Home Depot accused of violating Buy American Act

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The photograph on Home Depot's website shows a line of smiling soldiers unloading a truck stacked with power tools and other company wares.

The company says this shows "federal dollars go farther at The Home Depot." San Francisco Attorney Paul Scott says the photo also shows the company providing Chinese-made products in violation of the Buy American Act, and the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating.

A federal judge in April refused Home Depot Inc.'s bid to toss a whistleblower lawsuit Scott and other attorneys filed against the Atlanta-based company. Now the country's largest home improvement retailer is the latest company accused of running afoul of the Buy American Act, a 1933 law aimed at protecting U.S. jobs. The law requires that all materials used in construction of public projects originate in the United States or "designated countries."

Like most protectionist trade provisions, the Buy American Act has its supporters and detractors.

We can see the retailer doing due diligence to verify that his suppliers and foreign suppliers all meet the legal standards of the products they are making and selling if so required, but how is the end user supposed to do that? I can hand you a box full 100 different products, and when I demand that you verify that they were all manufactured and imported according to law, where do you even start? Home Depot starts at the beginning, before they even write the contract with that supplier.

A) The end user is irrelevant. We're talking GSA contracts with the government. I see nothing in the article or anywhere else stating that Home Depot is somehow preventing origin information from getting to the consumer.

It's on every piece of lumber they sell, every product they stock that I've seen except for perhaps bulk bolts and nuts and if you really want to know, you can look on the bins and find the origin info. I'm very aware of where the products I buy originate, and I've never had a problem determining that at Home Depot. Why can't government purchasing agents figure it out?

What is at issue, according to the article, is that Home Depot is allowing government agencies to purchase products that government agencies order, even though there's an obscure, little-enforced, and subject-to-interpretation law that may or may not apply to some products purchased by some agencies for some projects. Apparently the onus is on Home Depot to navigate this legal minefield and prevent government representatives from ordering products that should be illegal for them to order under circumstances that only the government representative knows.

B) With the exception of perhaps raw building materials, virtually everything Home Depot sells is exactly the same product available at numerous other retail outlets, and all of the the origin information is available from the manufacturers. It's also plainly visible on the outside of the box. Unlike many retailers, Home Depot doesn't have a "house" brand that only they are responsible for.

I frankly don't see why professional government purchasing agents are incapable of obtaining information that is readily available to me when I shop at HD.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not familiar with GSA schedules. Perhaps part of the deal with working with the government is that the retailer takes on all legal responsibility of interpreting all laws that might affect purchases.

There is not enough detail in the article to know the facts of the case. Saying the agencies bought through the website doesn’t divulge whether there were special accounts or logins or other means of tracking these orders. If Home Depot knew it had to comply but did not take any measures to handle these government orders then they are morons. Any business doing business with the Feds know there are a morass of regulations and they cannot be handled like other sales or regular clients. that’s just a no brainer. I will also add that all the big box stores want to buy from overseas(usually China) from the get-go. The way many companies are about buying American is disgusting.

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