I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2472 

To strengthen Buy American requirements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2019 

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself and Mr. BOST) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition 

to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To strengthen Buy American requirements, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘BuyAmerican.gov Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) BUY AMERICAN LAW.—The term ‘‘Buy 

9 American law’’ means any law, regulation, Executive 


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1 order, or rule relating to Federal contracts, grants, 

2 or financial assistance that requires or provides a 

3 preference for the purchase or use of goods, prod4 ucts, or materials mined, produced, or manufactured 

5 in the United States, including— 

6 (A) chapter 83 of title 41, United States 

7 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Buy Amer8 ican Act’’); 

9 (B) section 5323(j) of title 49, United 

10 States Code; 

11 (C) section 313 of title 23, United States 

12 Code; 

13 (D) section 50101 of title 49, United 

14 States Code; 

15 (E) section 24405 of title 49, United 

16 States Code; 

17 (F) section 608 of the Federal Water Pol18 lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1388); 

19 (G) section 1452(a)(4) of the Safe Drink20 ing Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12(a)(4)); 

21 (H) section 5035 of the Water Resources 

22 Reform and Development Act of 2014 (33 

23 U.S.C. 3914); 


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1 (I) section 2533a of title 10, United States 

2 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Berry 

3 Amendment’’); 

4 (J) section 2533b of title 10, United 

5 States Code; and 

6 (K) section 604 of the American Recovery 

7 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (6 U.S.C. 453b). 

8 (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

9 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON BUYING AMERICAN. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that— 

13 (1) every executive agency should maximize, 

14 through terms and conditions of Federal financial 

15 assistance awards and Federal procurements, the 

16 use of goods, products, and materials produced in 

17 the United States and contracts for outsourced gov18 ernment service contracts to be performed by United 

19 States nationals; 

20 (2) every executive agency should scrupulously 

21 monitor, enforce, and comply with Buy American 

22 Laws, to the extent they apply, and minimize the 

23 use of waivers; and 

24 (3) every executive agency should implement 

25 processes to routinely audit its compliance with Buy 


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1 American laws using data from the Federal Procure2 ment Data System—Next Generation. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT ON BUY AMERICAN COMPLIANCE EF4 FORTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 

7 for two years, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation 

8 with the Director of the Office of Management and Budg9 et, the United States Trade Representative, the Secretary 

10 of State, and the heads of other executive agencies, shall 

11 submit to Congress and the President a report on the im12 plementation of, and compliance with, Buy American laws. 

13 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub14 section (a) shall include the following elements: 

15 (1) An assessment of the monitoring of, en16 forcement of, implementation of, and compliance 

17 with Buy American Laws within each executive 

18 agency. 

19 (2) A listing of each waiver and exception used 

20 by an executive agency and an assessment of waivers 

21 by type and impact on domestic jobs and manufac22 turing. 

23 (3) Recommendations for policies for executive 

24 agencies to ensure that, to the extent permitted by 

25 law, Federal financial assistance awards and Federal 


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1 contacts maximize the use of goods, products, and 

2 materials mined, produced, and manufactured in the 

3 United States, including manufactured products, 

4 components of manufactured products, and mate5 rials such as steel, iron, aluminum, and cement and 

6 services. 

7 (c) AGENCY REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 

9 thereafter for two years, the head of each executive agency 

10 shall submit to the Secretary of Commerce and the Direc11 tor of the Office of Management and Budget a report on 

12 the implementation of, and compliance with, Buy Amer13 ican laws and covering with respect to that agency the ele14 ments set forth in subsection (b). 

15 (d) GUIDANCE.—The head of each executive agency 

16 shall review the guidance issued to executive agencies in 

17 accordance with Executive Order 13788 regarding assess18 ment of waivers and policies addressing Buy American 

19 laws and, as necessary, issue additional guidance. 

20 SEC. 5. ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF FREE TRADE AGREE21 MENTS. 

22 Not later than 150 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and the 

24 United States Trade Representative shall assess the im25 pacts in a publicly available report of all United States 


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1 free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization 

2 Agreement on Government Procurement on the operation 

3 of Buy American Laws, including their impacts on the im4 plementation of domestic procurement preferences. 

5 SEC. 6. JUDICIOUS USE OF WAIVERS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—To the extent permitted by law, 

7 public interest waivers from Buy American Laws shall be 

8 construed to ensure the maximum utilization of goods, 

9 products, and materials produced in the United States. 

10 (b) PUBLIC INTEREST WAIVER DETERMINATIONS.— 

11 To the extent permitted by law, determination of public 

12 interest waivers shall be made by the head of the agency 

13 with the authority over the Federal financial assistance 

14 award or Federal procurement under consideration. 

15 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT OF BUYAMERICAN.GOV WEBSITE. 

16 Not later than one year after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services 

18 shall establish an internet website with the address 

19 BuyAmerican.gov that will be publicly available and free 

20 to access. The website shall include information on all 

21 waivers of and exceptions to Buy American laws that have 

22 been requested, are under consideration, or have been 

23 granted by executive agencies and be designed to enable 

24 manufacturers and other interested parties to easily iden25 tify waivers. The website shall also include the results of 


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1 routine audits of the Federal Procurement Data System— 

2 Next Generation to determine data errors and Buy Amer3 ican law violations after the award of a contract. The 

4 website shall provide publicly available contact information 

5 for the contracting agencies. 

