Using Barter To Acquire Needed Stockpile Materials

Testimony was given on the use of bartering to acquire strategic and critical materials for the National Defense Stockpile and on H.R. 3544, which is intended to facilitate the use of barter in acquiring these materials. Of the numerous Federal agencies involved with the stockpile or barter, the Department of Agriculture and the General Services Administration have primary authority and responsibility. Barter includes trading federally owned property, such as surplus plants, equipment, land, and agricultural commodities, for stockpile materials and exchanging excess stockpile materials for needed materials. Although Federal agencies have the legislative authority to use barter to acquire needed stockpile materials, they have used this authority sparingly because of legislative requirements and competing national interests. H.R. 3544 addresses several of the restrictive legislative requirements that have limited the bartering of federally owned property. The barter provisions of the bill apply to materials and defense industrial property, and it appears that the bill is intended to include agricultural commodities. The bill would permit consideration of transactions, between the United States and two or more other countries, similar to those entered into by the United States prior to 1968. H.R. 3544 also proposes to establish a barter coordination council to promote and expedite barter; however, GAO believes that this function could be adequately performed by the Emergency Mobilization Preparedness Board established in 1981.