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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Health Emer-
gency Medical Supplies Enhancement Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES. 
(a) FUTURE PREPAREDNESS FOR HEALTH EMER-
GENCIES.—Section 702(14) of the Defense Production 
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Act of 1950 is amended by striking ‘‘and critical infra-
structure protection and restoration’’ and inserting ‘‘, crit-
ical infrastructure protection and restoration, and public 
health emergency preparedness and response activities’’. 
(b) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—The Defense 
Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 711 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 712. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES. 
‘‘(a) SCARCE AND CRITICAL MATERIALS.—During a 
public health emergency, any medical equipment or sup-
plies determined by the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services or the Secretary of Homeland Security to be 
scarce and critical materials essential to the national de-
fense for purposes of section 101 may be deemed by the 
President to be a scarce and critical material essential to 
the national defense for purposes of section 101 and other-
wise meet the requirements of section 101(b), and funds 
available to implement this Act may be used for the pur-
chase, production (including the construction, repair, and 
retrofitting of government-owned facilities as necessary), 
or distribution of such medical equipment or supplies. 
‘‘(b) EXERCISE OF TITLE I AUTHORITIES IN RELA-
TION TO CONTRACTS BY STATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL GOV-
ERNMENTS.—In exercising authorities under title I during 
a public health emergency, the President (and any officer 
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or employee of the United States to which authorities 
under such title I have been delegated)— 
‘‘(1) may exercise the prioritization or alloca-
tion authority provided in such title I to exclude any 
materials or supplies described in subsection (a) or-
dered by a State, local, or Tribal government that 
are scheduled to be delivered within 15 days of the 
time at which— 
‘‘(A) the purchase order or contract by the 
Federal Government for such materials or sup-
plies is made; or 
‘‘(B) the materials or supplies are other-
wise allocated by the Federal Government 
under the authorities contained in this Act; and 
‘‘(2) shall, within 24 hours of any exercise of 
the prioritization or allocation authority provided in 
such title I— 
‘‘(A) to the extent practicable notify any 
State, local, or Tribal government if the Presi-
dent determines that the exercise of such au-
thorities would delay the receipt of such mate-
rials or supplies ordered by such government; 
and 
‘‘(B) take such steps as may be necessary, 
and as authorized by law, to ensure that such 
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materials or supplies ordered by such govern-
ment are delivered in the shortest possible pe-
riod, consistent with the purposes of this Act. 
‘‘(c) ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR.— 
‘‘(1) OUTREACH REPRESENTATIVE.—Consistent 
with the authorities in this title VII, the Adminis-
trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen-
cy, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, may designate or appoint, pursu-
ant to section 703, an individual to be known as the 
‘Outreach Representative’ for any public health 
emergency. Such individual shall— 
‘‘(A) be appointed from among individuals 
with substantial experience in the production or 
distribution of medical supplies or equipment; 
and 
‘‘(B) act as the governmentwide single 
point of contact during the public health emer-
gency for outreach to manufacturing companies 
and their suppliers who may be interested in 
producing medical supplies or equipment, in-
cluding the materials described under sub-
section (a). 
‘‘(2) ENCOURAGING PARTNERSHIPS.—During a 
public health emergency, the Outreach Representa-
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tive shall seek to develop partnerships between com-
panies, in coordination with any overall coordinator 
appointed by the President to oversee the response 
to the public health emergency, including through 
the exercise of the authorities delegated by the 
President under section 708. 
‘‘(d) ENHANCEMENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN PRODUC-
TION.—In exercising authority under title III during a 
public health emergency with respect to materials de-
scribed in subsection (a), the President shall seek to en-
sure that support is provided to companies that comprise 
the supply chains for reagents, components, raw materials, 
and other materials and items necessary to produce or use 
the materials described in subsection (a), if applicable, to 
the extent necessary for the national defense during the 
public health emergency. 
‘‘(e) ENHANCED REPORTING DURING
A PUBLIC 
HEALTH EMERGENCY.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 
after the use of authorities under this Act with re-
spect to a public health emergency, and every 120 
days thereafter until the termination of such public 
health emergency, the President, in consultation 
with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, the Secretary of Defense, and 
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the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a report on the exercise of authorities under titles I, 
III, and VII with respect to the public health emer-
gency. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 
paragraph (1) shall include the following: 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each 
exercise of such authority— 
‘‘(i) an explanation of the purpose of 
the applicable contract, purchase order, or 
other exercise of authority (including an 
allocation of materials, services, and facili-
ties under section 101(a)(2)); 
‘‘(ii) the cost of such exercise of au-
thority; and 
‘‘(iii) if applicable— 
‘‘(I) the amount of goods that 
were purchased or allocated; 
‘‘(II) an identification of the enti-
ty awarded a contract or purchase 
order or that was the subject of the 
exercise of authority; and 
‘‘(III) an identification of any en-
tity that had shipments delayed by the 
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exercise of any authority under this 
Act. 
‘‘(B) CONSULTATIONS.—A description of 
any consultations conducted with relevant 
stakeholders on the needs addressed by the ex-
ercise of the authorities described in paragraph 
(1). 
‘‘(3) UPDATE.—The President shall provide an 
additional briefing to the appropriate congressional 
committees on the matters described under para-
graph (2) no later than four months after the sub-
mission of each report. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’ means the Committees on Appropriations, 
Armed Services, Energy and Commerce, Financial 
Services, and Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives and the Committees on Appropria-
tions, Armed Services, Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs, Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-
sions, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 
and Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate. 
‘‘(2) RELEVANT
STAKEHOLDER.—The term 
‘relevant stakeholder’ means— 
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‘‘(A) representative private sector entities; 
‘‘(B) representatives of the nonprofit sec-
tor; 
‘‘(C) representatives of primary and sec-
ondary school systems; and 
‘‘(D) representatives of organizations rep-
resenting workers, including health workers, 
manufacturers, teachers, other public sector 
employees, and service sector workers. 
‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or 
possession of the United States.’’. 
(c) UPDATE TO FEDERAL REGULATIONS.— 
(1) DPAS.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Defense Property 
Accountability System regulations (15 C.F.R. part 
700) shall be revised to reflect the requirements of 
section 712(b) of the Defense Production Act of 
1950. 
(2) FAR.—Not later than 30 days after the re-
visions required by paragraph (1) are made, the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised to 
reflect the requirements of section 712(b) of the De-
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fense Production Act of 1950, consistent with the 
revisions made pursuant to paragraph (1). 
SEC. 3. REPORT ON ACTIVITIES INVOLVING SMALL BUSI-
NESS. 
The report required by section 304(f)(3) of the De-
fense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4534(f)(3)) with 
respect to fiscal years 2023 and 2024 shall include the 
percentage of contracts awarded using funds to carry out 
the Defense Production Act of 1950 for each of the fiscal 
years 2023 and 2024, respectively, to small business con-
cerns (as defined under section 702 of such Act). 
Æ 
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