The Department of Commerce this week rolled out its new SCALE supply chain risk assessment tool that the agency said will increase the government’s ability to be “more proactive and strategic” about assessing structural supply chain risks across the country.
According to a Commerce Department announcement this week, SCALE is a first-of-its-kind tool that can help assess supply chain risk across hundreds of industries.
“The tool compares risks across industries and provides an in-depth assessment of what is driving those risks,” the agency explained. “SCALE will inform U.S. government decision-making and can facilitate data-driven conversations with industry on risks, opportunities, and actions that can advance supply chain resilience.”
“By working with industry and taking an analytical, proactive approach, we are working to prevent the kind of supply chain failures that drove up costs for Americans during the pandemic and to create new economic opportunities for communities across the nation,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
“To be proactive, we need the right insights and ideas, and we need to make data more actionable,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis Grant Harris. “SCALE is a first-of-its-kind analytics tool because it revolutionizes our ability to understand systemic supply chain vulnerabilities that pose risks to U.S. economic and national security.”
Key findings from the data tool will be shared in addition to “relevant insights” from industry experts, the agency said, adding that it plans to engage industry and stakeholders on the results.
The International Trade Administration – a Commerce Department component – said it is holding a competition to develop new data or analysis that can expand indicators of risk used by the SCALE tool.