DOD Must Buy American-Made, Not Chinese, Solar Panels

[jpak]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/dod-must-buy-american-made-not-chinese-solar-panels/

The Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2011, was signed into law last week by President Obama. The full text of the law can be found here.

The act covers a broad range of Defense Department activities. And tucked into the act during the recent lame duck session of congress is this little passage (italics mine):

SEC. 846. PROCUREMENT OF PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES.
(a) CONTRACT REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that each contract described in subsection (b) awarded by the Department of Defense includes a provision requiring the photovoltaic devices provided under the contract to comply with the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a et seq.), subject to the exceptions to that Act provided in the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (19 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) or otherwise provided by law.

That's right, it's the good old Buy American Act of 1933.
And amongst other things -- it means that the military can't use Chinese-made solar panels.
Uh-oh.

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[Xithras]

1. Umm, under the BAA, ALL federal purchases over $2500 must provide this preference.

They include this verbiage in virtually all major federal procurement and construction bills.

It's important to note, by the way, that the BAA has several important exceptions. One important one that I've dealt with before is the "6% differential" rule. If the foreign competitor is 6% cheaper, the BAA is waived because the American bid is considered "unreasonable". Another is the fact that it only applies to purchases for use within the U.S. If the DoD is buying panels for overseas bases, they are free to source those panels anywhere they want.