BuyAmerican.gov Act of 2019

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 provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To strengthen Buy American requirements, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘BuyAmerican.gov Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) BUY AMERICAN LAW.—The term ‘‘Buy 8 American law’’ means any law, regulation, Executive 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2472 IH order, or rule relating to Federal contracts, grants, 1 or financial assistance that requires or provides a 2 preference for the purchase or use of goods, prod- 3 ucts, or materials mined, produced, or manufactured 4 in the United States, including— 5 (A) chapter 83 of title 41, United States 6 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Buy Amer- 7 ican Act’’); 8 (B) section 5323(j) of title 49, United 9 States Code; 10 (C) section 313 of title 23, United States 11 Code; 12 (D) section 50101 of title 49, United 13 States Code; 14 (E) section 24405 of title 49, United 15 States Code; 16 (F) section 608 of the Federal Water Pol- 17 lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1388); 18 (G) section 1452(a)(4) of the Safe Drink- 19 ing Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12(a)(4)); 20 (H) section 5035 of the Water Resources 21 Reform and Development Act of 2014 (33 22 U.S.C. 3914); 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2472 IH (I) section 2533a of title 10, United States 1 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Berry 2 Amendment’’); 3 (J) section 2533b of title 10, United 4 States Code; and 5 (K) section 604 of the American Recovery 6 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (6 U.S.C. 453b). 7 (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 8 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 9 133 of title 41, United States Code. 10 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON BUYING AMERICAN. 11 It is the sense of Congress that— 12 (1) every executive agency should maximize, 13 through terms and conditions of Federal financial 14 assistance awards and Federal procurements, the 15 use of goods, products, and materials produced in 16 the United States and contracts for outsourced gov- 17 ernment service contracts to be performed by United 18 States nationals; 19 (2) every executive agency should scrupulously 20 monitor, enforce, and comply with Buy American 21 Laws, to the extent they apply, and minimize the 22 use of waivers; and 23 (3) every executive agency should implement 24 processes to routinely audit its compliance with Buy 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2472 IH American laws using data from the Federal Procure- 1 ment Data System—Next Generation. 2 SEC. 4. REPORT ON BUY AMERICAN COMPLIANCE EF- 3 FORTS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 6 for two years, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation 7 with the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 8 et, the United States Trade Representative, the Secretary 9 of State, and the heads of other executive agencies, shall 10 submit to Congress and the President a report on the im- 11 plementation of, and compliance with, Buy American laws. 12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub- 13 section (a) shall include the following elements: 14 (1) An assessment of the monitoring of, en- 15 forcement of, implementation of, and compliance 16 with Buy American Laws within each executive 17 agency. 18 (2) A listing of each waiver and exception used 19 by an executive agency and an assessment of waivers 20 by type and impact on domestic jobs and manufac- 21 turing. 22 (3) Recommendations for policies for executive 23 agencies to ensure that, to the extent permitted by 24 law, Federal financial assistance awards and Federal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2472 IH contacts maximize the use of goods, products, and 1 materials mined, produced, and manufactured in the 2 United States, including manufactured products, 3 components of manufactured products, and mate- 4 rials such as steel, iron, aluminum, and cement and 5 services. 6 (c) AGENCY REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days 7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 8 thereafter for two years, the head of each executive agency 9 shall submit to the Secretary of Commerce and the Direc- 10 tor of the Office of Management and Budget a report on 11 the implementation of, and compliance with, Buy Amer- 12 ican laws and covering with respect to that agency the ele- 13 ments set forth in subsection (b). 14 (d) GUIDANCE.—The head of each executive agency 15 shall review the guidance issued to executive agencies in 16 accordance with Executive Order 13788 regarding assess- 17 ment of waivers and policies addressing Buy American 18 laws and, as necessary, issue additional guidance. 19 SEC. 5. ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF FREE TRADE AGREE- 20 MENTS. 21 Not later than 150 days after the date of the enact- 22 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and the 23 United States Trade Representative shall assess the im- 24 pacts in a publicly available report of all United States 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2472 IH free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization 1 Agreement on Government Procurement on the operation 2 of Buy American Laws, including their impacts on the im- 3 plementation of domestic procurement preferences. 4 SEC. 6. JUDICIOUS USE OF WAIVERS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—To the extent permitted by law, 6 public interest waivers from Buy American Laws shall be 7 construed to ensure the maximum utilization of goods, 8 products, and materials produced in the United States. 9 (b) PUBLIC INTEREST WAIVER DETERMINATIONS.— 10 To the extent permitted by law, determination of public 11 interest waivers shall be made by the head of the agency 12 with the authority over the Federal financial assistance 13 award or Federal procurement under consideration. 14 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT OF BUYAMERICAN.GOV WEBSITE. 15 Not later than one year after the date of the enact- 16 ment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services 17 shall establish an internet website with the address 18 BuyAmerican.gov that will be publicly available and free 19 to access. The website shall include information on all 20 waivers of and exceptions to Buy American laws that have 21 been requested, are under consideration, or have been 22 granted by executive agencies and be designed to enable 23 manufacturers and other interested parties to easily iden- 24 tify waivers. The website shall also include the results of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2472 IH routine audits of the Federal Procurement Data System— 1 Next Generation to determine data errors and Buy Amer- 2 ican law violations after the award of a contract. The 3 website shall provide publicly available contact information 4 for the contracting agencies. 