The Recovery Act and the funds it has made available under various federal grant programs have brought renewed attention to domestic preference provisions. Contractors familiar with the longstanding Buy American Act restriction on federal procurement and the Trade Agreements Act exception have found themselves confronted by a dizzying array of much less well-known, and often significantly different, Buy American type provisions applicable to federal grant and loan programs used to fund both domestic and international projects. These restrictions vary program to program in terms of the scope of the restriction, the method for determining country of origin for a product, and how foreign content is evaluated. Some of the major grant or loan programs with Buy American restrictions include:
- Recovery Act grants and financial assistance for public works projects by state and local government entities;
- Federal Aviation Funds for airport improvement and other programs;
- Federal Highway Funds for the construction of highways;
- Federal Transit Funds for various mass transit projects;
- The Foreign Military Financing Program administered by DoD;
- U.S. Agency for International Development grants and contracts funded under the Foreign Assistance Act; and
- Procurements funded by the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
These federally-funded programs provide significant business opportunities for contractors, but also present challenges in terms of navigating and complying with a myriad of domestic preference regimes. During the webinar, we will provide an explanation of the domestic preference restrictions associated with each of these programs, as well as practical advice for ensuring compliance, given the realities and global-sourcing pressures of the commercial marketplace.
On Tuesday, June 21st, from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm EDT, please join Angela Styles, Alan Gourley, and Addie Cliffe, government contract practitioners from Crowell & Moring, for a discussion of these programs and compliance issues. Click here to register.