The definitions in this section apply throughout this part:

Allocation. The control of the distribution of materials, services or facilities for a purpose deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense.

Allocation order. An official action to control the distribution of materials, services, or facilities for a purpose deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense.

Allotment. An official action that specifies the maximum quantity of a material, service, or facility authorized for a specific use to promote the national defense.

Approved program. A program determined as necessary or appropriate for priorities and allocations support to promote the national defense by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, or the Secretary of Homeland Security, under the authority of the Defense Production Act and Executive Order 13603, or the Selective Service Act and Executive Order 12742.

Construction. The erection, addition, extension, or alteration of any building, structure, or project, using materials or products which are to be an integral and permanent part of the building, structure, or project. Construction does not include maintenance and repair.

Critical infrastructure. Any systems and assets, whether physical or cyber-based, so vital to the United States that the degradation or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on national security, including, but not limited to, national economic security and national public health or safety.

Defense Production Act. The Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061, et seq.).

Delegate Agency. A government agency authorized by delegation from the Department of Commerce to place priority ratings on contracts or orders needed to support approved programs.

Directive. An official action which requires a person to take or refrain from taking certain actions in accordance with its provisions.

Emergency preparedness. All activities and measures designed or undertaken to prepare for or minimize the effects of a hazard upon the civilian population, to deal with the immediate emergency conditions which would be created by the hazard, and to effectuate emergency repairs to, or the emergency restoration of, vital utilities and facilities destroyed or damaged by the hazard. Emergency preparedness includes the following:

Measures to be undertaken in preparation for anticipated hazards (including the establishment of appropriate organizations, operational plans, and supporting agreements, the recruitment and training of personnel, the conduct of research, the procurement and stockpiling of necessary materials and supplies, the provision of suitable warning systems, the construction or preparation of shelters, shelter areas, and control centers, and, when appropriate, the nonmilitary evacuation of the civilian population);

Measures to be undertaken during a hazard (including the enforcement of passive defense regulations prescribed by duly established military or civil authorities, the evacuation of personnel to shelter areas, the control of traffic and panic, and the control and use of lighting and civil communications); and

Measures to be undertaken following a hazard (including activities for firefighting, rescue, emergency medical, health and sanitation services, monitoring for specific dangers of special weapons, unexploded bomb reconnaissance, essential debris clearance, emergency welfare measures, and immediately essential emergency repair or restoration of damaged vital facilities).

Hazard. An emergency or disaster resulting from:

A natural disaster, or

An accidental or man-caused event.

Homeland security. Includes efforts:

To prevent terrorist attacks within the United States;

To reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism;

To minimize damage from a terrorist attack in the United States; and

To recover from a terrorist attack in the United States.

Industrial resources. All materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials, the authority for which has not been delegated to other agencies under Executive Order 13603. This term also includes the term “item” as defined and used in this part.

Item. Any raw, in process, or manufactured material, article, commodity, supply, equipment, component, accessory, part, assembly, or product of any kind, technical information, process, or service.

Maintenance and repair and/or operating supplies (MRO). (1) Maintenance is the upkeep necessary to continue any plant, facility, or equipment in working condition.

Repair is the restoration of any plant, facility, or equipment to working condition when it has been rendered unsafe or unfit for service by wear and tear, damage, or failure of parts.

Operating supplies are any items carried as operating supplies according to a person's established accounting practice. Operating supplies may include hand tools and expendable tools, jigs, dies, fixtures used on production equipment, lubricants, cleaners, chemicals and other expendable items.

MRO does not include items produced or obtained for sale to other persons or for installation upon or attachment to the property of another person, or items required for the production of such items; items needed for the replacement of any plant, facility, or equipment; or items for the improvement of any plant, facility, or equipment by replacing items which are still in working condition with items of a new or different kind, quality, or design.

National defense. Programs for military and energy production or construction, military or critical infrastructure assistance to any foreign nation, homeland security, stockpiling, space, and any directly related activity. Such term includes emergency preparedness activities conducted pursuant to Title VI of The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq.) and critical infrastructure protection and restoration.

Official action. An action taken by the Department of Commerce under the authority of the Defense Production Act, the Selective Service Act and related statutes, and this part. Such actions include the issuance of rating authorizations, directives, letters of understanding, demands for information, inspection authorizations, administrative subpoenas and allocation orders.

Person. Any individual, corporation, partnership, association, or any other organized group of persons, or legal successor or representative thereof; or any authorized State or local government or agency thereof; and for purposes of administration of this part, includes the United States Government and any authorized foreign government or international organization or agency thereof, delegated authority as provided in this part.

Priorities authority. The authority of the Department of Commerce, pursuant to Section 101 of the Defense Production Act, to require priority performance of contracts and orders for industrial resource items for use in approved programs.

Priority rating. An identifying code assigned by a Delegate Agency or authorized person placed on all rated orders and consisting of the rating symbol and the program identification symbol.

Production equipment. Any item of capital equipment used in producing materials or furnishing services that has a unit acquisition cost of $2,500 or more, an anticipated service life in excess of one year, and the potential for maintaining its integrity as a capital item.

Program identification symbols. Abbreviations used to indicate which approved program is supported by a rated order.

Rated order. A prime contract, a subcontract, or a purchase order in support of an approved program issued in accordance with the provisions of this part.

Selective Service Act. Section 18 of the Selective Service Act of 1948 (50 U.S.C. app. 468).

Set-aside. An official action that requires a person to reserve materials, services, or facilities capacity in anticipation of the receipt of rated orders.

Stafford Act. Title VI (Emergency Preparedness) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5195, et seq.).

Working day. Any day that the recipient of an order is open for business.