What do we do when a vendor tells us they can provide an item because it is manufactured in a foreign country (and would violate the Trade Agreements Act)?
The Trade Agreements Act applies to supplies and services and imposes dollar thresholds for the purchase of foreign products. The dollar trhesholds vary – but the threshold is based on the total estimated value of the contract. Vendors are prohibited from selling foreign made items unless from approved countries. The FAR 25.401 provides some exceptions (i.e, SB set asides) that can be applied to ordering on The DOD EMALL. There are several ways this can be accomplished via the DOD EMALL: 1) When using “All of DOD EMALL” , click on the general attribute “SBA”,….Acquisitions set aside for small business are exempt from the Trade Agreements Act and IDIQs with Small Businesses will be exempt. and 2) Change corridor to “Commericial Catalogs”…Many vendors have catalogs posted and these vendors would be able to supply the product since the purchase card order would not be subject to the Trade Agreements Act.
