“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 US textile industry,” he continued.

“On behalf of the US 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.”

The Department of Defense (DOD) sourced roughly US$ 1.5 billion in textiles and clothing last year under a buy-American procurement provision known as the Berry Amendment. The Berry Amendment, 10 U.S.C. 2533a, requires that Department of Defense to buy textiles and clothing made with 100% US content and labour.

Favourable outcomes

According to NCTO, there are several favourable textile industry outcomes in the FY 2017 NDAA conference report. Firstly, there was no increase to the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT). To trigger the Berry Amendment, contracts must exceed the US$ 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. A voucher programme for athletic footwear was also ended and clear steps were taken toward ensuring all athletic footwear purchased by DOD is Berry-compliant.

Finally, DOD and the State Department were directed to brief key congressional defence and foreign relations committees on efforts to make US manufacturers aware of procurement opportunities related to equipping foreign security forces approved to purchase or receive equipment from US manufacturers.

www.ncto.org