Berry Amendment — Buy American Requirements for Defense
The Berry Amendment (10 U.S.C. § 4862) requires the Department of Defense to purchase food, clothing, textiles, and specialty metals only from domestic sources — items must be grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States. Named for Representative Ellis Berry of South Dakota, who championed the provision during World War II, the Amendment ensures that the military's most essential supplies — the uniforms soldiers wear, the food they eat, the fabrics used in tents and body armor, and the specialty metals in aircraft and weapons — are sourced from the American industrial base, not from foreign suppliers who could cut off supply during wartime. The Berry Amendment is more restrictive than the general Buy American Act: while the Buy American Act allows foreign components if the end product is assembled domestically, the Berry Amendment requires that covered items be 100% domestic — from raw material to finished product.
Current Law (2026)
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Governing law | 10 U.S.C. § 4862 (originally enacted 1941; codified and amended multiple times) |
| Implementing regulation | DFARS 225.7002 (Restrictions on food, clothing, fabrics, and hand or measuring tools) |
| Covered items | Food; clothing and textiles (including fibers, yarns, fabrics, and finished items); hand or measuring tools; stainless steel flatware; specialty metals (in certain applications) |
| Domestic requirement | Items must be grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced entirely in the United States |
| Exceptions | Items not available domestically in sufficient quantity/quality; emergency acquisitions; purchases outside the U.S. for overseas use; micro-purchases; items for commissaries |
| Relationship to Buy American Act | Berry Amendment is stricter — requires 100% domestic content, not just domestic assembly |
| Primary beneficiaries | U.S. textile mills, specialty metal producers, food processors, domestic manufacturing base |
Legal Authority
- 10 U.S.C. § 4862 — Requirement to buy certain articles from American sources; exceptions (DOD may not procure covered items unless they are grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States; covered items include food, clothing, fabrics, specialty metals, hand tools, and stainless steel flatware; exceptions for non-availability, emergency, overseas use, and other specific circumstances)
How It Works
The Berry Amendment covers four main categories of DOD purchases. Food — everything from MREs to military dining facilities — must be grown and processed in the United States. Clothing and textiles is the broadest category, covering not just finished uniforms but the entire supply chain: fibers, yarns, threads, fabrics, and any textile-based item including tents, sleeping bags, body armor fabric, and parachutes — foreign yarn woven into domestic fabric fails the test. Specialty metals — steel, titanium, zirconium, and nickel alloys used in defense applications — must be melted and processed in the U.S. Hand and measuring tools and stainless steel flatware for military dining round out the covered list.
Unlike the Buy American Act, which allows foreign components up to a cost threshold, the Berry Amendment requires covered items to be domestic from raw material through finished product — every step in the production chain, from fiber to cut-and-sew, must occur in the United States. Exceptions exist for non-availability (where the Secretary may waive with a report to Congress), emergency and contingency operations, overseas purchases used in foreign operations, and micro-purchases. This standard has preserved a domestic military textile supply chain that commercial offshoring would otherwise have eliminated — domestic mills producing flame-resistant fibers, ballistic-resistant materials, and camouflage fabrics depend on Berry Amendment demand. DOD contracting officers enforce compliance through contractor certifications, DCMA may conduct audits, and knowingly delivering non-compliant items can trigger False Claims Act liability.
How It Affects You
If you're a U.S. textile or apparel manufacturer: The Berry Amendment is your primary source of military textile demand — and it requires maintaining the entire domestic supply chain, not just your own facility. A uniform manufacturer who imports yarn, even from a U.S. ally, cannot sell that product to DOD. This means your Berry business strategy depends on your suppliers' suppliers. Major Berry textile producers like American Woolen Company, Carhartt, and Propper International have built fully domestic supply chains for military work — an expensive structure justified by the stable government demand. DOD issues domestic non-availability waivers when the U.S. industrial base cannot meet a requirement; those waivers are reported to Congress and represent potential market opportunities for domestic producers who can invest to fill the gap.
