Department of Defense Seeking Feedback on Strengthening Supply Chain Infrastructure

As the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to ripple across our infrastructure, the Department of Defense recently announced that it is seeking public input on how to strengthen supply chain infrastructure to prevent against future disruptions.
 
The Request for Information seeks feedback on a wide range of topics pertaining to the supply chain, including suggestions on the following:

• Availability of material and manufacturing process substitutes for at-risk strategic and critical materials;
• The availability of skilled labor and other personnel to sustain a competitive strategic and critical materials ecosystem, including domestic education and manufacturing workforce skills;
• The availability of manufacturing capabilities, such as single-points-of-failure in supply chains or nonexistent, threatened, or single-point-of-failure capabilities, or single or dual suppliers;
• Increasing transparency in strategic and critical material supply chains.

This is not the first time the federal government has turned to public input for recommendations on strengthening supply chain infrastructure post-COVID. Over the past 12 months, the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Advanced Manufacturing Office have both released RFI’s seeking feedback on strengthening various aspects of the supply chain enterprise.
 
DoD’s latest RFI is seeking comments and feedback until April 28, 2021. To view the full announcement and submit feedback, click here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/04/13/2021-07539/notice-of-request-for-comments-on-executive-order-americas-supply-chains