[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53642-53644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-21046]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket ID: DoD-2021-OS-0100]


Federal Register Notice of Request for Written Comments in 
Support of the Department of Defense's One-Year Response to Executive 
Order 14017, ``America's Supply Chains''

AGENCY: Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Industrial Policy (IndPol), Department of Defense (DoD).

ACTION: Notice of request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: On February 24, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive 
Order (E.O.) titled America's Supply Chains, which directs six Federal 
agencies to conduct a review of their respective industrial bases, with 
the objective to use this assessment to secure and strengthen America's 
supply chains. One of these directives is for the Secretary of Defense, 
in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies, to submit a 
report on supply chains for the defense industrial base, including key 
vulnerabilities and potential courses of action to strengthen the 
defense industrial base. The effort will build on the E.O. report, 
Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial 
Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States (released October 
2018) and the Annual Industrial Capabilities Report, which is mandated 
by the Congress.

DATES: The due date for filing comments is October 13, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number and 
title, by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Mail: DoD cannot receive written comments at this time due to the 
COVID-19 pandemic. Comments should be sent electronically to the docket 
listed above.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency 
name, docket number, and title for this Federal Register document. The 
general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the 
public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the 
internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without 
change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brennan Grignon, Office of the Under

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Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment at (703) 692-4422 
or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On February 24, 2021, President Biden issued E.O. 14017, America's 
Supply Chains and it was published in the Federal Register on March 1, 
2021 (86 FR 11849-11854) (available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-03-01/pdf/2021-04280.pdf). E.O. 14017 focuses on the need 
for resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains to ensure U.S. 
economic prosperity and national security across six sectors of the 
economy. One of the E.O. 14017 directives is for the Secretary of 
Defense, in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies, to 
submit a report within one year on supply chains for the defense 
industrial base. This report will provide an assessment of key supply 
chains, including their vulnerabilities and potential courses of action 
to strengthen the defense industrial base. The E.O. 14017 effort will 
build on the E.O. 13806 report, Assessing and Strengthening the 
Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency 
of the United State (released October 2018) and the Annual Industrial 
Capabilities Report, which is mandated by the Congress pursuant to 10 
U.S.C. 2504.
    This notice requests comments and information from the public to 
assist the DoD's assessment of defense industrial base supply chains. 
While conducting the assessment, the Secretary will consult with the 
heads of appropriate agencies, and be advised by all relevant DoD 
Components.

