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ARTICLE · 29 AUGUST 2023

Buy America Update: BAA Requirements Make Compliance Complex, Yet Necessary

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC
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It is important to note that Buy American Act (BAA) requirements, BA requirements and BABA requirements are not the same.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Todd Overman
Todd Overman

Whether through the vaccine mandate, minimum wage increase, emissions disclosure rules, or now with Buy America (BA) rules, the Biden administration has long used the government contracting community to advance its domestic policies.

Aimed at fostering a strong American manufacturing base and creating jobs, domestic-preference policies, unlike those previously mentioned, typically engender broad, bipartisan support leading to tightening existing rules, new rules increasing the domestic content requirement, and heightened scrutiny over BAA waivers. A flurry of new domestic-preference updates brings greater clarity to the requirements and imparts important lessons that government contractors should know when bidding for and performing on federal financial assistance programs. We explore three new updates below.

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