5 SEC. 8. WAIVER TRANSPARENCY AND STREAMLINING FOR 6 GRANTS. 7 (a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.—The President, 8 in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies, shall 9 develop a mechanism to collect information on requests to 10 waive Buy American laws and other domestic content re- 11 strictions, utilizing existing reporting requirements when- 12 ever possible, for purposes of providing early notice to pos- 13 sible waivers via the website established under subsection 14 (a). The heads of executive agencies shall report to the 15 Administrator as quickly as possible waivers requested or 16 under consideration and waivers granted due to the non- 17 availability of procured items or service providers for pur- 18 poses of posting such information on the website estab- 19 lished under such subsection. 20 (b) WAIVER TRANSPARENCY AND STREAMLINING.— 21 Not less than 20 days prior to waiving, under his or her 22 statutory authority, any applicable Buy American law, the 23 head of an executive agency shall submit to the Adminis- 24 trator of General Services a notice of the agency’s inten- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2472 IH tion to waive the Buy American law. Not later than 5 days 1 after receiving this information from the head of an execu- 2 tive agency, the Administrator of General Services shall 3 make available to the public, by posting on the website 4 established under section 7, a copy of the information pro- 5 vided pursuant to subsection (a), and shall allow for infor- 6 mal public comment on the request for at least 15 days 7 prior to making a finding based on the request. 8 (c) INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE EXECUTIVE 9 AGENCY CONCERNING THE REQUEST.— 10 (1) REQUIREMENT.—No requested waiver of an 11 applicable Buy American Law may be granted if, in 12 contravention of subsection (b)— 13 (A) information about the waiver was not 14 made available on the website under section 7; 15 or 16 (B) no opportunity for public comment 17 concerning the request was granted. 18 (2) SCOPE.—Information made available to the 19 public concerning the request included on the 20 website described in section 7 shall properly and 21 adequately document and justify the statutory basis 22 cited for the requested waiver. Such information 23 shall include— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2472 IH (A) a detailed justification for the use of 1 goods, products, or materials mined, produced, 2 or manufactured outside the United States; 3 (B) for requests citing unreasonable cost 4 as the statutory basis of the waiver, a compari- 5 son of the cost of the domestic product to the 6 cost of the foreign product or a comparison of 7 the overall cost of the project with domestic 8 products to the overall cost of the project with 9 foreign-origin products or services, pursuant to 10 the requirements of the applicable Buy Amer- 11 ican law, except that publicly available cost 12 comparison data may be provided in lieu of pro- 13 prietary pricing information; 14 (C) for requests citing the public interest 15 as the statutory basis for the waiver, a detailed 16 written statement, which shall include all appro- 17 priate factors, such as potential obligations 18 under international agreements, justifying why 19 the requested waiver is in the public interest; 20 and 21 (D) a certification that the procurement 22 official or assistance recipient made a good 23 faith effort to solicit bids for domestic products 24 supported by terms included in requests for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2472 IH proposals, contracts, and nonproprietary com- 1 munications with the prime contractor. 2 (d) NONAVAILABILITY WAIVERS.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 4 paragraph (2), for a request citing nonavailability as 5 the statutory basis for a waiver, an executive agency 6 shall provide an explanation of the procurement offi- 7 cial’s efforts to procure a product from a domestic 8 source and the reasons why a domestic product was 9 not suitable. Those explanations shall be made avail- 10 able on BuyAmerican.gov prior to the issuance of 11 the waiver, and the agency shall consider public 12 comments regarding the availability of the product 13 before making a final determination. 14 (2) EXCEPTION.—An explanation under para- 15 graph (1) is not required for a product the nonavail- 16 ability of which is established by law or regulation. 17 SEC. 9. WAIVER TRANSPARENCY AND STREAMLINING FOR 18 PROCUREMENT. 19 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—Not less than 20 20 days prior to waiving, pursuant to statutory authority, 21 any applicable Buy American law, the head of an executive 22 agency shall make information concerning the intention to 23 issue a waiver or exception in connection with a Federal 24 procurement available to the Administrator of General 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2472.IH H2472 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2472 IH Services. A notice of the agency’s intention to waive a Buy 1 American law shall be made available to the public 2 through BuyAmerican.gov and shall include the statutory 3 basis for exercise of the waiver or exception. 4 (b) NONAVAILABILITY WAIVERS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 6 paragraph (2), for a request citing nonavailability as 7 the statutory basis for a waiver, an executive agency 8 shall provide an explanation of the procurement offi- 9 cial’s efforts to procure a product from a domestic 10 source and the reasons why a domestic product was 11 not suitable. The explanation shall be made available 12 on BuyAmerican.gov prior to the issuance of the 13 waiver, and the agency shall consider public com- 14 ments regarding the availability of the product be- 15 fore making a final determination. 16 (2) EXCEPTION.—An explanation under para- 17 graph (1) is not required for a product the nonavail- 18 ability of which is established by law or regulation. 19 SEC. 10. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT. 20 Not later than two years after the date of the enact- 21 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 22 States shall submit to Congress a report describing the 23 implementation of this Act, including recommendations 24 for any legislation to improve the collection and reporting 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 66 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]