Free Critical Thinking About Buy American Requirements

Specify the main points of the Buy American Requirements

Buy American Requirement is a government regulation that is implemented for various programmes that are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The ACT was introduced in 1963 in order to make the federal government buy some of the equipments from the American companies. The Act does not have a provision for personal or professional services and therefore it entirely deals with goods. The regulation is relevant in various fields that include maintenance, construction,alteration and repair of the various public works and buildings. According to the regulation, most of the manufactured goods such as iron, steel, and gold used for various projects must be bought in the United States. There are certain situations in which waivers are offered, and it is the mandate of each of the agencies to determine after which they are published in the Federal Register. The regulation is not applied in some circumstances such as when some of the materials used for construction are manufactured in “Recovery Act Designated Countries”based on the value and the magnitude of the contract in place. Countries that have different trade agreements and those that are considered developing are termed domestic when the value of their public works surpass $7.443M(Murphy, 2009). Three waiver situation exists that can lead to the exclusion of the regulation. The first situation that can lead to the exclusion is if the goods produced in US are not enough or are of low quality. When the goods produced in the US does not meet the required demand, they can be purchased from other countries. The second situation is if the cost of the intended project will increase by close to about 25% if those goods are bought in the US. The last circumstance is if the public interest stands to be affected negatively if they opt to buy the domestic products. The regulation allows the various parts of an intended machine to originate from other countries provided that the final form of the product will be assembled in the US. The law also does not allow the tools and some of the machineries used by the labourers to be made in US. The regulation does not also give a provision on maintenance of the adequate records for documentation of all the procurements in align with the Buy American Act. The regulation does not apply to procurements in the micropurchase threshold in align to the Federal acquisition act that was enacted in 1994. The main aim of the Act is to discourage other businesses to sell foreign products to the government. When the US government only focuses on buying products that are made in their country, that encourages most of the companies and the businesses to make products that meet the government pricing and demand. Some problems that arise from purchasing materials from other countries is that they might not meet the quality required and as such they could contain materials or chemicals that do not meet the expected American standards as exhibited by some of the materials from China that contain lead(Bhattacharyya, 2006). Determine the substantive means by which the Buy American Requirements would benefit both VectorCal and your new company. Provide a rationale for your response. Buy American Act is beneficial and important to all the manufacturing companies in the US as it helps in eliminating thecompetition that arises in the international market. Would the government not have introduced the Act, other overseas countries would have established their market in the country as a result leading to competition that threatens the American manufacturers. The other countries would have had more economic benefits to the American Society and the internal player within the country would not have developed the way it is today. The regulation gave away for the American companies to develop, and this even motivated most of the local companies to grow and develop technologically. This law, however, does not limit the use of better and improved products from other countries and as a matter of fact, the regulation allows the manufacturers in the US to make use of the best technology from other countries in order to improve the quality of some of the domestic products that they make. The regulation has made America defense stronger and has better equipments that make use of the advanced technology in the country. Because of this Act, the American navigation companies got a higher rank in the entire system of navigation in the whole globe.The Act is important to vectorial company as it guarantees it the stability of their production by eliminating the competitors. The Act also protects the company as it eliminates international competition from other companies. The Act would not help my company as such because it is not related to the production of goods but rather the provision of financial services. Analyze the fundamental ways in which the Buy American Requirements are contradictory to a capitalistic ethos, given that the U.S. government claims to promote competition, and the U.S. espouses a free market ideology (i.e., capitalism). Support your answer with two examples of such a contradiction(Bhattacharyya, 2006). Based on capitalism we are a society that puts a price on everything in the society including the relationship that exists between us. The belief that an infinite growth cannot take place on a finite planet is held by many individuals who are capitalists. The Buy American Requirements Act is contradictory to the capitalistic ethos as it even gives a chance for other local and international companies by giving waivers. Based on But American Requirments, the local companies are protected from competition by other international manufacturing companies. The US government claims to promote competition while in the real sense it does not value competition or establish free markets. The regulation does not give a chance to other companies, or rather manufacturers to exercise their capability in the manufacturing of goods such as gold and steel in America. Through the Act, there is no existence of the free market as the US companies are protected from competition and the foreign companies are not allowed to venture into the market. Robinson, FS,. (2014) Hold abelief that the idea of the free market has not failed and as a matter of fact serves some of the deep values in human beings. The case today facing US is the implementation and the consequences that result from the BuyAmerica Act. The regulation may appear contradictory in the case of a free market that has free competition of both the sellers and the buyers, but in the end the Act is important as it helps in protecting the local producers. The law only wants the native individuals from the American society in the various manufacturing plants in the country which is not in align with the capitalistic nature(Murphy, 2009). Debate whether or not you believe that the exceptions to the Buy American Requirements set forth by the government are fair and advantageous to the US economy. Provide a rationale for your response. The main exception that is provided by the government based on the Act states that if the cost of the domestic product increases the project cost by 25% then an individual gets a more economical product. The product made must also be of high value. If the requirement stated is not met a foreigner cannot buy a product, and this may lead to an increase in the cost and the expenditure of the government on such projects. The shortcoming of this exception is that many companies might tend to abuse it and as such increase their profits, and it turn get low-quality products. If all the manufacturers decided to increase the profit and reduce the amount spent on buying the foreign products, then the Act will lose it purposes completely. The exceptions provided by the government such as if the goods produced in the US are not enough or are of low quality is not fair to some extent to the US economy. Because of that waiver most of the international companies will strive to produce quality products thus making the domestic manufacturers also produce goods of high quality. In circumstances in which the overseas companies produce goods that are of quality as compared to the local manufacturers, it will not be advantageous to the US economy since such companies will only develop their home countries in return. The law does not apply to professional or human service, and that is not fair to the American economy. There might be an influx of individuals from other countries in the American society and as such they might end up picking most of the lucrative jobs in the country. When a large number of individuals from other countries are employed in America, the chances of the native citizens missing out jobs are very high and that is harmful to the economy especially when it comes to the tax payment system. Some of the exceptions are therefore not fair or advantageous to the American system(Murphy, 2009). Determine the key advantages and disadvantages of using the Buy American Requirements with the navigation system that both VectorCal and your company produce. Justify your response. Buy American Requirements would negatively affect VectorCal in terms of the amount of profits made by the company. The profit made by the company would reduce due to the need to buy some of the domestic products at a high cost. US would stand to benefit since they do not comprise matters pertaining to their security and, therefore, will opt for quality products when making their navigation system.Since US is not concerned about the security, but the quality of the products made, Vectorcal will have to adjust and make quality products that can be available to the government. The unreasonable cost of the domestic products is also perceived a shortcoming to Vectorcal company. VectorCal stands to benefit due to the protection provided by the Act. Buy American Requirements protects Vectorcal from competitors especially overseas companies that pose a threat to the US market. By protecting the company from some of the potential threats, it guarantees continued production of goods. My company won't be affected much by the Act since it mainly provides financial services and is not concerned with the production of materials such as iron and steel that have to be produced in the country(Bhattacharyya, 2006). The Act does not give a provision of professional services accorded to an individual and therefore it does not regulate competitors in the market posing my company to many competitors.

References

Bhattacharyya, A. K. (2006). Principles and practice of cost accounting. New-Delhi: Prentice-
Hall of India.
Murphy, J. E. (2009). Guide to contract pricing: Cost and price analysis for contractors,
subcontractors, and government agencies (5th ed.). Vienna, VA: Management Concepts
Campanella, J. (1999). Principles of quality costs: Principles, implementation, and use.
Milwaukee, Wisc: ASQC Quality Press.