Kissell Amendment Affects Narrow Scope of DHS Textile Procurements, GAO Report Finds
The Kissell Amendment, which generally requires that Department of Homeland Security apparel- and textile-related procurements originate from U.S. sources, typically affects procurements only falling between $150,000 and $191,000, a Government Accountability Office report found. Kissell applies only to certain textile purchases directly related to U.S. national security interests above a $150,000 threshold, and under the U.S.’s current World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) threshold of $191,000, the GAO said. Per the GPA and U.S. regulations, U.S. agencies must give foreign and domestic procurement offers equal consideration for procurements at or above $191,000.
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“Only 14” DHS textile contracts, excluding the Transportation Security Administration -- whose textile procurements are excluded from coverage of most U.S. international agreements -- fell within the $150,000-$191,000 Kissell range from October 2009 to June 2017, the GAO said. “Current contracts to which the Kissell Amendment applies are department-wide contracts for uniforms and body armor,” according to DHS officials, the report says. As of June 2017, under the current DHS uniforms contract, which started in September 2014, 58 percent of the value of uniform items ordered by DHS came from foreign sources, with 30 percent ($49 million) sourced from Mexico, 10 percent ($16 million) from El Salvador, 6 percent ($9 million) from Honduras, and 5 percent ($9 million) from Cambodia.