Subpart 25.1 - Buy American-Supplies

Parent topic: Part 25 - Foreign Acquisition

25.100 Scope of subpart.

(a) This subpart implements-

(1) 41 U.S.C. chapter 83, Buy American;

(2) Executive Order 10582, December 17, 1954;

(3) Executive Order 13881, July 15, 2019;

(4) Executive Order 14005, January 25, 2021; and

(5) Waiver of the domestic content test of the Buy American statute for acquisition of commercially

available off-the-shelf (COTS) items in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1907, but see 25.101(a)(2)(ii).

(b) It applies to supplies acquired for use in the United States, including supplies acquired under

contracts set aside for small business concerns, if-

(1) The supply contract exceeds the micro-purchase threshold; or

(2) The supply portion of a contract for services that involves the furnishing of supplies (e.g., lease)

exceeds the micro-purchase threshold.

25.101 General.

(a) The Buy American statute restricts the purchase of supplies that are not domestic end products.

For manufactured

end products, the Buy American statute, E.O. 13881, and E.O. 14005 use a two-part test to define a

domestic end product.

(1) The article must be manufactured in the United States; and

(2)

(i) Except for an end product that consists wholly or predominantly of iron or steel or a combination

of both, the cost of domestic components shall exceed 60 percent of the cost of all the components,

except that the percentage will be 65 percent for items delivered in calendar years 2024 through

2028 and 75 percent for items delivered starting in calendar year 2029. But see paragraph (d) of this

section. In accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1907, this domestic content test of the Buy American statute

has been waived for acquisitions of COTS items (see 12.505(a)) (but see paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this

section).

(ii) For an end product that consists wholly or predominantly of iron or steel or a combination of
both, the cost of foreign iron and steel must constitute less than 5 percent of the cost of all the

components used in the end product (see the definition of "foreign iron and steel" at 25.003). The

cost of foreign iron and steel includes but is not limited to the cost of foreign iron or steel mill

products (such as bar, billet, slab, wire, plate, or sheet), castings, or forgings utilized in the

manufacture of the end product and a good faith estimate of the cost of all foreign iron or steel

components excluding COTS fasteners. This domestic content test of the Buy American statute has

not been waived for acquisitions of COTS items in this category, except for COTS fasteners.

(b) The Buy American statute applies to small business set-asides. A manufactured product of a small

business concern is a U.S.-made end product, but is not a domestic end product unless it meets the

domestic content test in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.

(c) Exceptions that allow the purchase of a foreign end product are listed at 25.103. The

unreasonable cost exception is implemented through the use of an evaluation factor applied to low

foreign offers that are not eligible offers. The evaluation factor is not used to provide a preference

for one foreign offer over another. Evaluation procedures and examples are provided in subpart 

25.5 .

(d)

(1) A contract with a period of performance that spans the schedule of domestic content threshold

increases specified in paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section shall be required to comply with each

increased threshold for the items in the year of delivery, unless the senior procurement executive of

the contracting agency allows for application of an alternate domestic content test for that contract

under which the domestic content threshold in effect at time of contract award will apply to the

entire period of performance for the contract. This authority is not delegable. The senior

procurement executive shall consult the Office of Management and Budget's Made in America Office

before allowing the use of the alternate domestic content test.

(2)When a senior procurement executive allows for application of an alternate domestic content test

for a contract—

(i)See 25.1101(a)(1)(ii) or 25.1101(b)(1)(v) for use of the appropriate Alternate clause to reflect the

domestic content threshold that will apply to the entire period of performance for that contract; and

(ii)Use the fill-in at 52.213-4(b)(1)(xvii)(B) instead of including 52.225-1 Alternate I when using

52.213-4, Terms and Conditions—Simplified Acquisitions (Other Than Commercial Products and

Commercial Services).

25.102 Policy.

Except as provided in 25.103, acquire only domestic end products for public use inside the United

States.

