“To require contractors to provide reasonable access to repair materials, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes a new 10 U.S.C. §4663 requiring the head of a procuring agency not to enter into a contract for goods unless the contractor agrees in writing to provide the Department of Defense fair and reasonable access to repair materials—including parts, tools, and information—used by the manufacturer or authorized repair providers to diagnose, maintain, or repair the goods. Fair and reasonable access entails (1) terms allowing DoD to supply such materials to its authorized contractors; (2) prices, terms, and conditions equivalent to the most favorable offered by the manufacturer or authorized reseller or distributor to authorized repair providers (accounting for discounts, delivery, functionality restoration, and other incentives); or (3) if not so offered, prices and terms determined fair and reasonable by the government. Parts are replacement items (new or used) for maintenance or repair of digital electronic equipment supplied by an original equipment manufacturer, and tools are software, hardware, or other apparatus—including for provisioning, programming, pairing, or calibrating—for restoring such equipment to full functionality. The head of an agency may waive the requirement for contracts related to programs begun before enactment upon submitting to the congressional defense committees a justification based on an independent technical risk assessment of impacts to costs, schedule, or performance (with quantifiable implications reported). This section further requires the Comptroller General to submit to the congressional defense committees, not later than one year after enactment, a report on Department of Defense implementation of the requirement, including a description of compliance.
This section directs the Secretary of Defense to conduct a review to identify contract modifications necessary to remove intellectual property constraints limiting the Department of Defense's ability to conduct maintenance and access repair materials—including parts, tools, and information—used by manufacturers or their authorized providers to diagnose, maintain, or repair goods covered by a contract. The section defines "part" as any new or used replacement part made available by or to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for maintenance or repair of digital electronic equipment supplied by the OEM, and "tool" as any software, hardware, or apparatus used for such diagnosis, maintenance, or repair (including to provision, program, pair, or calibrate parts).