Buy America

Are you doing construction, alteration, maintenance, or repairs for a project and are you receiving government assistance for it? If yes, is that alteration, maintenance, or repair on infrastructure?

Below is what the government defines as an infrastructure project.

• “Infrastructure Project” – “any activity related to the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of infrastructure in the United States regardless of whether infrastructure is the primary purpose of the project” (2 CFR 184.3)

This isn’t exactly clear, but it gives examples such as roads, highways, and bridges; public transportation; dams, ports, harbors; intercity passenger and freight railroads; freight and intermodal facilities; airports; water systems, including drinking water and wastewater systems; electrical transmission facilities and systems; utilities; broadband infrastructure…(for the complete list, see 2 CFR 184.4).

What if you don’t see your project on the list? The guidance also states that infrastructures should be considered broadly. What does “broadly” mean? The given list is just examples for illustrative purposes only, so it isn’t the complete list. I know…so confusing—but stay with us as we continue to interpret the government document.

As you continue to read the document, you will see that infrastructure project refers to Public Purpose or Private Purpose. So, if your project involves the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of infrastructure and is for a Public Purpose, then yes, BABAA probably applies. Wow, that was a lot!

Now, under BABAA we have the two subsets; Buy America and Buy American.

Buy America

• “Buy America” is the phrase used to describe domestic preferences generally applied to awards made with Federal financial assistance.

Under BABAA, items purchased for use in a covered infrastructure project must meet the following requirements (2 CFR 184.3)

1. All iron and steel used in the project are produced in the United States. This means all manufacturing processes occurred in the United States, from the initial melting stage through the application of coatings.
2. Manufactured Products: Product was manufactured in the United States; AND, cost of components of the manufactured products that are mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States is greater than 55% of the total cost of all components of the manufactured products.
3. All construction materials are manufactured in the United States. This means that all manufacturing processes for the construction material occurred in the United States. (see 2CFR 184.6 for construction material standards for specific types of construction materials.

 Buy American (BAA)

• “Buy American” is the phrase used to describe domestic content preferences generally applied to direct Federal procurement—that is, the goods that the U.S. Government buys for its own use.
  1. The end product must be manufactured in the U.S. and more than 60 percent of the cost of its components must be mined, produced, or manufactured in the U.S.
  2. The domestic content threshold is 65 percent, and increases to 75 percent in calendar year 2029.
  3. In the event no domestic products can meet the new thresholds or the cost to acquire them would be unreasonable, there is a 55 percent fallback threshold in effect from October 25, 2022 through December 31, 2029.
  4. For end products consisting wholly or predominantly of iron or steel or a combination of both, the cost of domestic components must be 95 percent to qualify as a domestic end product. 

How can you verify that the products are compliant? That’s a great question! The responsibility for this lies with the manufacturer – that’s us, Grip-Tite Manufacturing. Suppose you require Buy America compliance, which is most common in the utility sector we serve. In that case, we have a complete signed list of our compliant products available on our website. Additionally, all items can be traced back to our bill of materials to ensure their credibility.

If you need Buy American compliance for your federal procurement (Government use), please contact us. We will provide the necessary documentation upon request.

But wait, you aren’t receiving any government assistance for your project?  Then BABAA most likely doesn’t apply. Now, it is important to support America and American workers and that is exactly what Grip-Tite Manufacturing has been doing since 1921.