5 MIL Nitrile Gloves and Nitrile Butadienne Rubber

Waiver Rationale Summary

DHS will continue to seek domestic manufacturers for nitrile gloves and will utilize those domestic sources that meet specifications and satisfy testing requirements as soon as they become available; however, the current market for U.S. manufactured nitrile gloves is not able to meet the Department’s need with respect to 5 MIL gloves and NBR. • DHS does not currently have a demand for 4 MIL gloves. However, should there be a need for 4 MIL gloves, DHS will source them from American Nitrile and SafeSource. • 5 MIL Gloves: Currently, 50% of the Department’s 5 MIL nitrile gloves demand is domestically sourced from American Nitrile. Both American Nitrile and SafeSource are approved vendors for 5 MIL gloves. However, ongoing issues with American Nitrile product has resulted in the temporary suspension in the acquisition of new product. SafeSource was approved as a viable manufacturer on December 11, 2024. CABVI worked with the vendor to finalize details (i.e., packaging, pre-production samples, etc.) to bring in an initial batch of nitrile gloves that will be distributed to select airports to monitor user feedback to avoid any end user concerns. The first truckload delivery was anticipated to arrive in mid-June but is now expected on July 31, 2025. The gloves will be immediately produced and put into circulation in a controlled fashion to evaluate acceptable use by end users. After a 60-day monitoring period with no negative feedback, CABVI will expand distribution of Safe Source nitrile gloves. Assuming (1) all issues are resolved with American Nitrile and (2) no quality issues are uncovered when the SafeSource product is circulated, DHS expects to meet its full demand for 5 MIL nitrile gloves with domestic sources in December 2025. TSA is also testing the 6th round of samples from Nephron Nitrile. If successful, Nephron would become an additional domestic source. If Nephron were to successfully pass testing, their product could be used to (1) support demand surges or (2) serve as an alternate vendor when quality issues arise with our current domestic manufacturers. • Since August 2024, 100% of the Department’s 6 MIL black nitrile gloves demand is domestically sourced from Nephron Nitrile with American Nitrile serving as a secondary source to accommodate increases in demand. • The availability of domestically produced NBR remains a challenge. Currently, the NBR from the Department’s three domestic gloves manufacturers is sourced from Brazil, Italy and South Korea, all of which are Trade Agreements Act compliant countries. On May 14, 2025, DHS attended a NBR manufacturers meeting with the interagency hosted by the Made in America Office. Industry and the interagency alike reiterated the challenges with domestic production of NBR. Since that meeting, DHS was advised that SafeSource was awarded a contract by HHS to build a NBR facility. The facility is expected to be completed in the latter part of 2026. If realized, this will enable SafeSource to manufacture a wholly domestic nitrile glove.