scope:

This CID covers engineered hardwood floorboards and floorboard kits fabricated for exterior cargo bed applications on vehicles, trailers, and platforms. Objectives of this CID are to provide an engineered Northern Red Oak domestic replacement for internationally recognized critically endangered tropical rainforest Apitong or Keruing (Dipterocarpaceae dipterocarpus spp.) floorboards and superseded CID A-A-52520. Foreign sourcing of now DoD-banned Apitong, critically endangered since 1998, was unsustainable, counter to numerous homologated U.S. Government regulatory/ethical commitments for responsible environmental stewardship in procurement, and non-compliant with the Trade Agreements (1979, 19 U.S.C. §§ 2501-2581) & Buy American (1933, 41 U.S.C. §§ 8301-8305) Acts. Northern Red Oak is classified as 'least concern for extinction' and is the main commercial species group of Oak lumber produced by the domestic hardwood industry, with abundant new growth greatly exceeding harvest throughout its native range of the eastern half of the continental U.S. Red Oak is strong, abrasion resistant, readily absorbs preservative treatment, is cost-effective, has much lower embodied transit CO2 emissions than Malay Apitong, and has a prolific renewable-sustainable supply from a known homeland forest products supply chain/workforce. Apitong floorboards under superseded CID A-A-52520 were untreated and lacked biodeterioration resistance which often led to premature rot failure and elevated replacement life-cycle costs as a result. The Northern Red Oak floorboards under this CID will be preservative durability enhanced to better maintain mechanical properties over time for environmental exposure testing proven years longer life than Apitong.