Title VII – General Provisions

HHS promotes resiliency in the public health supply chain through the facilitation of external engagements leveraging the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title VII.

What is DPA Title VII?

DPA Title VII – General Provisions – contains key definitions (Section 702) for the DPA and several distinct capabilities, including authorities to:

Obtain information from industry through industry studies and subpoenas (Section 705),
Establish voluntary agreements with private industry – participants are granted relief from specific antitrust laws (Section 708),
Employ persons with recognized experience and establish a volunteer pool of industry executives who could be called to government service in the event of an emergency (Section 710), and
Review and block proposed or pending foreign corporate mergers, acquisitions, or takeovers that threaten national security (Section 721).

Title VII Provisions

Section 705: Investigations; Records; Reports; Subpoenas; Right to Counsel

Section 705 allows agency heads delegated this authority to obtain information from industry, as necessary or appropriate, for the administration of the DPA, including through industry studies to assess the capabilities of the U.S. industrial base to support national defense and subpoenas.

Section 708: Voluntary Agreements and Plans of Action for Preparedness Programs and Expansion of Production Capacity and Supply

Section 708 allows the President to consult with representatives of industry, business, financing, agriculture, labor, and other interests to establish voluntary agreements and plans of action to help provide for the national defense. In order to establish a voluntary agreement, conditions must exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs.

What does a voluntary agreement do?

Facilitates information sharing to help the federal government better work alongside industry,
Enables cooperation among business competitors to increase the supply of materials and services necessary to prepare for or respond to public health threats, including CBRN threats, EID, and other public health emergencies, and
Allows the federal government and the private sector to share more information than is typically allowed under antitrust laws.

Current Voluntary Agreements

FEMA is the sponsor of a voluntary agreement for the Manufacture and Distribution of Critical Healthcare Resources Necessary To Respond to a Pandemic, which was established in August 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and includes plans of action related to PPE, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical gases, and multimodal transportation.

Section 710: Employment of Personnel; Appointment Policies; Nucleus Executive Reserve; Use of Confidential Information by Employees; Printing and Distribution of Reports

Pursuant to Section 710, EO 13603, established a National Defense Executive Reserve (NDER), a volunteer pool of industry executives for training and employment in executive federal government positions in the event of a national defense emergency. There are currently no active NDER units.

Section 721: Authority to Review Certain Mergers, Acquisitions, and Takeovers

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is an interagency committee that serves the President in overseeing the national security implications of foreign investment. CFIUS reviews certain mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers related to foreign investment to determine if:

They threaten national security,
The foreign investor is controlled by a foreign government, or
The transaction could affect homeland security or would result in control of critical infrastructure.

The President has the authority to block proposed or pending foreign investment transactions that threaten national security.

For additional information on CFIUS, please visit the Treasury Department's CFIUS webpage.