Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Collapsible Deployment Bags Contract Awarded

November 7, 2023, Excel Garment Manufacturing Ltd.,* El Paso, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $29,333,640 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for collapsible deployment bags. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. The ordering period end date is Nov. 6, 2026. Using military service is Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2024 through 2027 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-24-D-0008).

*Small Business

Yoocaa Baby Loungers Recalled Due to Suffocation Risk and Fall and Entrapment Hazards; Fails to Meet Safety Requirements for Infant Sleep Products; Exclusively on Amazon.com by Yoocaa Direct

This recall involves baby loungers made of a cloth cover with a foam sleeping pad and padded bumper. The baby loungers were advertised as “baby lounger” and “baby nest” and were sold in different printed fabrics and colors, including animal, blue star, cloud, feather, flower, forest, leaf, pink star, polar bear and zoo. “SLEEPING SET” is printed on a tag sewn on the interior of the cover.

The recall applies to products purchased on or after June 23, 2022, and consumers should review their Amazon purchase history to determine their purchase date. Consumers who still have the packaging can also review the packaging for a label that states the date of manufacture, marked in the format “LOT: YYYYMMDD.” This recall applies to products manufactured with “LOT” markings on the packaging of 20220623 (representing June 23, 2022) or later dates.

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled baby loungers and contact Yoocaa Direct for instructions on how to receive a full refund and properly dispose of the product. Yoocaa Direct and Amazon are contacting all known purchasers directly.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported

Sold At: Exclusively online at Amazon.com from January 2021 through May 2023 for between $30 and $55.

Importer(s): He Nan Ji Bu Gong Yi Pin You Xian Gong Si, D/B/A Yoocaa Direct, of China

Manufactured In: China

Recall number:24-017

More information and photos HERE.

Friday, November 3, 2023

Women's Service Uniform Dress Slack Contract Awarded

November 3, 2023, Goodwill Industries of South Florida Inc.,** Miami, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $15,175,195 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for women's service uniform dress slacks. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. The ordering period end date is Nov. 2, 2028. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2024 through 2028 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-24-D-N004).

** Mandatory source

Honor Our Veterans on Armistice Day

Friday, November 10, 2023, is Veterans Day, a federal holiday in the United States. National, state, and local government offices will be closed in commemoration. Most businesses will be open.

Do you pause for a moment of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month? I remember, decades ago, in grade school, we all did so in observance of Armistice Day, even though the name of the commemoration had been official changed to Veterans Day way back in 1954.

Without question, we do right to honor our soldiers, seamen, airmen, marines, and coast guard with a public holiday. But let us not forget the origins of Veterans Day/Armistice Day, as remembrance of the end of the "War to End All Wars." Thomas Hardy wrote And There Was a Great Calm on the occasion of the signing of the armistice, here's one stanza --

Breathless they paused. Out there men raised their glance
To where had stood those poplars lank and lopped,
As they had raised it through the four years’ dance
Of Death in the now familiar flats of France;
And murmured, 'Strange, this! How? All firing stopped?'

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. In 1926 Congress officially encouraged the observance of the day throughout the nation, but in was not until 1938 that Armistice Day became a legal federal holiday.

In 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars and President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation. Subsequent Presidents have continued the practice of issuing such proclamations.

By the way, Veterans Day is always on November 11th, which this year is a Monday. In 1968 the Uniform Holiday Bill removed several federal holidays from their traditional dates, placing them on Mondays in order to create three-day weekends. But many were not pleased with this tinkering with Veterans Day and in 1975 President Gerald R. Ford signed the law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people. The exception is when Veterans Day falls on the weekend, in which case it is moved to the nearest weekday.

For more information on the celebration of Veterans Day, see www.va.gov/opa/vetsday

God Bless the United States of America!

Low Melt Polyester Staple Fiber From the Republic of Korea Antidumping Review

On November 3, 2023, the International Trade Administration published in the Federal Register (88 FR 75558 [A–580–895] Low Melt Polyester Staple Fiber From the Republic of Korea: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2021–2022.

Thursday, November 2, 2023

DR-CAFTA Short Supply Request: Certain Two-Way Stretch Polyester/Spandex Woven Fabric

The subject product is a two-way stretch polyester/spandex woven. A complete description is set forth below. Konffetty, S.A de C.V. utilizes this fabric for the production primarily of kids wear and adult clothing. The fabric has the content, characteristics, hand feel, and price range that render it perfectly suitable for the dresswear trade. The fabric is classifiable under HTSUS 5407.51, 5407.52, and 5407.53, depending on the percentages of filaments and spandex

CAFTA Cumulation

Cumulation is one of the derogations from the yarn forward rule. The agreement provides that apparel articles classified in the Chapter 62 of the Harmonized System may include inputs from Canada or Mexico, up to certain quantitative limits. Chapter 62 is "Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted." As a shorthand we often call Chapter 62 "Woven apparel," but it is important to note that there are some anomalies. For example, Harmonized System Heading 6212 provides for "Brassieres, girdles, corsets, braces, suspenders, garters and similar articles and parts thereof, whether or not knitted or crocheted."

Cumulation is in effect for:

  • Costa Rica,
  • El Salvador,
  • Guatemala, and
  • Honduras.

There is no cumulation for Dominican Republic.

Cumulation applies to any of the textile components required to originate: