Battling back from the Great Depression, the Hoover administration passed the “Buy American Act” in 1933. The basic premise of the law was to revive and bolster the economy by requiring U.S.-sourced iron and steel mined or produced in the U.S. to be used in projects for the federal government.
In 1982 Congress passed the “Buy America Act,” which expanded the requirement that contractors utilize only U.S.-sourced iron and steel on state transportation projects receiving federal funding. The Buy America Act also expanded the items that must be U.S.-sourced to include manufactured items.
More recently, a further expansion, called the “Build America, Buy America Act” (BABA), was passed in 2021 as part of the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA). Contractors need to be aware of how the law has changed and how it could affect their businesses in new ways.