Buy American Act and TAA for Pallet Rack

Country-of-origin compliance on a federal pallet rack buy is governed by three different statutes that often get conflated: the Buy American Act, the Trade Agreements Act, and (on certain DoD buys) the Berry Amendment. They have different scopes, different thresholds, and different remedies when a domestic source is not available. This article is a procurement-side reference for contracting officers, federal facility managers, and federal procurement consultants evaluating pallet rack and warehouse equipment buys.

Hammerhead Warehouse Systems holds GSA Schedule MAS contract 47QSMS24D007E with TAA compliance built into the Schedule terms. The discussion below applies generally to the warehouse equipment category, with Hammerhead-specific practice noted where relevant.

In this guide

• Three statutes, three different scopes
• How TAA applies to GSA Schedule pallet rack
• TAA-designated countries
• What "substantially transformed" means in the rack supply chain
• US-domestic manufacturers commonly accepted as TAA-compliant
• Country-of-origin documentation: what to expect
• The Letter of Supply chain
• Buy American Act waivers and TAA exceptions
• How Hammerhead handles BAA/TAA on a project
• Frequently asked questions

Three statutes, three different scopes

The Buy American Act, the Trade Agreements Act, and the Berry Amendment are often grouped under "Buy American" in everyday procurement talk. They are not the same.

Buy American Act (BAA). Enacted in 1933 and implemented through FAR Part 25, Subpart 25.1. BAA applies to federal procurements below the WTO GPA trade-agreement threshold ($174,000 for supplies per FAR 25.402, FAC 2026-01 effective March 13, 2026). It does not bar foreign products outright. Instead, it adds a price evaluation factor to non-domestic offers under FAR 25.106: 20% if the lowest domestic offer is from a large business, 30% if from a small business. A "domestic end product" is a US-mined, produced, or manufactured article whose component costs are predominantly US in origin, with the domestic content threshold rising on a published schedule through 2029. BAA applies primarily to open-market buys, not to orders against a GSA Schedule contract.

Trade Agreements Act (TAA). Enacted in 1979 and implemented through FAR Part 25, Subpart 25.4. TAA applies to federal procurements at or above the trade-agreement threshold and to all GSA Schedule contracts regardless of order value. TAA is a country-of-origin rule, not a price preference: products that are not US-made or substantially transformed in a designated country are prohibited, not penalized. Because the underlying GSA MAS contract value typically exceeds the threshold by orders of magnitude, every product offered on Schedule must satisfy TAA at award.

Berry Amendment. Codified at 10 U.S.C. § 2533a. A DoD-only domestic-origin restriction on specific categories: food, clothing, textiles, hand tools, measuring tools, and a short list of related items. Pallet rack, shelving, mezzanines, and warehouse storage equipment are not Berry-covered categories. Berry can become relevant on a project that incidentally pulls in covered components, such as cargo netting or specialized cold-storage garments, but the default rule for a warehouse equipment buy is TAA on Schedule and BAA off Schedule.

For pallet rack specifically, the practical hierarchy is:

1. On a GSA Schedule order: TAA applies. Every component must be US-made or substantially transformed in a designated country.
2. On a federal non-Schedule open-market buy below $174K: BAA applies. Non-domestic products are not barred but get a price evaluation factor added.
3. On a federal non-Schedule open-market buy at or above $174K: TAA applies. Same country-of-origin rule as Schedule.
4. On a DoD buy that bundles textile or food-service components: Berry may apply to the covered components, not the rack.

Quick reference: BAA vs TAA vs Berry Amendment

How TAA applies to GSA Schedule pallet rack

The GSA Multiple Award Schedule incorporates TAA through the GSAR 552.225-71 Trade Agreements Certificate. Every Schedule offer includes the contractor's certification that all offered products are US-made or substantially transformed in a designated country. The contracting officer is entitled to rely on that certification for order placement, but is also free to request supporting documentation on a specific buy, especially at higher order values or where supply-chain concerns are documented.

