As part of the department’s one-year response to Executive Order (EO) 14017, America’s Supply Chains, the Department of Defense published a Federal Register Notice (FRN) soliciting comments from industry on key supply chain challenges and recommendations to strengthen the defense industrial base.
The department seeks comments about supply chain vulnerabilities and opportunities in four focus areas: select kinetic capabilities, energy storage/batteries, microelectronics, and castings and forgings. The department also welcomes inputs on vulnerabilities across five systemic enablers in these supply chains, including: workforce, cyber posture, interoperability, small business, and manufacturing.
Details regarding the four focus areas and five systemic enablers are provided in the FRN, in addition to specific questions for response. The focus areas and strategic enablers were selected through ongoing supply chain analysis efforts across the department, interagency, and White House, and align with the secretary’s guidance.
Input from industry partners is critical to the department’s efforts to address supply chain challenges in the defense industrial base. While the FRN is the primary avenue through which DoD is collecting written feedback from industry, the Office of Industrial Policy will also leverage existing industry engagements and ad hoc events to solicit feedback over the coming months. DoD’s one-year report in response to EO 14017 will be published in February 2022.
The Federal Register Notice is open until Oct. 13, 2021. The original language of Executive Order 14017 and the 100-day assessment published on June 4, 2021 can both be found on the White House website.
