January 28, 2021
On January 25, the first Monday following his inauguration, President Joe Biden signed an executive order (EO) to strengthen Buy American provisions. This step, as part of Biden’s Build Back Better economic recovery agenda, aims to ensure the federal government invests its taxpayer dollars in domestic businesses to boost employment rates, increase wages, and support U.S. workers. The order requires tightening the implementation of the Buy American Act of 1933, which requires federal agencies to purchase domestic end products and construction materials.
President Donald Trump also focused on Buy American requirements early in his term, but the impact of his efforts was ultimately muted. He first announced the commitment to “buy American and hire American” 10 minutes into his 2017 inaugural address. In Rust Belt states, where manufacturing jobs have declined, Trump’s populist economic message resonated with communities facing job loss and economic pain. Trump
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President Joe Biden signed on Jan. 25, 2021, executive order (EO) Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America s Workers, that directs a process for updating domestic preferences. This EO builds upon a previous executive order signed by former President Donald Trump (EO number 13881) that was just instituted with final regulations earlier this month (as discussed in a previous blog post).
1 The executive action signals that the new administration is focused on domestic preferences in federal procurement.
Further, the order s waivers and review of domestic preference provisions concern a wide swath of domestic preference laws designated as Made in America Laws, which includes all statutes, regulations, rules and EOs relating to Buy America, Buy American or providing a preference for domestic goods, products or materials.
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What: Three days into the new administration, President Biden has issued an additional Executive Order (EO or Order) impacting government contractors, U.S. manufacturers, and grantees and other recipients of federal financial assistance. This time, the EO is aimed at strengthening compliance with “Made In America Laws” such as the “Buy American” and “Buy America” Acts. The EO both adds to some changes to existing laws made by the Trump Administration and extinguishes other Trump EOs regarding Made In America Laws.
First, of particular importance for federal contractors, the Order requires the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council to consider several significant changes to existing Buy American Act rules applicable to federal procurements, including:
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On January 25, 2021, President Biden issued a sweeping Executive Order titled “Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers” (Order), which is intended to be the first step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to commit to American businesses by strengthening domestic preference rules in government procurement. The Order states the administration’s policy that the US government should “use terms and conditions of Federal financial assistance awards and Federal procurements to maximize the use of goods, products, and materials produced in, and services offered in, the United States.” While this is not a novel policy objective indeed, the Trump administration articulated similar goals the Order introduces certain dramatic steps in furtherance of that objective that may ultimately have significant implications for contractors.
DOJ Announces FY 2020 Fraud and FCA Recovery Statistics: What They Mean for 2021, January 20, 2021, Matt Feinberg and Camilla Hundley
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it recovered more than $2.2 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and the False Claims Act (FCA) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 (ending September 30, 2020). DOJ’s FY 2020 fraud and FCA recovery statistics report accompanied the announcement. With a global pandemic that often delayed proceedings, the $2.2 billion in recoveries was DOJ’s lowest haul since 2008. Although the announcement and report revealed a significant decline in recoveries relative to FY 2019,
DOJ’s 2020 fraud and FCA statistics confirmed that the FCA remains an effective enforcement tool about which government contractors and companies that do business with government contractors should be wary in 2021 and beyond. Read more here.