July 30, 2021 – The White House earlier this week announced a new proposed rule that aims to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical goods and increase the threshold for products to qualify as American-made as part of his commitment to bolstering the number of products made in the U.S.
In January, President Biden signed an executive order to launch a government-wide initiative to increase the use of federal procurement to support American manufacturing.
The administration says the proposed rule would immediately raise the threshold for products to qualify to be bought by the federal government. Currently, 55% of the value of the products’ component parts have to be manufactured in the U.S. to qualify, but the rule would raise that threshold to 60%.
It then aims to raise the threshold to 65% by 2024 and 75% by 2029.
The rule would also apply enhanced price preferences to some critical products to support their development and expansion of domestic supply chains. The enhanced price preferences aim to provide a source of stable demand for domestically produced critical products, according to The Hill.
Additionally, it would establish a reporting requirement for critical products to bolster compliance with the Buy America Act of 1982 and improve the government’s data on the amount of domestic content in federal purchases.
The proposed rule will be published with a 60-day comment period, which includes a public meeting and a review of all the comments, before a final rule is issued.