Qualification, acceptance, and supply chain management of products manufactured using advanced manufacturing

(a) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish in the Defense Industrial Resilience Consortium established under section 1842 a working group to develop recommendations for improving the policies and procedures of the Department of Defense for the qualification, acceptance, and management of the supply chains of products manufactured using advanced manufacturing. (b) Membership The membership of the working group shall include representatives from government, industry, and academia with expertise in advanced manufacturing, engineering, the procedures of the Department of Defense for qualifying and accepting products, supply chain management, or commercial best practices and business models for advanced manufacturing. (c) Responsibilities The working group shall— (1) review the policies and procedures of the Department of Defense to identity policies and procedures for the qualification, acceptance, and management of the supply chains of products that are insufficient for or not applicable to products manufactured using advanced manufacturing; (2) identify any changes to the policies and procedures of the Department required for the Department to benefit fully from access to and use of products manufactured using advanced manufacturing; and (3) develop recommendations for— (A) technical guidance with respect to the qualification, acceptance, and management of the supply chains of products manufactured using advanced manufacturing; (B) policies and procedures for the qualification, acceptance, and management of the supply chains of such products; (C) changes to any other policies and procedures of the Department identified under paragraph (2); and (D) training to enhance the knowledge and experience of the workforce of the Department of Defense with advanced manufacturing, including the benefits, limitations, and commercial best practices and business models for designing, developing, and using products manufactured using advanced manufacturing. (d) Report Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress— (1) a report on the recommendations developed by the working group under subsection (c)(3) and the actions taken by the Secretary to better enable to the Department of Defense to access and use products manufactured using advanced manufacturing; and (2) a recommendation whether to continue or terminate the working group. (e) Working group defined In this section, the term working group means the working group established under subsection (a).