How to Monitor Trade Agreement Act Compliance

Contracting officers monitor foreign trade for compliance with U.S. trade laws.

The Trade Agreement Act promotes international trade between the United States and participating foreign countries who have signed international trade agreements, such as the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement, the Free Trade Act and the Israeli Trade Act. The Trade Agreement Act fosters growth of an open world trading system, improves international trade rules and enforces those rules to expand commerce for the United States. This international agreement allows trade for eligible end-products to receive equal consideration with domestic offers. As the contracting officer, required monitoring for trade agreement compliance is based on determining the origin of business services from the participating country and the acquisition value for trade applicability.

Instructions

1. Review compliance rules regarding the publicizing and response times of agencies who need to transmit a notice regarding the proposal contract to the Government-Wide Point of Entry system. Establish a solicitation response time giving all potential agencies a reasonable time period for response to every proposed contract action.

2. Monitor trade agreement compliance involving the preparation of a synopsis report sent to the Government-wide Point of Entry. Review the sent synopsis for required data including the date and year, the contracting office address and zip code, proposed solicitation number, classification code, and the closing response date.

3. Refrain from including technical requirements in solicitation on the sole basis of barring eligible product acquisition. Explain that agencies must submit offers in the English language and in U.S. dollars, and accept offers following these guidelines. Give notice to WTO GPA and FTA countries regarding unsuccessful agency offers.

4. Determine the value of acquisition based on the trade agreement and the amount that equals or exceeds dollar threshold for applicability regarding the Trade Agreement Act. Review for any revisions made by the U.S. Trade Representative every two years. Examine the type of contract and eligibility. As of October 2010, supply contracts from WTO GPA have a $203,000 threshold, FTA countries have $70,079, $25,000 or $203,000; and the Israeli Trade Act has a requirement of $50,000. Service contracts involving the WTO GPA have thresholds of $203,000 and the FTA values are $70,079 or $203,000. Construction contracts consist of value acquisitions of $7,804,000 for WTO GPA and $7,804,000 or $9,110,318 for FTA.

References

• United States Printing Office: Custom Duties - Title 19, Chapter 13, Section 2501
• United States Printing Office: Custom Duties - Title 19, Chapter 13, Section 2515
• Federal Acquisition Regulations: Subpart 25.4 - Trade Agreements
• Federal Acquisition Regulations: Subpart 5.2 - Synopsis of Proposed Contract Actions

Resources

• Federal Acquisition Regulations: Subpart 25.5 - Evaluating Foreign Offers; Supply Contracts