RFI BUY AMERICAN ACT 3.2026.docx

Responses to this questionnaire will be treated as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)

Please respond to Anna Lake (anna.lake@dla.mil) and Avril Dickerson (avril.dickerson@dla.mil) by April 3, 2026.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) NOTICE ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP). NO SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

The Department of Defense (DOD) Defense Logistics Agency – Troop Support’s Construction & Equipment Directorate is seeking information from industry to assist in determining compliance of containers in the 8150 Federal Supply Code (FSC) with the updated regulations at DFARS 252.225-7001 Buy American and Balance of Payments Program (BAA), published on November 25, 2024.

The updated clause in its entirety is available to view via www.acquisition.gov. A copy of DFARS 252.225-7001 (FEB 2024) is included at the bottom of this questionnaire. See *Item (1).

Question 1:

a) Are there any steel factories/mills in the United States that currently provide steel components required to manufacturer the NSNs listed below? Alternatively, are there any steel factories/mills in the United States that have the capability to provide steel components required to manufacture the NSNs listed below? (Please see DFARS 252.225-7001 (FEB 2024) for the definition of “Steel”)

If there are sources available in the United States, please provide the following information:

Company Name: ________________________________________________________________ Company Address: ______________________________________________________________ Website or POC information: ______________________________________________________

b) Are there any steel factories/mills in a Qualifying Country that currently provides steel components required to manufacturer the NSNs listed below? Alternatively, are there any steel factories/mills in a Qualifying Country that have the capability to provide steel components required to manufacture the NSNs listed below? (Please see DFARS 252.225-7001 (FEB 2024) for the definitions of “Steel” and “Qualifying Country”.)

If there are sources available in a Qualifying County(s), please provide the following information:

Company Name: ________________________________________________________________ Company Address: ______________________________________________________________ Website or POC information: ______________________________________________________

Question 2:

For items such as FSC 8150 Containers that consist wholly or primarily of iron or steel or a combination of both, the definition of “domestic end product” changed in DFARS 252.225-7001 (FEB 2024). Please see the complete text of the clause below, and especially note the language concerning “less than 5 percent of the cost of all the components . . .” In light of this revised definition, please review the list of container NSNs below and advise if your company is capable of providing any of the containers, either as a dealer or a manufacturer, that would be considered a “domestic end product,” as defined in DFARS 252.225-7001 (FEB 2024).

Please fill out the chart below and indicate whether your company is a dealer or manufacturer, and whether your company can provide a domestic container under the new definition. If you are capable of providing a domestic container, please include source information in your response. Note: source information should include the company name, company address, and website or POC information.

*Item (1):

252.225-7001 Buy American and Balance of Payments Program.

Basic. As prescribed in 225.1101 (2)(i) and (2)(ii), use the following clause:

BUY AMERICAN AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS PROGRAM—BASIC (FEB 2024)

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause—

“Commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) item”—

(1) Means any item of supply (including construction material) that is—

(i) A commercial product (as defined in paragraph (1) of the definition of “commercial product” in section 2.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR));

(ii) Sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace; and

(iii) Offered to the Government, under a contract or subcontract at any tier, without modification, in the same form in which it is sold in the commercial marketplace; and

(2) Does not include bulk cargo, as defined in 46 U.S.C. 40102(4), such as agricultural products and petroleum products.

“Component” means an article, material, or supply incorporated directly into an end product.

“Critical component” means a component that is mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States and deemed critical to the U.S. supply chain. The list of critical components is at FAR 25.105.

“Critical item” means a domestic construction material or domestic end product that is deemed critical to the U.S. supply chain. The list of critical items is at FAR 25.105.

