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On January 25, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on “Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers,” laying his administration’s foundation for further strengthening Buy American laws and encouraging domestic procurement. Using the broad phrase “Made in America Laws,” the EO aims to strengthen “all statutes, regulations, rules, and Executive Orders relating to Federal financial assistance awards or Federal procurement, including those that refer to ‘Buy America’ or ‘Buy American.’” This comes just days after the FAR Council’s implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order 13881, which required significant changes to the regulations implementing the Buy American Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 8301-8305 (“BAA”), as discussed in our prior blog article. While only time will tell if the FAR Council will revisit the newly released regulations – they probably will, but not until later this year – we have provided below several key points from the EO so companies can start planning now for future developments.
Continue Reading Made in America – President Biden’s Executive Order on Buying (Even More?) American

Nearly one year ago on February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. No. 111-5), more commonly known as the Stimulus Act, the Recovery Act, or ARRA. One of the key features of the Act included a "Buy American" requirement, requiring domestically manufactured "iron, steel, or manufactured goods" to be used in Recovery Act funded projects (located at Section 1605 of the Act). This requirement has proven to be a collossal headache for vendors supporting Recovery Act projects and has also proven to be immensely complicated for the good men and women in Government (including those at the State and local levels), who are faced with the task of figuring out how, where, and when the Recovery Act Buy American requirement applies. 
 Continue Reading Six Questions To Ask In Figuring Out Whether The Recovery Act Buy American Requirement Applies To You

Effective January 1, 2010, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Ronald Kirk, published new dollar thresholds determining the applicability of the Buy American Act (BAA), the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), and (potentially) other "Buy American" preferences to the United States’ various international free trade agreements. See 74 Federal Register 68907 (December 29, 2009). The changes to the dollar thresholds are effective through the end of 2011, so it is doubtful that we will see any additional escalation until 2012. 
 Continue Reading New 2010 Updates to Buy American and Trade Agreements Dollar Thresholds; Buy American Requirements Remain Elusive and Complicated

In early July, we discussed that fact that Taiwan would soon be an approved country of origin for purposes of the Trade Agreements Act.  This was, in our view, good news and a welcome development.

Continue Reading The Moment of Truth Has Arrived — “Made In Taiwan” Now Qualifies Under the TAA

As part of the much ballyhooed Stimulus Act signed into law on February 17, 2009 (discussed in detail here), Congressman Lawrence “Larry” Kissell (D-NC) introduced an amendment titled, “the Berry Amendment Extension Act,” which placed domestic source restrictions on the purchase of certain fabric and textile products by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). See Pub. L. No. 111-5, § 604 (codified at 6 U.S.C. § 453b).

Continue Reading DHS Publishes New Rules Expanding Berry Amendment to Most DHS Procurements

In July 2008, DOD proposed revisions to the Specialty Metals rules, hoping to finally calm the turbulence that has boiled up over the past three years in this area. On July 29, 2009, after more than a year of stolid deliberation, DOD issued final rules implementing the latest statutory revisions from January 2008. See 74 Federal Register 37626.
 Continue Reading More Than a Year In the Making! — DOD Issues Final Rules for Specialty Metals; New Rules Are No Less Complicated

On June 16, 2009, Taiwan (aka Chinese Taipei) took the penultimate step in acceding to the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement (WTO GPA), which will eventually grant Taiwan "free trade partner" status under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and allow companies selling to the U.S. Government to deliver products that are manufactured in Taiwan. The accession process is expected to be complete by July 15, 2009. After that date, and once the FAR is updated accordingly, "Made in Taiwan" will finally be an approved country of origin for products and services delivered to the U.S. Government.
 Continue Reading Country of Origin – “Made In Taiwan” Will Soon Be TAA Compliant China Continues to Dawdle Costa Rica, Peru, and Oman also Recognized

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. No. 111-5), known popularly by a variety of names, including “ARRA,” the “Recovery Act,” and the “Stimulus Act.” We have previously discussed many of the provisions relating to the Recovery Act at some length, especially the implementing regulations that were recently published this spring.
 Continue Reading Recovery Act Update -U.S. Stimulus: “Buy American” PRC Stimulus: “Buy Chinese” Canada and WTO: “Not Pleased”