25.103 Exceptions.

When one of the following exceptions applies, the contracting officer may acquire a foreign end
product without regard to the restrictions of the Buy American statute:

(a) Public interest. The head of the agency may make a determination that domestic preference

would be inconsistent with the public interest. This exception applies when an agency has an

agreement with a foreign government that provides a blanket exception to the Buy American statute.

(b) Nonavailability. The Buy American statute does not apply with respect to articles, materials, or

supplies if articles, materials, or supplies of the class or kind to be acquired, either as end items or

components, are not mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and

reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality.

(1) Class determinations.

(i) A nonavailability determination has been made for the articles listed in 25.104. This

determination does not necessarily mean that there is no domestic source for the listed items, but

that domestic sources can only meet 50 percent or less of total U.S. Government and nongovernment

demand.

(ii) Before acquisition of an article on the list, the procuring agency is responsible to conduct market

research appropriate to the circumstances, including seeking of domestic sources. This applies to

acquisition of an article as-

(A) An end product; or

(B) A significant component (valued at more than 50 percent of the value of all the components).

(iii) The determination in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section does not apply if the contracting officer

learns at any time before the time designated for receipt of bids in sealed bidding or final offers in

negotiation that an article on the list is available domestically in sufficient and reasonably available

commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality to meet the requirements of the solicitation. The

contracting officer must-

(A) Ensure that the appropriate Buy American statute provision and clause are included in the

solicitation (see 25.1101(a), 25.1101(b), or 25.1102);

(B) Specify in the solicitation that the article is available domestically and that offerors and

contractors may not treat foreign components of the same class or kind as domestic components;

and

(C) Submit a copy of supporting documentation to the appropriate council identified in 1.201-1, in

accordance with agency procedures, for possible removal of the article from the list.

(2) Individual determinations.

(i) The head of the contracting activity may make a determination that an article, material, or supply

is not mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available

commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality. A determination is not required before January 1,

2030, if there is an offer for a foreign end product that exceeds 55 percent domestic content (see

25.106(b)(2) and 25.106(c)(2)).

(ii) If the contracting officer considers that the nonavailability of an article is likely to affect future
acquisitions, the contracting officer may submit a copy of the determination and supporting

documentation to the appropriate council identified in 1.201-1, in accordance with agency

procedures, for possible addition to the list in 25.104.

(3) A written determination is not required if all of the following conditions are present:

(i) The acquisition was conducted through use of full and open competition.

(ii) The acquisition was synopsized in accordance with 5.201.

(iii) No offer for a domestic end product was received.

(c) Unreasonable cost. The contracting officer may determine that the cost of a domestic end

product would be unreasonable, in accordance with 25.106 and subpart 25.5.

(d) Resale. The contracting officer may purchase foreign end products specifically for commissary

resale.

(e) Information technology that is a commercial product. The restriction on purchasing foreign end

products does not apply to the acquisition of information technology that is a commercial product,

when using fiscal year 2004 or subsequent fiscal year funds (section 535(a) of Division F, Title V,

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004, and similar sections in subsequent appropriations acts).

25.104 Nonavailable articles.

(a) The following articles have been determined to be nonavailable in accordance with

25.103(b)(1)(i):

Acetylene, black.

Agar, bulk.

Anise.

Antimony, as metal or oxide.

Asbestos, amosite, chrysotile, and crocidolite.

Bamboo shoots.

Bananas.

Bauxite.

Beef, corned, canned.

Beef extract.

Bephenium hydroxynapthoate.

Bismuth.
Books, trade, text, technical, or scientific; newspapers; pamphlets; magazines; periodicals; printed

briefs and films; not printed in the United States and for which domestic editions are not available.

Brazil nuts, unroasted

Cadmium, ores and flue dust.

Calcium cyanamide.

Capers.

Cashew nuts.

Castor beans and castor oil.

Chalk, English.

Chestnuts.

Chicle.

Chrome ore or chromite.

Cinchona bark.

