The Inside Guide to the Federal IT Market

Import with Care       9

America’s mixed sentiments about economic globalization are fully reflected in the complex set of rules that control the federal government’s procurement of foreign products or services.

The law with greatest relevance to information technology companies is the Trade Agreements Act and thankfully not the Buy American Act.¹ Buy American is a Great Depression legacy—it became law in 1933—and it would eviscerate the federal IT market if not for the fact that it’s pretty much been neutralized.

Buy American Act

Under the Buy American Act (BAA), the government favors the purchase of domestic end products, defined as goods that result from a manufacturing process occurring in the United States and outlying areas and of which ...