Its clearly a known issue... as they redesigned the part but there is no recall. FCA can suck a bag of (add your favorite noun here). The national backorder is on the redesigned part. Clearly having it made in China, thus the massive delay.
I too am just too broken to get under my rig. I've used the same shop for 3-4 years now. They owned up to it being their responsibility and have been pleasant to deal with. Since I paid for it out of pocket and am not charging them for labor, it made it easier. When someone comes to them and wants a check before having it repaired, they work a little harder to ensure you are going to actually repair it.
You can source the OE part without a problem. There are other generic manufacturers making the same part available through Auto Zone, O'Reillys, etc. But they are not OE. I ordered through the dealer.
If you do it yourself, you will also need these:
Upper intake gaskets
Lower intake gaskets
Spark plugs (if you're in there, replace them to save half a day of doing it later) Gapped at 0.043.
Depending on mileage, consider replacing coil packs also.