Inspector General Finds Naval Contracting Personnel Let Non-Berry Compliant Textiles and Other Acquisitions Slip Through

Thanks to Steve Warner at the BeaverLake 6 Report for alerting us that on August 12, 2015, the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense, issued report DODIG-2015-161 Naval Personnel Can Improve Compliance With the Berry Amendment and the Buy American Act. Among the findings--

"Naval contracting personnel did not consistently comply with the Berry Amendment for 11 of the 23 contracts reviewed. Contracting personnel did not assess whether suppliers could provide U.S.-produced items and omitted the Berry Amendment contract clause because they were not familiar with the Berry Amendment. Navy personnel allowed a contractor operating a logistics support program to sell non-U.S. made items because the contracting officer did not ensure the contractor was stocking items compliant with the Berry Amendment. ...

Contracting personnel...permitted the substitution of non-U.S. produced synthetic fabric on a contract because the contracting officer misinterpreted a DFARS exception to the Berry Amendment, which allows the substitution of incremental amounts of natural fiber."

Clients of Agathon Associates, subscribers to Agathon Associates' Trade Advisor Service, and students in TMD 433 at the University of Rhode Island can learn more about the Berry Amendment at www.agathonassociates.com/textile-pri/berry/. You will need to enter your username and password. If you do not know your username and password email David Trumbull at david@agathonassociates.com.