§ 4872.
(a)
In General.—
Except as provided in subsection (c) or (e), the Secretary of Defense may not—
(1)
procure any covered material melted or produced in any covered nation, or any end item that contains a covered material manufactured in any covered nation, except as provided by subsection (c); or
(2)
sell any material from the National Defense Stockpile, if the National Defense Stockpile Manager determines that such a sale is not in the national interests of the United States, to—
(A)
any covered nation; or
(B)
any third party that the Secretary reasonably believes is acting as a broker or agent for a covered nation or an entity in a covered nation.
(c)
Exceptions.—
Subsection (a)(1) does not apply under the following circumstances:
(1)
If the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the military department concerned—
(A)
identifies a specific end item for which a specific covered material of satisfactory quality and quantity, in the required form, cannot be procured as and when needed at a reasonable price; and
(B)
waives subsection (a)(1) for such specific end item and such specific covered material for a period not exceeding 36 months.
(2)
To the procurement of an end item described in subsection (a)(1) or the sale of any covered material described under subsection (a)(1) by the Secretary outside of the United States in support of contingency operations or for use outside of the United States.
(3)
To the purchase by the Secretary of an end item containing a covered material that is—
(A)
(i)
a commercially available off-the-shelf item that is 50 percent or more tungsten by weight; or
(ii)
a mill product, such as bar, billet, slab, wire, cube, sphere, block, blank, plate, or sheet, that has not been incorporated into an end item, subsystem, assembly, or component;
(B)
an electronic device, unless the Secretary of Defense, upon the recommendation of the Strategic and Critical Materials Board of Directors pursuant to section 10 of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (
50 U.S.C. 98h–1), determines that the domestic availability of a particular electronic device is critical to national security; or
(C)
a neodymium-iron-boron magnet manufactured from recycled material if the milling of the recycled material and sintering of the final magnet takes place in the United States.
(d)
Delegation.—
The authorities in subsection (c)—
(1)
may be delegated to the head of contracting activity for the relevant component for an exception for a single acquisition program;
(2)
may be delegated to the senior acquisition executive of a military department for an exception for multiple programs within such military department; and
(3)
may be delegated to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment for an exception for more than one military department.
(Added [Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 871(a)], Aug. 13, 2018, [132 Stat. 1904], § 2533c; amended [Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title VIII, § 849], Dec. 20, 2019, [133 Stat. 1508]; renumbered § 4872 and amended [Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title VIII, § 844(a)], title XVIII, § 1870(d)(2), (3), Jan. 1, 2021, [134 Stat. 3766], 4286; [Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title XVII, § 1701(t)(2)(B)], (C), (3), Dec. 27, 2021, [135 Stat. 2150]; [Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title XIV, § 1411(d)(2)(B)], Dec. 23, 2022, [136 Stat. 2872]; [Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title VIII, § 834], Dec. 22, 2023, [137 Stat. 337]; [Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title VIII, § 844(b)], Dec. 23, 2024, [138 Stat. 1991].)