National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has welcomed President Biden’s action plan and COVID-19 response, accompanied by a series of executive orders, including an order to strengthen US supply chains by directing federal agencies to use the Defence Production Act (DPA) to address shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and related vaccine supplies.

American manufacturers have been at the forefront of the effort to build a domestic PPE supply chain since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US textile industry retooled production and operations virtually overnight, producing millions of face masks, isolation gowns, testing swabs and other critical medical textiles.

The industry is dedicated to making significant investments in automated equipment for PPE, but the industry needs long-term, multiyear contracts to help realize that investment. The deployment of DPA is one of the critical tools that will help incentivize investment in equipment, propel the hiring of U.S. workers and expand these critical production chains.

Since its inception, the DPA has been utilized by the Department of Defense to make critical investments in domestic textile manufacturing infrastructure and capacity, creating private-public partnerships through the government’s capital investments under the DPA and guaranteeing purchases through long-term contracts.

The industry has outlined critical steps that are necessary to strengthen the U.S. supply chain for essential products here.