Cobalt, in cathodes, rondelles, or other primary ore and metal forms.

Cocoa beans.

Coconut and coconut meat, unsweetened, in shredded, desiccated, or similarly prepared form.

Coffee, raw or green bean.

Colchicine alkaloid, raw.

Copra.

Cork, wood or bark and waste.

Cover glass, microscope slide.

Crane rail (85-pound per foot).

Cryolite, natural.

Dammar gum.

Diamonds, industrial, stones and abrasives.

Emetine, bulk.

Ergot, crude.

Erythrityl tetranitrate.
Fair linen, altar.

Fibers of the following types: abaca, abace, agave, coir, flax, jute, jute burlaps, palmyra, and sisal.

Goat and kidskins.

Goat hair canvas.

Grapefruit sections, canned.

Graphite, natural, crystalline, crucible grade.

Hand file sets (Swiss pattern).

Handsewing needles.

Hemp yarn.

Hog bristles for brushes.

Hyoscine, bulk.

Ipecac, root.

Iodine, crude.

Kaurigum.

Lac.

Leather, sheepskin, hair type.

Lavender oil.

Manganese.

Menthol, natural bulk.

Mica.

Microprocessor chips (brought onto a Government construction site as separate units for

incorporation into building systems during construction or repair and alteration of real property).

Modacrylic fiber.

Nickel, primary, in ingots, pigs, shots, cathodes, or similar forms; nickel oxide and nickel salts.

Nitroguanidine (also known as picrite).

Nux vomica, crude.

Oiticica oil.

Olive oil.
Olives (green), pitted or unpitted, or stuffed, in bulk.

Opium, crude.

Oranges, mandarin, canned.

Petroleum, crude oil, unfinished oils, and finished products.

Pine needle oil.

Pineapple, canned.

Platinum and related group metals, refined, as sponge, powder, ingots, or cast bars.

Pyrethrum flowers.

Quartz crystals.

Quebracho.

Quinidine.

Quinine.

Rabbit fur felt.

Radium salts, source and special nuclear materials.

Rosettes.

Rubber, crude and latex.

Rutile.

Santonin, crude.

Secretin.

Shellac.

Silk, raw and unmanufactured.

Spare and replacement parts for equipment of foreign manufacture, and for which domestic parts

are not available.

Spices and herbs, in bulk.

Sugars, raw.

Swords and scabbards.

Talc, block, steatite.

Tantalum.
Tapioca flour and cassava.

Tartar, crude; tartaric acid and cream of tartar in bulk.

Tea in bulk.

Thread, metallic (gold).

Thyme oil.

Tin in bars, blocks, and pigs.

Triprolidine hydrochloride.

Tungsten.

Vanilla beans.

Venom, cobra.

Water chestnuts.

Wax, carnauba.

Wire glass.

Woods; logs, veneer, and lumber of the following species: Alaskan yellow cedar, angelique, balsa,

ekki, greenheart, lignum vitae, mahogany, and teak.

Yarn, 50 Denier rayon.

Yeast, active dry and instant active dry.

(b) This list will be published in the Federal Register for public comment no less frequently than

once every five years. Unsolicited recommendations for deletions from this list may be submitted at

any time and should provide sufficient data and rationale to permit evaluation (see 1.502).

25.105 Critical components and critical items.

(a) The following is a list of articles that have been determined to be a critical component or critical

item and their respective preference factor(s).

(1)-(2) [Reserved]

(b) The list of articles and preference factors in paragraph (a) of this section will be published in the

Federal Register for public comment no less frequently than once every 4 years. Unsolicited

recommendations for deletions from this list may be submitted at any time and should provide

sufficient data and rationale to permit evaluation ( see 1.502).

(c) For determining reasonableness of cost for domestic end products that contain critical

components or are critical items ( see 25.106(c)).
25.106 Determining reasonableness of cost.

