Global Fastener News

IFI Lobbyist: New Defense Bill Could Be ‘Positive’ for Fastener Industry

Jason Sandefur

Congress approved legislation that would give the fastener industry and other Department of Defense suppliers some relief from specialty metals restrictions.
“Our initial review indicates that the new language appears to have increased flexibility for suppliers who make and sell commercial products to DoD, which would be positive for the fastener industry,” Industrial Fasteners Institute lobbyist Jennifer Baker of the Laurin Baker Group told FastenerNews.com.
Baker, who is reviewing the legislative changes for the IFI, cautioned that “it is still too early to make any definitive statements on the effect on the fastener industry.”
The fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill revises language in last year’s defense bill that required all specialty metals, including titanium, zirconium and certain steel alloys, supplied to the Pentagon come from domestic sources.
If signed into law, the new language could potentially eliminate the need for DoD to issue a special waiver for fasteners and other products. DoD issued a Domestic Non-Availability Determination (DNAD) for fasteners following passage of last year’s defense bill.
“It does look like Congress tried very hard to strike a balance between DoD’s ability to have access to the commercial marketplace, and continued concern for the specialty metals industry as part of the defense industrial base,” Baker offered. “The devil is always in the details so it will be critical for the fastener industry to continue to work with DoD as they write the implementing regulations.”
Before compromising on the new bill, the House had passed a version that would have placed new restrictions on products that include specialty metals by requiring DoD to evaluate contractors whose products contain specialty metals on the extent to which they “demonstrate a record of sustained reinvestment in domestic production of such material” (see FIN 11/01/07).
The Pentagon appealed the measure, saying the House bill “would introduce unnecessary, costly, inefficient, and counter-productive evaluation criteria on every sub-tier supplier providing items containing steel or specialty metals.”
“The proposed changes in the House version of the FY08 NDAA would undo the modest changes made last year that created needed flexibility in the system, and they would add additional administrative hurdles to an already cumbersome process,” Baker told FIN in November. �2008 FastenerNews.com