"BUY AMERICA” ACTIVITY BEGINS

Updated February 13, 2004

Congress is back in session and there is already some initial proposals concerning changes to the “Buy America Act” (BAA).   However, unlike last year, these changes have been introduced as a free standing bill (meaning it has not been attached to another bill, such as the Defense Authorization Bill), and the proposed legislation would be government-wide and not just applicable to the Department of Defense. 

Specifically, Representatives Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) introduced H.R. 3741, the “Buy-American Improvement Act (BAIA).  The sponsors of this bill state the bill would strengthen the current Buy American Act to increase the domestic content threshold for components deemed U.S. made from the current 50 percent to 75 percent and would close “loopholes” in the current waiver authority in the Buy American Act.  (Current law (41 US Code 10) states that a “substantial” amount of content should be US manufactures and current regulations (FAR Part 25) states that substantial amount means 50 percent.)  The bill would require the Secretary of Commerce to appoint a panel with industry, labor, and academic representatives to “develop consistent, government-wide definitions” to be applied in the BAA.  Also, the bill would require each agency to file annual reports with Congress, providing an itemized list of all BAA waivers and the dollar amount of each.

Other provisions of the bill would:

• Give US producers preference if the US bid is substantially the same as the foreign company’s bid, or the US company is the only US producer of the goods or product.
• Encourage US procurement at US Embassies and military bases for overseas use on routine, non-emergency purchases.
• Prevent agencies from applying BAA waivers after US procurement solicitations have been made.

This information is provided for informational purposes and NDIA is not recommending any immediate action.  H.R. 3741 has been referred to the House Committee on Government Reform (Chairman Tom Davis, R-VA) for further action.  A similar bill was introduced in the Senate (S. 1480) last year by Sen. Russ Feingold, (D-Wis.) and was referred to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. At this time, no action has been scheduled by either committee to consider the bills, and the future is uncertain.  The NDIA Government Policy Department is and will be monitoring this issue and will advise our members on future actions. 

View the text of H.R. 3741

View the text of S. 1480

For additional information, please contact:

Mr. Pete Steffes
Vice President, Government Policy
psteffes@ndia.org