DoD officials sometimes view products installed by the contractors as commercial-off-the-shelf items without a domestic content requirement. Image: Frontpage/Shutterstock.com
The Defense Department did not comply with requirements of the Buy American Act and a series of executive orders that emphasize use of domestically produced materials in spending $35 million for LED lighting projects, an inspector general audit has found.
The audit found that contracting personnel did not ensure that contractors installed LED product models that were manufactured in the United States or a qualifying country, or that the value of domestic components exceeded the value of non-U.S. components as required.
Reasons included that DoD officials relied on prime contractors to certify that items subcontractors installed were compliant; viewed the contracts for energy savings projects as contracts for services rather than procurement of LED products; and viewed the LED products installed by the contractors as commercial-off-the-shelf items, for which the acquisition regulations waive the domestic content requirement.
In a sample of 46 product models at four DoD installations, auditors found two models marked “Made in China”; 14 with component parts marked that way; 16 that had component parts or the product marked “Mexico,” “Laos,” or “Taiwan”; two marked “Assembled in the U.S.A.”; and 12 not marked with any country of origin.
The report said management agreed with recommendations to ensure that BAA requirements are included and enforced in an energy savings service contract and to require contracting officials to document their reviews of contractors’ BAA compliance; and that the cost of the component parts manufactured in the United States exceeded the cost of all domestic component parts by the required percentage.
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