Made in America
Buying and hiring American is the key to building economic prosperity and guaranteeing our national security.
Economic and national security go hand in hand. Relying on foreign suppliers creates dangerous vulnerabilities that can be exploited during national emergencies—from global pandemics to natural disasters. Buying and hiring American will help rebuild our industrial base and ensure greater resilience in any future crises. When critical industries including defense, healthcare, and manufacturing invest in American companies instead of foreign competitors, they create high-paying jobs, enrich American communities, and guarantee the future will be Made in America.
With that in mind, we provide relevant market intelligence and resources to those interested in doing business with the U.S. government. Our goal is to maximize opportunities for American producers to supply goods and services to the federal government.
Domestic Preferences Support Agency Missions for the American Public
Various laws and regulations establish requirements for U.S. government procurement and assistance to support American manufacturing. Exceptions to these laws and regulations are allowable under certain conditions. For example, a waiver or exception from the obligation to “Buy American” will be allowed if a needed product is not made in the U.S. in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality or if it is made domestically, but not available at a reasonable cost. To ensure that waivers from Made in America laws apply clearly, consistently, and transparently, agencies will submit proposed waivers along with justification to the Made in America Office for review.
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See all submitted waivers
See a list of all submitted waivers by federal agencies. The list includes filtering options for waivers that are still under review. -
Find links to federal agencies
See a list of federal agency websites where comments on Federal Financial Assistance waivers can be made. Please note that some agencies do not have FFA pages listed. Please reach out to the specific agency for more information.
Doing Business with the U.S. Government
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Become a Federal Contractor
The U.S. government seeks to maximize opportunities for small and disadvantaged businesses. There are a host of resources and free websites with information to help contractors complete the registration process and navigate the federal marketplace.
The Small Business Administration (SBA.gov) website has lots of information for small businesses.
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Register Your Business
Registration at the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is required to do business with the U.S. government.
- Update, renew, or check the status of your entity registration
- Search for entity registration and exclusion records
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How to Get Started with GSA Schedules
The GSA Schedules program is one of the most popular platforms for small and large businesses to reach federal, state, and local government agencies. It supports tens of billions in sales of commercial products and services annually.
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Already a Federal Contractor?
Have questions about waivers from Made in America laws? Please reach out to the Made in America Office.
Frequently Asked Questions
President Trump's Made in America policies are accessible on the White House website.
You may submit comments and questions to the OMB Made in America Office at MBX.OMB.MIAwaivers@omb.eop.gov.
Visit our section above on "Doing business with the U.S. government."
Provide any comments regarding a waiver to the OMB Made in America Office at MBX.OMB.MIAwaivers@omb.eop.gov
The U.S. government is the single largest purchaser of consumer goods in the world. Almost half of that amount is spent on manufactured products. From helicopter blades to trucks to medicine, it is a major buyer in a number of markets for goods and services. Ensuring clear, consistent, and transparent implementation of Buy American policies will help the U.S. government leverage its purchasing power more effectively to advance the competitiveness of U.S. industries.
Strengthening Made in America policies will send clear market signals to give suppliers confidence that manufacturing in the U.S., with America’s workers, will provide greater opportunities. Ensuring Made in America laws are implemented clearly and consistently across government will support domestic suppliers.
No. What’s the difference? There is no single “Buy America” statute. Rather, there are a number of statutes that require those receiving federal assistance to prefer goods, products, and materials made in the United States. For example, the Federal Transit Administration’s grant-making authority requires the steel, iron, and manufactured goods used in projects must be produced in the United States. The Buy American Act (BAA) is the primary law requiring the federal government to prefer domestic goods and manufactured products when making purchasing decisions. The BAA and implementing regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provide a two-part test for determining if a product qualifies as a domestic end product: (i) the item must be manufactured in the United States, and (ii) more than 65 percent of the cost of all the component parts must be manufactured in the United States. The FAR provides various waivers and exceptions to the BAA. By contrast, Buy America laws are applicable to federal financial assistance (such as grants), not procurement.
The domestic content threshold increased to 65 percent on February 15, 2024 and will increase further to 75 percent in calendar year 2029. In the event no domestic products can meet the new thresholds or the cost to acquire them would be unreasonable, there is a 55 percent fallback threshold in effect from October 25, 2022 through December 31, 2029
MEP is a public-private partnership with Centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico dedicated to serving small and medium-sized manufacturers. Supplier Scouting is a successful nationwide MEP service that identifies domestic manufacturers to produce hard-to-source and critically needed supply chain items including personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies. Supplier Scouting can be applied on a national, regional or local scale. By leveraging our extensive relationships and knowledge of U.S. manufacturer capabilities, we are able to identify manufacturers’ production and technical capabilities and connect them with supply chains of larger companies and government agencies. For more information about Supplier Scouting, please contact the MEP supplier scouting team at Scouting@nist.gov.
For the complete provision, please visit Title IX – Build America, Buy America Act of the full Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
