Information Memorandum
No. 07-042
Subject:
Specialty Metals (10 USC.2533b, Protection of
Strategic Materials Critical to National Security) (INFORMATION)
Date:
December 8, 2006
Target Audience:
CMO Commanders and Deputy
Commanders, ACOs, QARs
New
Information/Guidance:
- The FY 2007
National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 109-364), was enacted into law
on October 17, 2006. Section 842 establishes a new specialty metals
provision -- 10 USC 2533b (replaces 10 USC 2533a, i.e., the “Berry
Amendment”). Implementing guidance for this law was issued by
USD(AT&L) Memorandum, Class Deviation –Restriction on Procurement of
Specialty Metals, December 6, 2006.
- Many requirements
of the new law reflect regulations previously established in the DFARS.
The most significant changes for DCMA are:
- For contracts awarded after
November 15, 2006, DoD can no longer withhold payment while conditionally
accepting noncompliant items (but, DCMA ACOs may continue this practice as
outlined in our
March 10, 2006 Specialty Metals Instruction for contracts awarded prior to
that date.)
- An exception for commercially
available electronic components whose specialty metal content is de minimis is
established; and
- A new One-Time Waiver is
established for contracts under which specialty metals were incorporated into
items produced, manufactured or assembled in the US prior to November 16, 2006
and where final acceptance takes place after that date.
- The USD(AT&L) Memorandum provides
that DCMA remains responsible for reviewing and approving contractor corrective
action plans (CAPs) submitted on a “broad” basis (reference
DCMA Information Memorandum No. 06-183,
Berry Amendment Compliance for
Specialty Metals, June 8, 2006.)
- Contractor CAPs are the key to
assuring future compliance with the law, serve as the basis for both Domestic
Nonavailability Determinations (DNADs), and are required before the new One-Time
Waiver can be granted.
- DCMA has retained the services of
the U.S. Navy Price Fighters to review and recommend approval/disapproval of
contractor CAPs and help prepare DNADs. All CAPs will be submitted to the
DCMA HQ POC identified below for processing.
- In general, the CAPs must
identify the noncompliant items and the date when compliance can be achieved.
Contractors should request DNADs in their CAPs when compliant specialty metal of
satisfactory quality and sufficient quantity, and in the required form, can’t be
procured as and when needed. There is no prescribed format for a CAP since
circumstances will vary, but DCMA’s
Guidance for Specialty Metal Corrective Action Plan Contents identifies the
information that will normally be required to perform an evaluation of the CAP.
- To preclude rework, we’re
advocating early communication between the contractor and the U.S. Navy Price
Fighters (analogous to the IPT Pricing/Alpha Contracting approach used for
contract pricing), so please contact DCMA HQ once you learn a contractor has
decided to submit a “broad” CAP.
- OSD is working on guidance for
DNAD “reciprocity” (the conditions under which a DNAD granted by one Service
Secretary can be used by others within the Department of Defense). DCMA is
working on two DNAD requests that may be available for use throughout the
Department - one covers circuit card assemblies, the other fasteners and small
hardware. We estimate we will have a decision on the circuit card assembly DNAD
in December. The fastener and small hardware DNAD request is currently being
evaluated by the U.S. Navy Price Fighters with an estimated completion date of
mid-January. All DNADs that have Department-wide applicability will be posted
at
http://www.dcma.mil/dnad.
- DCMA will engage with
the Services and Defense Agencies to discuss the possibility of a streamlined
process for waiver approvals and resolution of the
withholds associated with
prior conditional acceptances.
- This information is applicable to the
Specialty Metals Clause Compliance Interim Instruction.
Points of Contact
Signature:
Deputy Executive
Director, Contract Operations & Customer Relations