§ 2631 — Preference For United States Vessels In Transporting Supplies By Sea

(a) Supplies bought for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force, or for a Defense Agency, or otherwise transported by the Department of Defense, may only be transported by sea in— (1) a vessel belonging to the United States; or (2) a vessel of the United States (as such term is defined in section 116 of title 46). (1) The Secretary of Defense may waive the requirement under subsection (a) if such a vessel is— (A) not available at a fair and reasonable rate for commercial vessels of the United States; or (B) otherwise not available. (2) At least once each fiscal year, the Secretary of Defense shall submit, in writing, to the appropriate congressional committees a notice of any waiver granted under this subsection and the reasons for such waiver. (1) In each request for proposals to enter into a time-charter contract for the use of a vessel for the transportation of supplies under this section, the Secretary of Defense shall require that— (A) any reflagging or repair work on a vessel for which a proposal is submitted in response to the request for proposals be performed in the United States (including any territory of the United States); and (B) any corrective and preventive maintenance or repair work on a vessel under contract pursuant to this section relevant to the purpose of such contract be performed in the United States (including any territory of the United States) for the duration of the contract, to the greatest extent practicable. (2) The Secretary of Defense may waive a requirement under paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines that such waiver is critical to the national security of the United States. The Secretary shall immediately submit, in writing, to the appropriate congressional committees a notice of any waiver granted under this paragraph and the reasons for such waiver. (3) In this subsection: (A) The term “reflagging or repair work” means work performed on a vessel— (i) to enable the vessel to meet applicable standards to become a vessel of the United States; or (ii) to convert the vessel to a more useful military configuration. (B) The term “corrective and preventive maintenance or repair” means— (i) maintenance or repair actions performed as a result of a failure in order to return or restore equipment to acceptable performance levels; and (ii) scheduled maintenance or repair actions to prevent or discover functional failures. (d) The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that contracting officers of the Department of Defense award contracts under this section to responsible offerors and monitor and ensure compliance with the requirements of this section. The Secretary shall— (1) ensure that timely, accurate, and complete information on contractor performance under this section is included in any contractor past performance database used by an executive agency; and (2) exercise appropriate contractual rights and remedies against contractors who fail to comply with this section, or subchapter I of chapter 553 of title 46, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation under such subchapter, including by— (A) determining that a contractor is ineligible for an award of such a contract; or (B) terminating such a contract or suspension or debarment of the contractor for such contract. (e) In this section, the term “appropriate congressional committees” means— (1) the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives; (2) the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; and (3) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.