What is BABA?
The Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act provisions within the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) requires that “the head of each Federal agency must ensure that none of the funds made available for a Federal award for an infrastructure project may be obligated unless all of the iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials incorporated into the project are produced in the United States” (2 CFR 184.1).
Specifically, in the case of manufactured products, the product must be both (a) manufactured in the United States and (b) the cost of components of the manufactured product that are mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States must be greater than 55 percent of the total costs of all the components of the manufactured product (2 CFR Part 184.3). In determining whether the cost of components for manufactured products meets that threshold, manufacturers must use the following instructions quoted from 2 CFR 184.5:
- “For components purchased by the manufacturer,
- The acquisition cost, including transportation costs to the place of incorporation into the manufactured product (whether or not such costs are paid to a domestic firm), and
- Any applicable duty (whether or not a duty-free entry certificate is issued);
- For components manufactured by the manufacturer,
- All costs associated with the manufacture of the component, including transportation costs as described in paragraph (a) above, plus
- Allocable overhead costs, but excluding profit. Cost of components does not include any costs associated with the manufacture of the manufactured product.”
The sum of these costs must exceed 55 percent of the total costs of all the components of the manufactured product for that product to be BABA-compliant.
How Can I Find BABA-Compliant Solar Products?
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is accepting attestations from manufacturers stating what BABA-compliant solar products the manufacturers have available. To date, the following have been submitted:
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Please note that the purpose of this webpage is to provide a public service to potential buyers and awarding agencies by collecting and hosting self-attestations from domestic solar manufacturers that they both manufacture and have available for sale BABA-compliant solar manufactured products. The inclusion of a given manufacturer’s attestation should not be construed as an endorsement or implying the endorsement of any product, service, enterprise, or the like on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. Recipients of federal funding who need to demonstrate BABA compliance must do their own due diligence.
How Can I Join the List of BABA-Compliant Solar Products?
Download the attestation template. Please format your filename as ManufacturedProduct_YYYYMMDD_CompanyName.pdf. The list of completed attestations will be updated at least monthly. Incomplete attestations will not be posted. The U.S. Department of Energy reserves the right to remove any attestation found to be fraudulent, involving a company that is no longer operating, or at the direct request of the company which submitted the attestation. Please limit to one attestation per company per manufactured product type (solar panels, mounting products, or inverter products).
Add your attestation to the publicly searchable list of attestations above.
Have your company listed as self-attesting to BABA compliance on our Solar Manufacturing Map and add your attestation to the publicly searchable list of attestations above.
If you are interested in staying up to date on BABA-compliance for solar manufacturers, solar developers, and governmental awardees to whom BABA applies, sign up for the SETO newsletter.