I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1166 

To enhance authorities under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to respond 

to the public health emergencies, to provide additional oversight of such 

authorities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 

Mr. VARGAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To enhance authorities under the Defense Production Act 

of 1950 to respond to the public health emergencies, 

to provide additional oversight of such authorities, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Health Emer5 gency Medical Supplies Enhancement Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES. 

7 (a) FUTURE PREPAREDNESS FOR HEALTH EMER8 GENCIES.—Section 702(14) of the Defense Production 


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1 Act of 1950 is amended by striking ‘‘and critical infra2 structure protection and restoration’’ and inserting ‘‘, crit3 ical infrastructure protection and restoration, and public 

4 health emergency preparedness and response activities’’. 

5 (b) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—The Defense 

6 Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) is 

7 amended by inserting after section 711 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 712. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES. 

9 ‘‘(a) SCARCE AND CRITICAL MATERIALS.—During a 

10 public health emergency, any medical equipment or sup11 plies determined by the Secretary of Health and Human 

12 Services or the Secretary of Homeland Security to be 

13 scarce and critical materials essential to the national de14 fense for purposes of section 101 may be deemed by the 

15 President to be a scarce and critical material essential to 

16 the national defense for purposes of section 101 and other17 wise meet the requirements of section 101(b), and funds 

18 available to implement this Act may be used for the pur19 chase, production (including the construction, repair, and 

20 retrofitting of government-owned facilities as necessary), 

21 or distribution of such medical equipment or supplies. 

22 ‘‘(b) EXERCISE OF TITLE I AUTHORITIES IN RELA23 TION TO CONTRACTS BY STATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL GOV24 ERNMENTS.—In exercising authorities under title I during 

25 a public health emergency, the President (and any officer 


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1 or employee of the United States to which authorities 

2 under such title I have been delegated)— 

3 ‘‘(1) may exercise the prioritization or alloca4 tion authority provided in such title I to exclude any 

5 materials or supplies described in subsection (a) or6 dered by a State, local, or Tribal government that 

7 are scheduled to be delivered within 15 days of the 

8 time at which— 

9 ‘‘(A) the purchase order or contract by the 

10 Federal Government for such materials or sup11 plies is made; or 

12 ‘‘(B) the materials or supplies are other13 wise allocated by the Federal Government 

14 under the authorities contained in this Act; and 

15 ‘‘(2) shall, within 24 hours of any exercise of 

16 the prioritization or allocation authority provided in 

17 such title I— 

18 ‘‘(A) to the extent practicable notify any 

19 State, local, or Tribal government if the Presi20 dent determines that the exercise of such au21 thorities would delay the receipt of such mate22 rials or supplies ordered by such government; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(B) take such steps as may be necessary, 

25 and as authorized by law, to ensure that such 


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1 materials or supplies ordered by such govern2 ment are delivered in the shortest possible pe3 riod, consistent with the purposes of this Act. 

4 ‘‘(c) ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR.— 

5 ‘‘(1) OUTREACH REPRESENTATIVE.—Consistent 

6 with the authorities in this title VII, the Adminis7 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen8 cy, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and 

9 Human Services, may designate or appoint, pursu10 ant to section 703, an individual to be known as the 

11 ‘Outreach Representative’ for any public health 

12 emergency. Such individual shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) be appointed from among individuals 

14 with substantial experience in the production or 

15 distribution of medical supplies or equipment; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) act as the governmentwide single 

18 point of contact during the public health emer19 gency for outreach to manufacturing companies 

20 and their suppliers who may be interested in 

21 producing medical supplies or equipment, in22 cluding the materials described under sub23 section (a). 

