Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73
§2452 Duties of Secretary of Defense
Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART IV— - SERVICE, SUPPLY, AND PROPERTY › Chapter CHAPTER 145— - CATALOGING AND STANDARDIZATION › § 2452
Summary
The Secretary of Defense must run and keep up the Department’s supply catalog and standardization program and make final decisions about them. He or she must require the catalog to be used in all supply work from deciding needs to disposing of items. The Secretary also decides how items are named, described, classified, numbered, and how the catalog is published. The Secretary must work with industry groups, set and update military specifications, standards, and lists of approved products, settle disagreements between services, assign cataloging duties to the military departments when practical, and set schedules for those assignments.
Full Legal Text
Title 10, §2452
Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Secretary of Defense shall—
(1)develop and maintain the supply catalog, and the standardization program, described in section 2451 of this title;
(2)direct and coordinate progressive use of the supply catalog in all supply functions within the Department of Defense from the determination of requirements through final disposal;
(3)direct, review, and approve—
(A)the naming, description, and pattern of description of all items;
(B)the screening, consolidation, classification, and numbering of descriptions of all items; and
(C)the publication and distribution of the supply catalog;
(4)maintain liaison with industry advisory groups to coordinate the development of the supply catalog and the standardization program with the best practices of industry and to obtain the fullest practicable cooperation and participation of industry in developing the supply catalog and the standardization program;
(5)establish, publish, review, and revise, within the Department of Defense, military specifications, standards, and lists of qualified products, and resolve differences between the military departments, bureaus, and services with respect to them;
(6)assign responsibility for parts of the cataloging and the standardization programs to the military departments, bureaus, and services within the Department of Defense, when practical and consistent with their capacity and interest in those supplies;
(7)establish time schedules for assignments made under clause (6); and
(8)make final decisions in all matters concerned with the cataloging and standardization programs.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 24525:173c.
July 1, 1952, ch. 539, § 5, 66 Stat. 319; 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 6, § 1(a) (as applicable to Defense Supply Management Agency), eff.
June 30, 1953, 67 Stat. 638. In clause (1), the word “establish” is omitted as surplusage. In clause (2), the words “provided for herein” and “its departments, bureaus, and services” are omitted as surplusage. In clauses (2) and (3), the words “provide for” are omitted as surplusage. In clause (4), the words “establish and” and “established by section 173–173i of this title” are omitted as surplusage. In clause (5), the words “amend” and “promulgate” are omitted as surplusage. In clause (6), the words “established by section 173–173i of this title” are omitted as surplusage. Clause (7) is substituted for 5:173c(f) (last 11 words). In clause (8), the word “programs” is substituted for the words “authority established in section 173–173i of this title”. The words “subject to review and modification by the Secretary of Defense” are omitted as surplusage.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Regulations
Relating to Increases in Prices for Spare Parts and Replacement Equipment Pub. L. 98–94, title XII, § 1215, Sept. 24, 1983, 97 Stat. 688, as amended by Pub. L. 98–525, title XII, § 1244, Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2609; Pub. L. 103–35, title II, § 204(b), May 31, 1993, 107 Stat. 102, provided that: “(a) Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 24, 1983], the Secretary of Defense shall issue
Regulations
which—“(1) except as provided in clause (2), prohibit the purchase of any spare part or replacement equipment when the price of such part or equipment, since a time in the past specified by the Secretary (in terms of days or months) or since the most recent purchase of such part or equipment by the Department of Defense, has increased in price by a percentage in excess of a percentage threshold specified by the Secretary in such
Regulations
, and “(2) permit the purchase of such spare part or equipment (notwithstanding the prohibition contained in clause (1)) if the contracting officer for such part or equipment certifies in writing to the head of the procuring activity before the purchase is made that—“(A) such officer has evaluated the price of such part or equipment and concluded that the increase in the price of such part or equipment is fair and reasonable, or “(B) the national security interests of the United States require that such part or equipment be purchased despite the increase in price of such part or equipment. “(b)(1) The Secretary shall publish the
Regulations
issued under this section in the Federal Register. “(2) The Secretary may provide in such
Regulations
for the waiver of the prohibition in subsection (a)(1) and compliance with the requirements of subsection (a)(2) in the case of a purchase of any spare part or replacement equipment made or to be made through competitive procedures. “(c) Not less than 30 days before the Secretary publishes such
Regulations
in accordance with subsection (b), the Secretary shall submit the text of the proposed
Regulations
to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives.” Report on Management of Acquisition of Spare Parts Pub. L. 98–94, title XII, § 1216, Sept. 24, 1983, 97 Stat. 688, directed Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress, by June 1, 1984, a comprehensive report on management by Department of Defense of acquisition of initial and replenishment spare parts and on status of efforts within Department (including particularly the Defense Logistics Agency and the military departments) to correct problems associated with increased costs of such parts, directed Secretary, not later than Dec. 1, 1983, to submit to Congress an interim report stating briefly the actions being taken by the Department to improve acquisition and management of spare parts, and directed Secretary to put into effect at the earliest practicable date policies and procedures to achieve a long-term solution to problems relating to excessive costs of, and long lead times in the acquisition of, initial and replenishment spare parts.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
10 U.S.C. § 2452
Title 10 — Armed Forces
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73