“Buy America” – Tipping Defense, Aviation and Space Back Toward America

“Buy America” – Tipping Defense, Aviation and Space Back Toward America

ByKent Johnson – Senior Warrior Maven contributor

–retired USAF F-15 Strike Eagle and A-10 Warthog pilot, and political-military advisor on the staff of the secretary of the Air Force, and an adjunct at North Central Texas College in Gainesville, Texas, specializing in defense studies.

“Buy America” – Tipping Defense, Aviation and Space Back Toward America

President Trump sent another flaming arrow into the wide-ranging federal procurement community, from who we buy rocket launches from to who makes rivets for bridges and aircraft carriers. His January 31st, 2019 Executive Order, titled “Strengthening Buy American Preferences,” reinforces the Buy America and Buy American Acts. But is this renewed emphasis on procuring all-American goods and services a positive or negative influence on how the American government does business?

At least one news outlet, “The Procurement Playbook: Legal Insight for Government Contractors,” reported on this E.O. with some circumspection. The article, “President Trump Expands Buy American Act – Another Wrench in the Works?” – noted: “While domestic preference requirements in federal procurements… are not new,” “increased emphasis” is. Additionally, while the President’s “policy objective” is “straightforward,” “the intersection and resulting nuances between these Acts, their regulations and related trade statutes, agreements or exceptions … are anything but.”

The goal of the latest E.O., which expands on an earlier one from 2017, is to require federal agencies to refocus – for economic if not security reasons – on developing plans and rules that “adhere to domestic preference requirements to the maximum extent practicable in all projects,” including both outright procurement and incentives, loans and cooperative agreements. The effect of this new push will be felt widely, effectively applying “to any project that receives financial assistance from the federal government, even if the project is not a procurement that was solicited by the federal government.”

In other words, every federal agency, outlay, contract, grant, loan, financial incentive or relationship will now be tested against this new requirement: Is it focused tightly on America, meaning the tightest possible nexus with American investment, American jobs, American territory, American supply chains, American national security, and American research and development?