§281 Procurement of Equipment by State and Local Governments Through the Department of Defense: Equipment for Counter-drug, Homeland Security, and Emergency Response Activities

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must set up rules so States and local governments can buy equipment for counter-drug work, homeland security, and emergency responses through the Department of Defense. A State that wants to take part must send a request listing the items wanted and must pay in advance an amount the Secretary sets to cover the equipment and administrative costs. The State can only ask for items that are in a special catalog. The request should show what the State and its local governments need. A Governor can create rules for collecting requests from local governments. The State must arrange and pay to ship the equipment. The Secretary must work with the General Services Administration and other federal agencies to avoid duplicate efforts. The DoD will require buyers to repay the Department’s administrative costs. The GSA, with the DoD, will make and keep the catalog of eligible items. “State” includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. territories and possessions. “Unit of local government” covers cities, counties, towns, townships, boroughs, parishes, villages, other main local governments, certain Indian tribes that do law enforcement or emergency response, and relevant D.C. agencies. The DoD will define what equipment counts, but it cannot list items the DoD does not buy for itself, and homeland security items must appear on the Department of Homeland Security’s Authorized Equipment List.