Congress Expands Buy America Requirements in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Domestic content preference laws, which require that certain goods purchased with federal funds be manufactured primarily in the United States, have received increased attention from both Congress and the executive branch in recent years. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made changes to “Buy America” requirements for federally funded infrastructure projects. Buy America requirements traditionally extend to publicworks transportation and water-related infrastructure. The IIJA expands Buy America coverage to other infrastructure projects funded by federal grants, including transmission facilities; structures and equipment of electric utilities; broadband infrastructure; and real property and buildings. Oversight of expanded Buy America requirements mandated in the IIJA is likely to prove complicated due to other provisions in the law. The IIJA increases the amount of federal infrastructure funding provided directly to local entities, such as counties or municipal bus systems, rather than passing through state governments or metropolitan planning organizations. This may also extend to nontransportation infrastructure projects, such as tribal broadband deployments, where eligible entities include tribal governments, tribal colleges or universities, or native corporations not previously engaged in overseeing Buy America requirements.