VA RFQ wants Trade Agreements Act compliant gloves. How do I tell if ours qualify?

The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliant gloves must be either entirely grown, produced, or manufactured in the United States or a designated country as defined by the FAR, or substantially transformed in the United States or a designated country into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of the article or articles from which it was transformed. The country of origin for TAA compliance is where the product is manufactured or where substantial transformation occurs, not where it is merely packaged. Since your current gloves are made overseas and you cannot confirm substantial transformation in a designated country, they likely do not qualify.

The FAR clause 52.225-5, Trade Agreements, applies to this Request for Quotation (RFQ). You need to check the list of designated countries in FAR 25.003 or consult with your supplier for a formal certification of origin. If your gloves do not meet the TAA requirements, you cannot quote on this RFQ. Submitting a quote for non-compliant products would be a misrepresentation, even if others are doing it.

Match the country where the gloves were manufactured or substantially transformed to the designated country list in FAR 25.003. Packaging alone does not set country of origin.

FAR 25.003 defines a designated country end product as a WTO GPA country end product, an FTA country end product, a least developed country end product, or a Caribbean Basin country end product. FAR 25.001(c)(2) sets the trade agreements country of origin test as substantial transformation: transforming an article into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from the original article. Boxing finished gloves or applying a label fails that test because the article stays gloves with the same name, character, and use.

FAR 52.225-5 Trade Agreements, when in the RFQ, limits award to U.S.-made or designated country end products. FAR 52.225-6 Trade Agreements Certificate requires you to certify each end product is U.S.-made or designated country, and to list any that are not. FAR 25.403(c)(1) says for WTO GPA covered acquisitions the government acquires only U.S.-made or designated country end products unless those offers are not received or are insufficient.

Get a written country of origin statement from the manufacturer naming where the gloves were manufactured or substantially transformed. Match that country to FAR 25.003. If it is not the United States and not a designated country, list the gloves under 52.225-6(b) as other end products. The contracting officer then decides under 52.225-6(c) whether offers of compliant products are available. Do not sign a clean certificate for a non-designated origin.