Tech Groups Urge U.S. Government to Protect Its Access to Cutting-Edge Technologies
WASHINGTON – Today, associations representing the global technology industry encouraged the U.S. government to protect its ability to procure cutting-edge, innovative, and secure technologies as it considers reforms to the Buy American Act. In a letter submitted to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council, the associations cautioned that removing or limiting the law’s existing commercial information technology (IT) exception for federal procurement subject to Buy American rules would result in significant changes to how commercial IT is developed and sold to the U.S. government, which could severely impact the government’s ability to procure advanced technologies – hurting innovation and American competitiveness.
“The commercial IT exception remains relevant, promotes innovation and American competitiveness, and serves the U.S. Government’s procurement needs as originally envisioned,” the associations wrote. “Companies establish global supply chains built to support resiliency and serve the global market. They also leverage these supply chains to foster dynamic environments from which new and innovative products can emerge. At this juncture, ensuring America remains a leader in advanced high-tech manufacturing should be the U.S. Government’s primary focus and a core tenet of its trade, procurement, and innovation policies. To support these objectives, we strongly encourage the U.S. Government to maintain the existing exception to the Buy American Act for commercial IT.”
The U.S. Congress enacted in 2004 the Buy American Act’s commercial IT exception for federal government procurement.
The signers – ACT | The App Association, Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), Internet Association, Security Industry Association (SIA), TechNet, and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) – represent leading technology and service companies in the United States and globally, in sectors including additive manufacturing, semiconductor design, computer storage, ecommerce platforms, social media, automotive production, and telecommunications, among many others.
The comments are in response to a proposed rule to implement changes to existing Buy American Act (BAA) requirements for federal contracts, as published in the July 30, 2021 Federal Register, which requests feedback on a reevaluation of the existing exception to BAA for commercial information technology (IT), among other issues.
Read the full letter here.
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