Written Comments

    The DoD is interested in comments (both general inputs and specific 
responses to the questions at the end of this section) that will help 
the Department respond to E.O. 14017 by providing information about key 
supply chain vulnerabilities and opportunities to address these 
vulnerabilities. In particular, the Department selected the following 
four (4) topics to focus on in the one-year report, and seeks comments 
about supply chain vulnerabilities and opportunities in these areas. 
These topics were selected based on critical vulnerabilities identified 
through ongoing supply chain analysis efforts, including inputs from 
the Armed Services, and are in alignment with the operational 
priorities outlined in the Defense Planning Guidance for FY 2023-FY 
2027:
    i. Select kinetic capabilities: Includes Precision Guided Munitions 
(PGMs), Hypersonics, and Directed Energy (DE). Key components (e.g., 
critical energetics, microelectronics) are almost exclusively produced 
by foreign entities, including adversarial nations.
    ii. Energy storage/batteries: Energy storage is critical to all 
kinetic capabilities, and is an evolving requirement. Defense-unique 
requirements with low domestic production volumes create supply chain 
risk and high local costs.
    iii. Microelectronics: Similar to energy storage, microelectronics 
are vital components used in nearly all defense systems. Defense-
specific challenges arise from acquisition processes, obsolescence, and 
the need for secure suppliers. The one-year effort will focus on 
military-specific microelectronics requirements and the ongoing 
challenges between commercial and defense requirements.
    iv. Castings and forgings: Manufacturing is dependent on casting 
and forging capabilities and capacity. An overall decrease in domestic 
capability and capacity limits the industrial base's ability to 
develop, sustain, or expand production. Expanding our domestic 
capabilities will reinforce efforts to onshore commercial 
manufacturing.
    In addition to the topics listed above, the DoD requests input on 
the following five (5) systemic enablers, as they relate to the topics 
above. These enablers span all four (4) topic areas; they are critical 
to mission success, and gaps or fragility in each can create 
operational and strategic risk.
    i. Workforce: Includes all persons needed for a focus area, from 
skilled trades to specialty engineering degrees;
    ii. Cyber posture: Includes cybersecurity, industrial security, and 
counterintelligence;
    iii. Interoperability: Requirements needed to support operations 
with our allies, as well as the requirements to further enhance our 
interoperability between and among DoD's systems and platforms;
    iv. Small business: Focuses on addressing the barriers and 
challenges to small businesses to enter, and stay in, the defense 
ecosystem (both as primes and sub-contractors); and
    v. Manufacturing: Includes core/traditional manufacturing modes and 
new manufacturing technology, such as additive manufacturing.
    In regards to the four (4) topics and five (5) systemic enablers 
above, the DoD is particularly interested in soliciting information in 
response to the following questions:
    Question 1. From your perspective, how has the globalization of the 
supply chain improved or complicated your ability to source DoD's 
requirements?
    Question 2. What are the one or two greatest challenges your firm/
association/industry faces operating in a distributed environment?
    Question 3. Are there ways DoD can better support your efforts to 
mitigate such challenges?
    Question 3. How does the federal government effectively mitigate 
supply chain risks?
    Question 4. What can the government do differently to better 
address supply chain risks and vulnerabilities in our major weapon 
systems/platforms (e.g., PGMs) and critical components (e.g., 
microelectronics)?
    Question 5. What can the government do differently to successfully 
implement industrial base cybersecurity processes or protocols, attract 
skilled labor, implement standards, and incentivize the adoption of 
manufacturing technology?
    To assist the DoD in more easily reviewing and summarizing the 
comments received, the DoD encourages commenters to use the same text 
as above to identify the areas of inquiry to which their comments 
respond. For example, a commenter responding specifically to question 1 
above would use ``Question 1'' as a heading followed by the commenter's 
response. Alternatively, a commenter submitting comments more broadly 
responsive to focus topic (i), ``Select kinetic capabilities,'' would 
use that same text as a heading in the public comment followed by the 
commenter's specific response in this area. The Department encourages 
the use of an Executive Summary at the beginning of all comments to 
enable a more efficient review of the submitted documents. The DoD will 
review all comments but may not provide a formal response back to all 
commenters.

Requirements for Written Comments

    The http://www.regulations.gov website allows users to provide 
comments by filling in a ``Type Comment'' field, or by attaching a 
document using an ``Upload File'' field. The DoD prefers that comments 
be provided in an attached document, preferably in Microsoft Word (.doc 
files) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf files). If the submission is in a format 
other than Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat, please indicate the name of 
the application in the ``Type Comment'' field. Please do not attach 
separate cover letters to electronic submissions; rather, include any 
information that might

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appear in a cover letter within the comments or executive summary. 
Similarly, to the extent possible, please include any exhibits, 
annexes, or other attachments in the same file, so that the submission 
consists of one file instead of multiple files. Comments (both public 
comments and non-confidential versions of comments containing business 
confidential information) will be placed in the docket and open to 
public inspection. Comments may be viewed on http://www.regulations.gov 
by entering docket number DoD-2021-OS-0100 in the search field on the 
home page.
    All filers should name their files using the name of the person or 
entity submitting the comments. Anonymous comments are also accepted. 
Communications from agencies of the United States Government will not 
be made available for public inspection.
    Anyone submitting business confidential information should clearly 
identify the business confidential portion at the time of submission, 
file a statement justifying nondisclosure and referring to the specific 
legal authority claimed, and provide a non-confidential version of the 
submission. The non-confidential version of the submission will be 
placed in the public file on http://www.regulations.gov. For comments 
submitted electronically containing business confidential information, 
the file name of the business confidential version should begin with 
the characters ``BC''. Any page containing business confidential 
information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' on the top 
of that page. The non-confidential version must be clearly marked 
``PUBLIC''. The file name of the non-confidential version should begin 
with the character ``P''. The ``BC'' and ``P'' should be followed by 
the name of the person or entity submitting the comments or rebuttal 
comments. If a public hearing is held in support of this assessment, a 
separate Federal Register notice will be published providing the date 
and information about the hearing. The Office of the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary of Defense (Industrial Policy) does not maintain a separate 
public inspection facility. Requesters should first view the 
Departments' web page, which can be found at  https://open.defense.gov/ 
(see ``Electronic FOIA'' heading). The records related to this 
assessment are made accessible in accordance with the regulations 
published in part 4 of title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations (15 
CFR 4.1 through 4.11).

    Dated: September 23, 2021.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2021-21046 Filed 9-27-21; 8:45 am]
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