Domestic Preferences in Federal Contracts

On April 18, the Trump Administration issued an executive order that sets in motion a major strengthening of "Buy American" requirements in federal contracts and suggests a major rewrite of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 25 in the next few years.

Over the past several decades, the supply chains of contractors and suppliers have evolved and matured around the flexibility provided by the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), which overrides the Buy American Act (BAA) for federal requirements above certain relatively low thresholds. However, after years of relative stability and inattention, country-of-origin requirements for supplies and services under federal contracts have suddenly taken center stage. Even modest shifts in the interplay between the BAA and TAA could possible render numerous contractors and suppliers ineligible for billions of dollars in federal sales under currently designed supply chains.

During this program, we will:

• review the current BAA/TAA legal regime under scrutiny by the Trump Administration 
• explore ways the FAR could be amended to achieve the administration's goal of repatriating the supply chain for federal contracts and grants

Our goal is to help federal contractors monitor developments in this area and make timely adjustments in the future to establish and maintain compliant supply chains.

We hope you can join us for this highly informative program, which will be the first in a series of webinars on domestic preferences as these Buy American reforms unfold.