Updated Guide to Buy America Requirements

Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Legal Research Digest, No. 49, 2017

95 Pages Posted: 16 Dec 2016 Last revised: 15 May 2017

Date Written: October 25, 2016

Abstract

When transportation programs are assisted with federal funding, there are typically domestic preference conditions, or "Buy America" requirements, associated with the use of federal funds. The Buy America provision associated with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant funds is one of the most longstanding federal transportation Buy America provisions, and is probably the subject of more documentation than all the rest. FTA’s regulations implementing the Buy America provision are lengthy and detailed, in contrast to other federal transportation grant Buy America provisions. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) first published its "Guide to Federal Buy America Requirements" in 2001. A 2009 supplement to the Guide addressed significant legislative changes to the FTA Buy America provision enacted by Congress in 2005, as well as FTA's 2007 final rule implementing those changes. The purpose of this Updated Guide is to update the earlier TRB guidance and legal research, in order to provide a comprehensive and current summary of the FTA Buy America provision for transit attorneys and procurement officials. This Updated Guide accounts for changes to the FTA Buy America provision since the 2009 supplement, including a significant revision by Congress in December 2015, recent FTA guidance and decisions, and recent court decisions involving the FTA Buy America provision.

Keywords: transit, protectionist, government procurement, domestic preference, Buy American

JEL Classification: F13, L92

Suggested Citation

Wyatt, Timothy R., Updated Guide to Buy America Requirements (October 25, 2016). Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Legal Research Digest, No. 49, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2885900 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2885900

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