Biden Administration Publishes Notice to Industry About Demand Forecast for PPE in Support of the Make PPE in America Act
OMB, Federal agencies share with industry demand forecasts for key PPE items to support growing the domestic manufacturing base.
WASHINGTON – Today, the Make Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in America Act agencies—the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—are publishing a Notice to Industry to share a forecast of federal PPE demand. The COVID-19 pandemic made clear the need to reduce federal government reliance on essential foreign goods, including PPE. In effort to minimize this reliance, this group is sharing aggregated federal information regarding PPE demands with domestic industry, in order to improve understanding of the current demand for these key items.
The federal government is committed to advancing Made in America objectives and implementing acquisition programs to support long-term sustainability of the domestic PPE manufacturing industry. Guided by the Better Contracting Initiative (BCI), government is working towards buying as an organized entity and getting the best outcomes for taxpayers and American workers. HHS, VA, and DHS are leveraging facilitated workshops—a key tool promoted in the BCI—to help program, acquisition, and supply chain teams across agencies collaborate on common requirements and desired innovations to help contractors target production. This collaboration can support globally competitive domestic manufacturing of PPE.
The cross-agency demand information released today, in combination with other actions to be taken by the Office of Management and Budget and agencies, will support efforts to catalyze domestic manufacturing and jobs and support resilient PPE supply chains. DHS, HHS, and VA, in conjunction with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), are planning to convene industry meetings to share updates on PPE acquisitions, answer questions from industry about the PPE White Paper, and discuss methods to encourage innovation. Prior to industry convening, feedback can be provided via the respective agency point of contact in the PPE White Paper and on SAM.gov.
Background
On November 15, 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), was signed into law. The Make PPE in America Act (Act), Subtitle C of title IX of Division G of the BIL, requires DHS, HHS, and VA to take certain actions to ensure the sustainment and expansion of manufacturing of PPE in the United States. The law defines PPE as surgical masks, respirator masks and powered air purifying respirators and required filters, face shields and protective eyewear, gloves, disposable and reusable surgical and isolation gowns, head and foot coverings, and other gear or clothing used to protect an individual from the transmission of disease. This Notice to Industry supports the PPE demand forecasting for domestic manufacturers.
On November 8, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration launched the BCI, a four-pronged initiative to ensure that the Federal Government gets better terms and prices when purchasing goods and services. The strategy included leveraging data across federal agencies to get lower prices and better terms, negotiating common enterprise-wide software licenses, saving money and avoiding waste by getting contract requirements right the first time, and getting better value from high-risk contracts. The BCI also ensures the Government is deliberate about who we buy it from, including small and disadvantaged businesses.
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