Posted on Sep 18, 2015
U.S. Military Violating Fed. Law by Not Buying American Products: Why is GOP Allowing it?
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"U.S. Military Violating Fed. Law by Not Buying American Products"
From: Ring of Fire
A recent report from the Pentagon’s inspector general [IG] has concluded the U.S. military is ignoring domestic preference laws known as the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment. As reported by AllGov in its article Half of Navy Contracts Violate Buy American Rules:
The Buy American Act mandates the federal government give preference to products made in the U.S. when it makes bulk purchases of more than $3,000. Similarly, the Berry Amendment says the Pentagon can’t buy products such as clothing and textiles outside of the U.S. when the purchases are at least $150,000.
The IG, however, found that nearly half of the Navy contracts it reviewed violated the Berry Amendment, and a third of another sampling of contracts violated the Buy American Act. Many of the foreign-sourced items purchased were hand and measuring tools, such as crescent wrenches, according to the report. Another item that came to the IG’s attention was foreign-made synthetic fiber to be used in bulletproof vests.
. . . .
Spencer Brignac of the Project on Government Oversight noted that a previous IG report revealed that a review of 50 U.S. Army contracts found about half of them violated the Buy American Act.
http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/09/u-s-military-violating-fed-law-by-not-buying-american-products-why-is-gop-allowing/
From: Ring of Fire
A recent report from the Pentagon’s inspector general [IG] has concluded the U.S. military is ignoring domestic preference laws known as the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment. As reported by AllGov in its article Half of Navy Contracts Violate Buy American Rules:
The Buy American Act mandates the federal government give preference to products made in the U.S. when it makes bulk purchases of more than $3,000. Similarly, the Berry Amendment says the Pentagon can’t buy products such as clothing and textiles outside of the U.S. when the purchases are at least $150,000.
The IG, however, found that nearly half of the Navy contracts it reviewed violated the Berry Amendment, and a third of another sampling of contracts violated the Buy American Act. Many of the foreign-sourced items purchased were hand and measuring tools, such as crescent wrenches, according to the report. Another item that came to the IG’s attention was foreign-made synthetic fiber to be used in bulletproof vests.
. . . .
Spencer Brignac of the Project on Government Oversight noted that a previous IG report revealed that a review of 50 U.S. Army contracts found about half of them violated the Buy American Act.
http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/09/u-s-military-violating-fed-law-by-not-buying-american-products-why-is-gop-allowing/
United States
Import and Export
Foreign Policy
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 2
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I can speak a little to the Berry Amendment piece, coming from the vendor side.
US supplies cannot fulfill the "best value" aspect of many issues, because of short turn around times, or because $3000 is a really small threshold. It may not seem like it but $40/sling (tactical 3 point) and 100 slings (1 company) = $4000. That applies to anything that has 1 "thread" of cloth (textile) on it.
This is a product of "good intentions gone awry."
The US used to be an Industrial Nation, now we're an Information Nation, with an Industrial Capability. As we were shifting away from one ere to the other, we made laws like Buy American & Berry Amendment which were designed to protect US Industry. The problem is that our capability has slowly been dwindling to the point where it has pit has become "convenient" (a la corrupt) to not follow the law.
So... basically if you make the bureaucracy so complex that it becomes not worth following, people will choose the path of least resistance.
US supplies cannot fulfill the "best value" aspect of many issues, because of short turn around times, or because $3000 is a really small threshold. It may not seem like it but $40/sling (tactical 3 point) and 100 slings (1 company) = $4000. That applies to anything that has 1 "thread" of cloth (textile) on it.
This is a product of "good intentions gone awry."
The US used to be an Industrial Nation, now we're an Information Nation, with an Industrial Capability. As we were shifting away from one ere to the other, we made laws like Buy American & Berry Amendment which were designed to protect US Industry. The problem is that our capability has slowly been dwindling to the point where it has pit has become "convenient" (a la corrupt) to not follow the law.
So... basically if you make the bureaucracy so complex that it becomes not worth following, people will choose the path of least resistance.
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