(a) The contracting officer-

(1) Must use the evaluation factors in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section unless the head of the

agency makes a written determination that the use of higher factors is more appropriate. If the

determination applies to all agency acquisitions, the agency evaluation factors must be published in

agency regulations; and

(2) Must not apply evaluation factors to offers of eligible products if the acquisition is subject to a

trade agreement under subpart 25.4.

(b) For end products that are not critical items and do not contain critical components.

(1)

(i) If there is a domestic offer that is not the low offer, and the restrictions of the Buy American

statute apply to the low offer, the contracting officer must determine the reasonableness of the cost

of the domestic offer by adding to the price of the low offer, inclusive of duty—

(A) 20 percent, if the lowest domestic offer is from a large business concern; or

(B) 30 percent, if the lowest domestic offer is from a small business concern. The contracting officer

must use this factor, or another factor established in agency regulations, in small business set-asides

if the low offer is from a small business concern offering the product of a small business concern

that is not a domestic end product (see subpart 19.5).

(ii) The price of the domestic offer is reasonable if it does not exceed the evaluated price of the low

offer after addition of the appropriate evaluation factor in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b)(1)(i)

of this section. See evaluation procedures at subpart 25.5.

(2)

(i) For end products that are not COTS items and do not consist wholly or predominantly of iron or

steel or a combination of both, if the procedures in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section result in an

unreasonable cost determination for the domestic offer or there is no domestic offer received, and

the low offer is for a foreign end product that does not exceed 55 percent domestic content, the

contracting officer shall—

(A) Treat the lowest offer of a foreign end product that is manufactured in the United States and

exceeds 55 percent domestic content as a domestic offer; and

(B) Determine the reasonableness of the cost of this offer by applying the evaluation factors listed in

paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section to the low offer.

(ii) The price of the lowest offer of a foreign end product that exceeds 55 percent domestic content is

reasonable if it does not exceed the evaluated price of the low offer after addition of the appropriate

evaluation factor in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b)(1)(i) of this section. See evaluation

procedures at subpart 25.5.
(iii) The procedures in this paragraph (b)(2) will no longer apply as of January 1, 2030.

(c) For end products that are critical items or contain critical components.

(1)

(i) If there is a domestic offer that is not the low offer, and the restrictions of the Buy American

statute apply to the low offer, the contracting officer shall determine the reasonableness of the cost

of the domestic offer by adding to the price of the low offer, inclusive of duty—

(A) 20 percent, plus the additional preference factor identified for the critical item or end product

containing critical components listed at section 25.105, if the lowest domestic offer is from a large

business concern; or

(B) 30 percent, plus the additional preference factor identified for the critical item or end product

containing critical components listed at section 25.105, if the lowest domestic offer is from a small

business concern. The contracting officer shall use this factor, or another factor established in

agency regulations, in small business set-asides if the low offer is from a small business concern

offering the product of a small business concern that is not a domestic end product (see subpart 

19.5).

(ii) The price of the domestic offer is reasonable if it does not exceed the evaluated price of the low

offer after addition of the appropriate evaluation factor in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of

this section. See evaluation procedures at subpart 25.5.

(2)

(i) For end products that are not COTS items and do not consist wholly or predominantly of iron or

steel or a combination of both, if the procedures in paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section result in an

unreasonable cost determination for the domestic offer or there is no domestic offer received, and

the low offer is for a foreign end product that does not exceed 55 percent domestic content, the

contracting officer shall—

(A) Treat the lowest offer of a foreign end product that is manufactured in the United States and

exceeds 55 percent domestic content as a domestic offer; and

(B) Determine the reasonableness of the cost of this offer by applying the evaluation factors listed in

paragraph (c)(1) of this section to the low offer.

(ii) The price of the lowest offer of a foreign end product that exceeds 55 percent domestic content is

reasonable if it does not exceed the evaluated price of the low offer after addition of the appropriate

evaluation factor in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of this section. See evaluation procedures

at subpart 25.5.

(iii) The procedures in this paragraph (c)(2) will no longer apply as of January 1, 2030.