6 SEC. 8. WAIVER TRANSPARENCY AND STREAMLINING FOR 

7 GRANTS. 

8 (a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.—The President, 

9 in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies, shall 

10 develop a mechanism to collect information on requests to 

11 waive Buy American laws and other domestic content re12 strictions, utilizing existing reporting requirements when13 ever possible, for purposes of providing early notice to pos14 sible waivers via the website established under subsection 

15 (a). The heads of executive agencies shall report to the 

16 Administrator as quickly as possible waivers requested or 

17 under consideration and waivers granted due to the non18 availability of procured items or service providers for pur19 poses of posting such information on the website estab20 lished under such subsection. 

21 (b) WAIVER TRANSPARENCY AND STREAMLINING.— 

22 Not less than 20 days prior to waiving, under his or her 

23 statutory authority, any applicable Buy American law, the 

24 head of an executive agency shall submit to the Adminis25 trator of General Services a notice of the agency’s intenVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472

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1 tion to waive the Buy American law. Not later than 5 days 

2 after receiving this information from the head of an execu3 tive agency, the Administrator of General Services shall 

4 make available to the public, by posting on the website 

5 established under section 7, a copy of the information pro6 vided pursuant to subsection (a), and shall allow for infor7 mal public comment on the request for at least 15 days 

8 prior to making a finding based on the request. 

9 (c) INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE EXECUTIVE

10 AGENCY CONCERNING THE REQUEST.— 

11 (1) REQUIREMENT.—No requested waiver of an 

12 applicable Buy American Law may be granted if, in 

13 contravention of subsection (b)— 

14 (A) information about the waiver was not 

15 made available on the website under section 7; 

16 or 

17 (B) no opportunity for public comment 

18 concerning the request was granted. 

19 (2) SCOPE.—Information made available to the 

20 public concerning the request included on the 

21 website described in section 7 shall properly and 

22 adequately document and justify the statutory basis 

23 cited for the requested waiver. Such information 

24 shall include— 


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1 (A) a detailed justification for the use of 

2 goods, products, or materials mined, produced, 

3 or manufactured outside the United States; 

4 (B) for requests citing unreasonable cost 

5 as the statutory basis of the waiver, a compari6 son of the cost of the domestic product to the 

7 cost of the foreign product or a comparison of 

8 the overall cost of the project with domestic 

9 products to the overall cost of the project with 

10 foreign-origin products or services, pursuant to 

11 the requirements of the applicable Buy Amer12 ican law, except that publicly available cost 

13 comparison data may be provided in lieu of pro14 prietary pricing information; 

15 (C) for requests citing the public interest 

16 as the statutory basis for the waiver, a detailed 

17 written statement, which shall include all appro18 priate factors, such as potential obligations 

19 under international agreements, justifying why 

20 the requested waiver is in the public interest; 

21 and 

22 (D) a certification that the procurement 

23 official or assistance recipient made a good 

24 faith effort to solicit bids for domestic products 

25 supported by terms included in requests for 


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1 proposals, contracts, and nonproprietary com2 munications with the prime contractor. 

3 (d) NONAVAILABILITY WAIVERS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 

5 paragraph (2), for a request citing nonavailability as 

6 the statutory basis for a waiver, an executive agency 

7 shall provide an explanation of the procurement offi8 cial’s efforts to procure a product from a domestic 

9 source and the reasons why a domestic product was 

10 not suitable. Those explanations shall be made avail11 able on BuyAmerican.gov prior to the issuance of 

12 the waiver, and the agency shall consider public 

13 comments regarding the availability of the product 

14 before making a final determination. 

15 (2) EXCEPTION.—An explanation under para16 graph (1) is not required for a product the nonavail17 ability of which is established by law or regulation. 

18 SEC. 9. WAIVER TRANSPARENCY AND STREAMLINING FOR 

19 PROCUREMENT. 

20 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—Not less than 

21 20 days prior to waiving, pursuant to statutory authority, 

22 any applicable Buy American law, the head of an executive 

23 agency shall make information concerning the intention to 

24 issue a waiver or exception in connection with a Federal 

25 procurement available to the Administrator of General 


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1 Services. A notice of the agency’s intention to waive a Buy 

2 American law shall be made available to the public 

3 through BuyAmerican.gov and shall include the statutory 

4 basis for exercise of the waiver or exception. 

5 (b) NONAVAILABILITY WAIVERS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 

7 paragraph (2), for a request citing nonavailability as 

8 the statutory basis for a waiver, an executive agency 

9 shall provide an explanation of the procurement offi10 cial’s efforts to procure a product from a domestic 

11 source and the reasons why a domestic product was 

12 not suitable. The explanation shall be made available 

13 on BuyAmerican.gov prior to the issuance of the 

14 waiver, and the agency shall consider public com15 ments regarding the availability of the product be16 fore making a final determination. 

17 (2) EXCEPTION.—An explanation under para18 graph (1) is not required for a product the nonavail19 ability of which is established by law or regulation. 

20 SEC. 10. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT. 

21 Not later than two years after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

23 States shall submit to Congress a report describing the 

24 implementation of this Act, including recommendations 

25 for any legislation to improve the collection and reporting 


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1 of information regarding waivers of and exceptions to Buy 

2 American laws. 

3 SEC. 11. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

4 (a) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this 

5 Act shall be construed as preempting, superseding, or oth6 erwise affecting the application of any disclosure require7 ment or requirements otherwise provided by law or regula8 tion. 

9 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF SUCCESSOR INFORMATION

10 SYSTEMS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed as pre11 venting or otherwise limiting the ability of the Adminis12 trator of General Services to move the data required to 

13 be included on the website established under subsection 

14 (a) to a successor information system. Any such informa15 tion system shall include a reference to BuyAmerican.gov. 

16 SEC. 12. CONSISTENCY WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREE17 MENTS. 

18 This Act shall be applied in a manner consistent with 

19 United States obligations under international agreements. 

Æ 


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