In practice, three procurement events trigger documentation requests:

• Order above an agency threshold. Many agencies set internal thresholds (often $500K or $1M) above which procurement officers must obtain country-of-origin documentation in the order file, not just rely on the Schedule-level certification.
• Project with permit or inspection components. Building permits and seismic compliance reviews can require manufacturer documentation independent of TAA. The TAA package gets pulled in alongside.
• Audit or post-award review. Inspector General reviews and CPARS evaluations sometimes spot-check country-of-origin documentation against actual delivered product.

The contractor maintains the documentation chain. The contracting officer holds the certification. The Schedule structure means the heavy compliance work happens at the master-contract level, not on every order.

TAA-designated countries

FAR 25.003 defines four categories of designated countries. The full list is maintained at the FAR and the USTR and is updated when trade-agreement membership changes. The categories below summarize what was in force at this article's publish date; verify against the current FAR text at order time.

Many FTA partners also appear on the WTO GPA list; the dual designation provides multiple bases for TAA compliance. The "Notably NOT designated" row covers the largest non-Western manufacturing economies, which is why source-country verification at the SKU level is essential: a rack assembled in the US from components originating in a non-designated country may not qualify, depending on whether substantial transformation has occurred.

This list shapes the rack supply chain considerably. A pallet rack assembly built primarily of components made in China cannot be offered on Schedule, even if the final assembly happens in the US, unless the US assembly amounts to substantial transformation. That substantial-transformation test is the most-litigated piece of TAA compliance, and it is where the rack category requires careful sourcing.

What "substantially transformed" means in the rack supply chain

Under FAR 25.001, an article is "substantially transformed" in a country when it is changed in that country into a new and different article with a different name, character, or use. For warehouse equipment, the test usually turns on:

• Forming and welding. Roll-forming, press-braking, or welding raw coil or sheet steel into a structural rack member generally constitutes substantial transformation. Importing raw steel coil and forming uprights or beams from it in a US plant typically qualifies the finished member as US-origin.
• Painting and finishing. Powder-coating and finishing alone do not constitute substantial transformation. Importing fully formed uprights from a non-designated country and powder-coating them in the US is not enough.
• Final assembly. Assembling pre-formed components into a complete rack system can constitute substantial transformation depending on the value added, the complexity of the assembly, and whether the resulting article has a new commercial identity. For modular pallet rack, assembly alone is not always sufficient; the underlying components usually need to be designated-country origin.

The conservative posture, and the one most contracting officers expect, is that the structural members themselves (uprights, beams, decking, anchors) are produced from raw material in a designated country. Final installation in the US is independent of the manufacturing-origin test.

US-domestic manufacturers commonly accepted as TAA-compliant

Several pallet rack and warehouse equipment manufacturers operate US production points and are commonly accepted by federal contracting officers as TAA-compliant sources. The summary below is descriptive, not exhaustive: country of origin remains a per-item determination at the SKU level, and operating US production does not automatically mean every product line from a manufacturer is US-made. Verify before order placement.

For a given federal project, the rack package is typically sourced from one or two structural manufacturers from the table above, paired with decking and accessory hardware from US-domestic or other designated-country suppliers selected per project. Anchor hardware and accessory components are sourced separately, also from designated-country suppliers.

Sourcing note for contracting officers. A manufacturer's US production point is one data input. Specific product lines may include imported subcomponents that do not qualify under substantial transformation. Ask for the SKU-level country-of-origin certification, not just the manufacturer's name. Hammerhead provides this at the order level.

Country-of-origin documentation: what to expect

For a typical federal pallet rack order, the documentation package on delivery and closeout includes the following.

At the order level:

• A Schedule-incorporated TAA certification at the contract level, referenced by the order.
• An order-specific country-of-origin statement listing each major product line and the country of substantial transformation.

At the SKU level (on request or at order thresholds):

• Manufacturer country-of-origin certifications for the racking system, decking, anchors, and any specialty hardware.
• Mill test reports or material certifications for structural components.
• Buy American Act content statements if the order is BAA-covered rather than (or in addition to) TAA-covered.

