The Berry Amendment: Requiring Defense Procurement to Come from Domestic Sources

The Berry Amendment requires the Department of Defense DoD to give preference in procurement to domestically produced, manufactured, or home-grown products, notably food, clothing, fabrics, and specialty metals. To protect the U.S. industrial base during periods of adversity and war, Congress passed domestic source restrictions as part of the 1941 Fifth Supplemental DoD Appropriations Act these provisions later became the Berry Amendment. Since then numerous other items have been proposed andor added. Congress modified the Berry Amendment in Section 832 of S. 1438, the FY2002 DoD Authorization Act, P.L. 107-107. The Berry Amendment is now part of the United States Code, Title 10, Section 2533a. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement DFARS was amended to include exceptions for the acquisition of food, speciality metals, and hand or measuring tools when needed to support contingency operations or when the use of other than competitive procedures is based on an unusual and compelling urgency it was revised in January 2005 to add new items, components, and materials covered under the Berry Amendment. In the spring of 2001, Congress revisited the Berry Amendment largely in response to a controversy involving the Armys procurement of black berets. Some policy makers believe that policies like the Berry Amendment contradict free trade policies, and that the presence and degree of such competition is the most effective tool for promoting efficiencies and improving quality. On the other hand, others believe that key U.S. sectors need the protections afforded by the Berry Amendment. These two views have been the subject of ongoing debate in Congress. This report examines the original intent and purpose of the Berry Amendment, legislative proposals to amend both laws and regulations governing the application of domestic source restrictions, as well as options for Congress.