24 ‘‘(2) ENCOURAGING PARTNERSHIPS.—During a 

25 public health emergency, the Outreach RepresentaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1166.IH H1166

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1 tive shall seek to develop partnerships between com2 panies, in coordination with any overall coordinator 

3 appointed by the President to oversee the response 

4 to the public health emergency, including through 

5 the exercise of the authorities delegated by the 

6 President under section 708. 

7 ‘‘(d) ENHANCEMENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN PRODUC8 TION.—In exercising authority under title III during a 

9 public health emergency with respect to materials de10 scribed in subsection (a), the President shall seek to en11 sure that support is provided to companies that comprise 

12 the supply chains for reagents, components, raw materials, 

13 and other materials and items necessary to produce or use 

14 the materials described in subsection (a), if applicable, to 

15 the extent necessary for the national defense during the 

16 public health emergency. 

17 ‘‘(e) ENHANCED REPORTING DURING A PUBLIC

18 HEALTH EMERGENCY.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

20 after the use of authorities under this Act with re21 spect to a public health emergency, and every 120 

22 days thereafter until the termination of such public 

23 health emergency, the President, in consultation 

24 with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

25 Management Agency, the Secretary of Defense, and 


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1 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 

2 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

3 a report on the exercise of authorities under titles I, 

4 III, and VII with respect to the public health emer5 gency. 

6 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 

7 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each 

9 exercise of such authority— 

10 ‘‘(i) an explanation of the purpose of 

11 the applicable contract, purchase order, or 

12 other exercise of authority (including an 

13 allocation of materials, services, and facili14 ties under section 101(a)(2)); 

15 ‘‘(ii) the cost of such exercise of au16 thority; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) if applicable— 

18 ‘‘(I) the amount of goods that 

19 were purchased or allocated; 

20 ‘‘(II) an identification of the enti21 ty awarded a contract or purchase 

22 order or that was the subject of the 

23 exercise of authority; and 

24 ‘‘(III) an identification of any en25 tity that had shipments delayed by the 


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1 exercise of any authority under this 

2 Act. 

3 ‘‘(B) CONSULTATIONS.—A description of 

4 any consultations conducted with relevant 

5 stakeholders on the needs addressed by the ex6 ercise of the authorities described in paragraph 

7 (1). 

8 ‘‘(3) UPDATE.—The President shall provide an 

9 additional briefing to the appropriate congressional 

10 committees on the matters described under para11 graph (2) no later than four months after the sub12 mission of each report. 

13 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT15 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com16 mittees’ means the Committees on Appropriations, 

17 Armed Services, Energy and Commerce, Financial 

18 Services, and Homeland Security of the House of 

19 Representatives and the Committees on Appropria20 tions, Armed Services, Banking, Housing, and 

21 Urban Affairs, Health, Education, Labor, and Pen22 sions, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

23 and Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate. 

24 ‘‘(2) RELEVANT STAKEHOLDER.—The term 

25 ‘relevant stakeholder’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(A) representative private sector entities; 

2 ‘‘(B) representatives of the nonprofit sec3 tor; 

4 ‘‘(C) representatives of primary and sec5 ondary school systems; and 

6 ‘‘(D) representatives of organizations rep7 resenting workers, including health workers, 

8 manufacturers, teachers, other public sector 

9 employees, and service sector workers. 

10 ‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

11 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 

12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or 

13 possession of the United States.’’. 

14 (c) UPDATE TO FEDERAL REGULATIONS.— 

15 (1) DPAS.—Not later than 30 days after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Defense Property 

17 Accountability System regulations (15 C.F.R. part 

18 700) shall be revised to reflect the requirements of 

19 section 712(b) of the Defense Production Act of 

20 1950. 

21 (2) FAR.—Not later than 30 days after the re22 visions required by paragraph (1) are made, the 

23 Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised to 

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1 fense Production Act of 1950, consistent with the 

2 revisions made pursuant to paragraph (1). 

3 SEC. 3. REPORT ON ACTIVITIES INVOLVING SMALL BUSI4 NESS. 

5 The report required by section 304(f)(3) of the De6 fense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4534(f)(3)) with 

7 respect to fiscal years 2023 and 2024 shall include the 

8 percentage of contracts awarded using funds to carry out 

9 the Defense Production Act of 1950 for each of the fiscal 

10 years 2023 and 2024, respectively, to small business con11 cerns (as defined under section 702 of such Act). 

Æ 


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