopolies to certain companies and raise the government's procurement costs. They also claim these laws are inconsistent with modern supply chains that source components and raw materials from multiple countries. The Berry Amendment The Berry Amendment (10 U.S.C. §2533a) is the popular name of a 1941 law enacted as part of the Fifth Supplemental National Defense Appropriations Act (P.L. 77-29). It became a permanent part of the U.S. Code when it was codified by the FY2002 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 107-107). The Berry Amendment requires that certain items purchased by DOD be 100% domestic in origin. The requirement generally extends to inputs into the purchased items. The law's coverage has varied over the years. At present, the Berry Amendment affects DOD purchases of textiles, clothing, footwear, food, and hand or measuring tools. Recently, Congress reinstated stainless-steel flatware and added dinnerware as additional covered items. DOD purchases must be 'entirely grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States. Unless exemptions laid out in the law apply, the entire production process of affected products, from the production of raw materials to the manufacture of all components to final assembly, must be performed in the United States. The Berry Amendment mandates a much higher level of domestic content than the Buy American Act of 1933, which generally governs the procurements of other federal agencies. Under the Buy American Act, the final product must be mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States, and if manufactured, either at least 50% of the costs of its components must be manufactured in the United States or the end product must be a commercially available off-the-shelf item. Sales to DOD in the five Berry-applicable product categories totaled about $4.0 billion in FY2020. DOD expenditures on Berry Amendment products accounted for roughly 1% of the department's spending on products and services in FY2020, according to figures from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), the primary source for federal procurement data, as reported by the System for Award Management (beta.SAM.gov). https://C rsrepo The Kissell Amendment The Kissell Amendment (6 U.S.C. §453b) was enacted as Section 604 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) and, through the Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation, made permanent on March 5, 2013. Kissell requirements are modeled on the Berry Amendment. Since August 2009, the Kissell Amendment has required DHS when using appropriated funds directly related to national security interests to buy textiles, clothing, and footwear, from domestic sources. Excluded are food, hand or measuring tools, and flatware and dinnerware. Although the Kissell Amendment as enacted applies to all agencies of DHS, in practice its restrictions apply only to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This is because prior to the Kissell Amendment's passage, the United States had entered into commitments under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement, and under various free-trade agreements, to open U.S. government procurement to imported goods. The Kissell Amendment applies only where it does not contravene those commitments. Procurement by other DHS agencies, including the Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection, is subject to the less- stringent Buy American Act. For these DHS agencies, the Buy American Act is also waived pursuant to the Trade Agreements Act (P.L. 96-39). Thus, they can purchase textile and apparel products from more than 100 countries if certain conditions are met. Over half of DHS's uniform items came from foreign sources in FY2019, according to a 2020 report by the Department of Homeland Security. Berry and Kissell Exceptions The Berry Amendment includes various exceptions. For example, DOD can buy from non-U.S. sources when * products are unavailable from American manufacturers at satisfactory quality and sufficient quantity at U.S. market prices; * items are used in support of combat operations or contingency operations; * products are intended for resale at retail stores such as military commissaries or post exchanges; and * purchases are part of a contract whose value is at or below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, generally $250,000, in which case the item can be sourced overseas. (The FY2018 NDAA (P.L. 115-91) raised the threshold from $150,000; the FY2021 NDAA (P.L. 116- 283) returned it to $150,000 for Berry-compliant purchases.) The Kissell Amendment has some similar exceptions. Manufacturing Affected by Berry A majority of DOD's procurement contract obligations for Berry-applicable items are related to food and apparel, rts.congress.gov