Posts By Andrew Mohr

As a follow-up to the last MDM installment on federal contract compliance, this article focuses on one area of compliance that applies to most suppliers of goods to the U.S. Federal Government – The Trade Agreements Act (TAA). 
 
The Trade Agreements Act applies to procurements of specified products by most federal agencies that have a dollar value exceeding $194,000. For procurements to which it applies, the TAA supersedes the Buy American Act and governs the acquisition. 

Congress passed the TAA to comply with its responsibilities under the Agreement on Government Procurement (AGP), a multilateral agreement negotiated under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. 

The AGP is also commonly referred to as the …

With the recent report that Grainger has been accused of not complying with its contracts to supply government agencies, distributors that sell to the government should reexamine their own systems to ensure they are in full compliance with obligations under the law.

Many companies are so intent on getting government contract awards that they later forget about having to comply with the numerous obligations tucked in the contract documents. But forgetting or ignoring federal contract obligations is risky business and not recommended.

This is especially true because government agencies are growing more aggressive about auditing contracts. So all government contractors, whether new to the federal …