“Domestic end product” means—

(1) For an end product that does not consist wholly or predominantly of iron or steel or a combination of both—

(i) An unmanufactured end product mined or produced in the United States; or

(ii) An end product manufactured in the United States if—

(A) The cost of its qualifying country components and its components that are mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States exceeds 60 percent of the cost of all its components, except that the percentage will be 65 percent for items delivered in calendar years 2024 through 2028 and 75 percent for items delivered starting in calendar year 2029, unless an alternate percentage is established for a contract in accordance with FAR 25.101(d), or award is made before January 1, 2030, for a foreign end product that exceeds 55 percent domestic content (see Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 225.103(b)(ii)). The cost of components includes transportation costs to the place of incorporation into the end product and U.S. duty (whether or not a duty-free entry certificate is issued). Components of unknown origin are treated as foreign. Scrap generated, collected, and prepared for processing in the United States is considered domestic. A component is considered to have been mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States (regardless of its source in fact) if the end product in which it is incorporated is manufactured in the United States and the component is of a class or kind for which the Government has determined that—

(1) Sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality are not mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States; or

(2) It is inconsistent with the public interest to apply the restrictions of the Buy American statute; or

(B) The end product is a COTS item.

(2) For an end product that consists wholly or predominantly of iron or steel or a combination of both, an end product manufactured in the United States, if the cost of iron and steel not produced in the United States or a qualifying country constitutes less than 5 percent of the cost of all the components used in the end product (produced in the United States or a qualifying country means that all manufacturing processes of the iron or steel must take place in the United States or a qualifying country, except metallurgical processes involving refinement of steel additives). The cost of iron and steel not produced in the United States or a qualifying country includes but is not limited to the cost of iron or steel mill products (such as bar, billet, slab, wire, plate, or sheet), castings, or forgings, not produced in the United States or a qualifying country, utilized in the manufacture of the end product and a good faith estimate of the cost of all iron or steel components not produced in the United States or a qualifying country, excluding COTS fasteners. Iron or steel components of unknown origin are treated as foreign. If the end product contains multiple components, the cost of all the materials used in such end product is calculated in accordance with the explanation of cost of components in paragraph (1)(ii)(A) of this definition.

“End product” means those articles, materials, and supplies to be acquired under this contract for public use.

“Foreign end product” means an end product other than a domestic end product.

“Predominantly of iron or steel or a combination of both” means that the cost of the iron and steel content exceeds 50 percent of the total cost of all its components. The cost of iron and steel is the cost of the iron or steel mill products (such as bar, billet, slab, wire, plate, or sheet), castings, or forgings utilized in the manufacture of the product and a good faith estimate of the cost of iron or steel components excluding COTS fasteners.

“Qualifying country” means a country with a reciprocal defense procurement memorandum of understanding or international agreement with the United States in which both countries agree to remove barriers to purchases of supplies produced in the other country or services performed by sources of the other country, and the memorandum or agreement complies, where applicable, with the requirements of section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776) and with 10 U.S.C. 2457. Accordingly, the following are qualifying countries:

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Canada

Czech Republic

Denmark

Egypt

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Israel

Italy

Japan

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

“Qualifying country component” means a component mined, produced, or manufactured in a qualifying country.

“Qualifying country end product” means—

(1) An unmanufactured end product mined or produced in a qualifying country; or

(2) An end product manufactured in a qualifying country if —

(i) The cost of the following types of components exceeds 60 percent of the cost of all its components, except that the percentage will be 65 percent for items delivered in calendar years 2024 through 2028 and 75 percent for items delivered starting in calendar year 2029, unless an alternate percentage is established for a contract:

(A) Components mined, produced, or manufactured in a qualifying country.

(B) Components mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States.

(C) Components of foreign origin of a class or kind for which the Government has determined that sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality are not mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States. Components of unknown origin are treated as foreign; or

(ii) The end product is a COTS item.

“United States” means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and outlying areas.

“Steel” means an alloy that includes at least 50 percent iron, between 0.02 and 2 percent carbon, and may include other elements.

(b) This clause implements 41 U.S.C. chapter 83, Buy American. In accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1907, the component test of the Buy American statute is waived for an end product that is a COTS item (see FAR 12.505(a)(1)). Unless otherwise specified, this clause applies to all line items in the contract.

(c) The Contractor shall deliver only domestic end products unless, in its offer, it specified delivery of other end products in the Buy American—Balance of Payments Program Certificate provision of the solicitation. If the Contractor certified in its offer that it will deliver a qualifying country end product, the Contractor shall deliver a qualifying country end product or, at the Contractor’s option, a domestic end product.

(d) The contract price does not include duty for end products or components for which the Contractor will claim duty-free entry.

(End of clause)