DOD Foreign-Source Procurement at Prime Contract Level for Selected Products and Procurement Centers

A review of Department of Defense (DOD) prime contract awards of $10,000 and over from fiscal years 1975 to 1977 was conducted to determine the amount of foreign purchases and the extent to which purchases were exempt from provisions of the Buy American Act. There was an increase of about $322.5 million in DOD procurement of foreign-source supplies and equipment in 1977 over 1975. Foreign purchases consisted primarily of services, construction projects, and fuels which were either exempt from the act or which had little or no domestic competition. Of about $4.5 billion of foreign supplies purchased from 1975 to 1977, about $3.6 billion was for fuels and other petroleum-based products. Foreign purchases for supplies and equipment ranged from about 3.6 percent of total procurement at the Defense Industrial Supply Center in Philadelphia to about 1.1 percent at the Tank-Automotive Material Readiness Command in Detroit and .6 percent at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The extent of foreign procurement below the prime contract level is a matter of concern, and information related to such procurement should be obtained.