Domestic Preference Policies in Federal Procurement

摘要

The preference for filling government needs with domestic products expressed in'buy American' legislation is not a recent phenomena, but can be traced back to as early as 1844. Given such an extensive history, one would expect that any deficiencies in the wording of such laws would have long been corrected and that the requirements which they impose would be clearly stated and easy to apply. In fact, just the opposite is true. The oldest and most pervasive of existing federal domestic preference legislation is popularly known as the 'Buy American Act'. Since its passage in 1933, commentators, courts, and the Comptroller General have consistently criticized the failure of the Act and implementing regulations to define certain key terms. Despite such criticism, neither Congress nor those agencies responsible for promulgating federal procurement regulations have acted to correct the deficiencies. As a consequence, attempts by boards, courts, and the Comptroller General to apply the Act have at times produced very fine, virtually indiscernible legal and factual distinctions, if not outright inconsistent holdings. The result has been aptly described as a 'sea of uncertainty' for contractors in the federal procurement arena. (sdw)