New Government Procurement Of Textiles Effort Underway

James A. Morrissey, Washington Correspondent

US textile manufacturers are stepping up their efforts to improve government procurement of textiles and expand them beyond the military needs to homeland security and other government agencies. 

Four of the US textile industry’s major trade associations — the National Textile Association, the National Council of Textile Organizations, the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition and the US Industrial Fabrics Institute — have formed a Textile Industry Coalition on Government Procurement, which is conducting a one-day conference on military textiles at the Charlotte Convention Center on October 21 in conjunction with the Industrial Fabrics Association International's IFAI Expo.

The program will include presentations by officials from the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia, the US Office of Textiles and Apparel and the Office of the US Trade Representative. Textile industry representatives will discuss specific issues. In addition, representatives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Kingdom and Australia will describe programs in their areas. Congressman Robin Hayes, R-N.C., who has been in the forefront of a congressional effort to extend Buy American requirements to homeland security agencies, will make a special presentation at the conference luncheon.

“The Textile Industry Coalition on Government Procurement is a terrific step forward, which will enable our military customers to work on industry-wide issues with a single textile industry voice,” said a spokesman for the coalition. For further information about the conference, contact David Trumbull, National Textile Association, (617) 542-8220.

September 9, 2008