700.1—Purpose of this regulation.
(a)
Title I of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061, et seq.) (Defense Production Act), authorizes the President: to require the priority performance of contracts and orders necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense over other contracts or orders; to allocate materials, services, and facilities as necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense; and to require the allocation of, or the priority performance under contracts or orders relating to, supplies of materials, equipment, and services in order to assure domestic energy supplies for national defense needs.
(b)
Section 18 of the Selective Service Act of 1948 (50 U.S.C. app. 468) (Selective Service Act) authorizes the President to place an order with a supplier for any articles or materials required for the exclusive use of the U.S. armed forces whenever the President determines that in the interest of national security, prompt delivery of the articles and materials is required. The supplier must give precedence to the order so as to deliver the articles or materials in a required time period. 10 U.S.C. 2538, and 50 U.S.C. 82, provide similar authority specifically for Department of Defense procurement, but only in time of war or when war is imminent.
(c)
Section 602(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5195a(b)) provides that the terms “national defense” and “defense” as used in the Defense Production Act includes “emergency preparedness activities” conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Stafford Act. The definition of “national defense” in section 702(14) of the Defense Production Act provides that this term includes “emergency preparedness activities” conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Stafford Act and “critical infrastructure protection and restoration.”
(d)
The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) regulation implements the priorities and allocations authority of the Defense Production Act and as this authority pertains to Title VI of the Stafford Act, and the priorities authority of the Selective Service Act and related statutes, all with respect to industrial resources. The DPAS ensures the timely availability of industrial resources for approved programs and provides an operating system to support rapid industrial response to a national emergency.
(e)
To aid in understanding and using the DPAS, an overview of its major provisions is incorporated into this regulation as subpart B—Overview. The full text of the DPAS is found in subparts D through L.