Delegating Authority Under the Defense Production Act to the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation To Respond to the COVID-19 Outbreak

The order delegates to the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) the President's authority under Title III, sections 302 and 303, of the Defense Production Act of 1950 — the powers to make loans, purchase commitments, and take other actions to create, maintain, expand, protect, or restore domestic industrial base capabilities and supply chains needed to respond to COVID-19. The DFC CEO must exercise this authority in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, and must adopt rules and regulations to implement the order. Loans must comply with OMB Circular A-11, OMB Circular A-129, and the Federal Credit Reform Act.

The delegation is expressly limited: loans may only support COVID-19 national response and recovery, or the resiliency of relevant domestic supply chains. The delegation expires automatically at the end of the two-year waiver period established under Title III of Division B of the CARES Act (Public Law 116-136), and does not override other agency heads' existing legal authorities.

The Chief Executive Officer and staff of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, private companies and institutions that may receive DFC loans or purchase commitments for domestic production of strategic COVID-19 resources, and U.S. domestic supply chain operators in sectors relevant to the pandemic response.

Private companies building or expanding domestic production of strategic COVID-19 supplies gain access to a new potential source of federally backed loan financing. The DFC's lending expertise is added to the federal toolkit, expanding the government's ability to direct capital toward supply chain gaps without waiting for existing DPA-delegated agencies to act.

The DFC CEO exercises the delegated authority in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense, HHS, and Homeland Security. Before lending, the CEO must adopt implementing rules and regulations. All loans must conform to OMB Circular A-11, A-129, and the Federal Credit Reform Act, ensuring standard federal credit underwriting. The delegation runs automatically until the CARES Act's two-year section 302(c)(1) waiver period ends — no separate termination action is required.