If you're a defense contractor with Berry-covered items in your contract: Berry violations can expose you to False Claims Act liability — the risk isn't just contract termination, it's potential treble damages and qui tam lawsuits from employees or competitors who know about the non-compliant sourcing. DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) conducts Berry compliance reviews, and contracting officers are increasingly conducting supply chain tracing audits. Before bidding, verify that your entire supply chain — especially for clothing, textiles, and specialty metals — is documented as Berry-compliant from raw material to finished product. If a domestic source is genuinely unavailable at reasonable cost, request a DOD waiver proactively before the violation occurs, not after.
If you're a DOD contracting officer or program manager: Your personal responsibility for Berry compliance flows from the DFARS 225.7002 clause that must appear in covered contracts. The clause requires contractor certification of domestic sourcing — and your responsibility includes verifying that certification is credible. The Inspector General has cited Berry non-compliance in audits, and GAO has periodically reported on systemic supply chain verification gaps. When in doubt about whether an item is covered, check DFARS 252.225-7012 (the standard Berry Amendment clause) and coordinate with your legal counsel before waiving requirements without authorization.
If you're a specialty metals producer (steel, titanium, nickel alloy): Berry Amendment demand for domestic specialty metals is a significant but often invisible market. The DOD aerospace and weapons platforms — F-35, submarines, missiles — require domestically melted and processed specialty metals under Berry. These requirements are embedded in prime contractor flows-down through subcontracts. To access Berry-required specialty metals markets, you typically need to establish approved supplier relationships with Tier 1 defense primes (RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin) — their supply chain compliance teams will audit your domestic production certification. DFARS 252.225-7009 specifies the specialty metals clause applicable to your products.
State Variations
The Berry Amendment applies to DOD procurement only:
- State "Buy American" or "Buy Local" procurement preferences vary significantly
- Some states have adopted Berry-style domestic content requirements for state-funded purchases
- State economic development agencies may support domestic manufacturers who supply Berry-covered items
Implementing Regulations
- 48 CFR 225.7002 — DFARS Subpart 225.70 — Restrictions on acquisition of food, clothing, fabrics, and hand or measuring tools (Berry Amendment implementation — domestic source requirements, covered items, exceptions, waivers)
- 48 CFR 252.225-7012 — Preference for certain domestic commodities clause (standard DFARS clause implementing Berry Amendment domestic sourcing)
- 48 CFR 252.225-7015 — Restriction on acquisition of hand or measuring tools clause
Pending Legislation
No standalone Berry Amendment reform bills have been introduced in the 119th Congress. Domestic sourcing requirements appear in annual NDAA and defense procurement legislation — see Defense Acquisition Reform, Buy American Act, and Defense Spending.
Recent Developments
- FY2025 NDAA (enacted December 2024): The FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act tightened Berry Amendment enforcement by requiring DOD to establish a centralized database tracking domestic non-availability waivers — previously, waiver data was scattered across military branches with no consolidated reporting. The NDAA also directed GAO to audit Berry compliance rates for clothing and textile items, following prior GAO findings that supply chain verification was inconsistent.
- Trump "Buy American" executive orders (2025): The Trump administration's January 2025 Buy American executive orders directed agencies to strengthen domestic procurement preferences. While focused primarily on the Buy American Act, DOD issued supplemental guidance in March 2025 clarifying that Berry Amendment requirements remain fully in force and are not subject to the IEEPA tariff waiver processes that have created some ambiguity for other domestic sourcing rules.
- Chinese textile sourcing scrutiny: DOD Inspector General reports in 2023-2024 flagged instances where defense contractor supply chains for clothing and textiles included materials processed in China — a direct Berry violation. The IG recommended stronger DCMA audit procedures. DOD responded with enhanced pre-award survey requirements for Berry-covered textile contracts. The issue remains live because Chinese companies control significant global textile fiber processing capacity, making fully China-free supply chains challenging.
- Body armor and next-generation combat clothing: Berry Amendment requirements apply to the full textile component of military body armor carriers, load-bearing equipment, and next-generation combat clothing. As DOD modernizes soldier systems (Integrated Visual Augmentation System, Next Generation Squad Weapon program), new textile components must meet Berry requirements — creating demand for domestic producers of advanced flame-resistant and ballistic-resistant fabrics.