At project closeout:

• Manufacturer Letter of Supply chain, when requested, covering the major product lines.
• Country-of-origin documentation organized in the closeout package alongside stamped drawings, permit sign-offs, and as-built drawings.

The closeout package is the same one that supports CPARS evaluation, agency Inspector General review, and any post-award supply-chain audit. Building it during the project, not after, is part of how a Schedule-fluent contractor stays out of compliance trouble.

The Letter of Supply chain

A Letter of Supply is a manufacturer's signed commitment to a Schedule holder confirming that the manufacturer will supply offered products at quantities sufficient to meet government demand for the Schedule period. Federal contracting officers evaluating a Schedule holder's response to an RFQ often ask for the LoS chain because it shortens the supply-chain due diligence considerably.

A typical Letter of Supply covers:

1. Identification of the Schedule holder, the manufacturer, and the offered products.
2. Trade Agreements Act certification with country-of-origin information for the products listed.
3. Commercial Product Certification confirming the products are commercially available and offered to non-government customers.
4. Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) certification if recycled-content claims apply.
5. Environmental attribute certifications (ENERGY STAR, WaterSense, EPA-designated) if applicable.
6. Confirmation that the manufacturer will support government orders for the Schedule period.

A Schedule holder that can produce signed Letters of Supply across the rack, decking, and accessory categories is demonstrating supply-chain depth, not just paperwork. It is one of the more reliable signals that the contractor handles federal work as a primary line of business, not as a side market.

Buy American Act waivers and TAA exceptions

Both statutes include defined exception mechanisms. They are not interchangeable.

Buy American Act waivers under FAR 25.103:

1. Domestic non-availability. The product or class of products is not mined, produced, or manufactured in the US in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities of satisfactory quality.
2. Unreasonable cost. Applying the BAA price evaluation factor would make the lowest domestic offer unreasonably costly.
3. Public interest. The head of the agency determines that applying BAA would be inconsistent with the public interest.
4. Resale. Articles for use outside the United States, or for use by the agency in lieu of immediate use, or for stocking purposes.

TAA exceptions under FAR 25.408:

A contracting officer can determine that no offer of a designated-country end product is reasonably available, after which an offer of a non-designated-country product can be accepted. The finding has to be documented in the contract file. This is a higher bar than the BAA waivers; it is a determination, not a routine exception.

For pallet rack specifically, exception cases are uncommon. The major structural categories (selective, drive-in, push-back, pallet flow, cantilever) all have multiple US-domestic and designated-country sources. Exception cases tend to involve specialty subassemblies (some automated shuttle components, proprietary lift mechanisms) or accessories where the manufacturer base is concentrated outside designated countries.

How Hammerhead handles BAA/TAA on a project

For a federal Schedule order against 47QSMS24D007E, Hammerhead's standard practice on country-of-origin compliance is:

1. Schedule-level TAA certification carried through the order automatically via GSAR 552.225-71.
2. Order-level country-of-origin statement included in the proposal package, listing the proposed rack, decking, and accessory sources.
3. Manufacturer Letters of Supply assembled at the order level on request or at agency threshold. Decking suppliers typically provide LoS as part of their standard Schedule support; structural rack manufacturers supply LoS or equivalent certifications on a per-order basis.
4. SKU-level country-of-origin documentation delivered with the closeout package, organized alongside permit sign-offs, stamped as-built drawings, and load placards.
5. Substitution coordination when a proposed source is replaced during execution. Any substitution at the manufacturer level is documented to the contracting officer with updated country-of-origin certification before installation.

For the broader procurement walkthrough (Schedule lookup, eBuy, BPA, IDIQ structure), see the companion article How to Buy Pallet Rack on GSA Schedule. For state and local cooperative purchasing buyers, see GSA Cooperative Purchasing for Pallet Rack.

For project-specific country-of-origin questions, contact the Hammerhead government POC at gov@hammerheadws.com.

The credentials and capabilities list for federal projects is at /government. The most recent federal project on the Schedule is the GSA Selective Rack Replacement for the US Air Force in San Diego.