Nitrile Gloves

Waiver Rationale Summary

The current market for U.S. manufactured nitrile gloves is not able to meet the Department’s need. More specifically, 4 MIL and 5 MIL nitrile gloves meeting DHS specifications and testing requirements and are not grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States in a sufficient quantity for all of the Department’s glove requirements. Additionally, 6 MIL gloves of a satisfactory quality for DHS are unavailable in any quantity. Current U.S. manufacturing can cover only a percentage of the DHS requirement for nitrile gloves and will require time to increase production capabilities (targeting FY25) to cover 100% of the Department’s nitrile glove requirement. When such nitrile gloves become domestically available, DHS will immediately transition to that source(s). DHS and CABVI have conducted and continue to conduct ongoing market research to identify domestically manufactured nitrile gloves meeting DHS specifications and testing requirements. In the interim, DHS is acquiring the most compliant glove possible that meets our specifications and has successfully passed our testing requirements. It is also worth noting that the NBR used in the American Nitrile gloves is sourced from Italy, a domestic trading partner of the United States, and, as of July 1, 2023, at least 50% of gloves manufactured for TSA are manufactured by American Nitrile. The manufacturer is estimating full domestic production of 4 MIL and 5 MIL nitrile gloves to meet the Department’s needs by December 31, 2023.