So you work for the USA for 20 or 30 or 40 years. You are given a Length of Service pin.

It makes you kinda proud, sure it's a little pin but you know it represents years of hard work and dedicated service.

You get ready to pin it to your lapel and you see that on the underside of the pin, it says "Made In China"

Does that seem right?

Maybe the pins should be made of the palladium GM no longer buys from US producers because they are buying Russian palladium.

Maybe some fine tuning of the Buy American Act needs to be done.

So you work for the USA for 20 or 30 or 40 years. You are given a Length of Service pin.

It makes you kinda proud, sure it's a little pin but you know it represents years of hard work and dedicated service.

You get ready to pin it to your lapel and you see that on the underside of the pin, it says "Made In China"

Does that seem right?

Maybe the pins should be made of the palladium GM no longer buys from US producers because they are buying Russian palladium.

Maybe some fine tuning of the Buy American Act needs to be done.

Oh, if Sam Walton had stayed alive for a few more years. Does anyone remember the ads about how everything Walmart sold was "made in the U.S.A.?" That would have been sometime back in the early 80's. I often wonder that if perhaps, Walmart would have somehow been able to retain that Sam Walton Corporate philosophy, would things still be made here. I doubt it, but Walmart became the nation's largest retailer and has had a tremendous impact on what is made where.

I realize that this argument may not apply to something simple like a pin, however, Reason magazine recently had a very interesting article on the counter-productivity of "Buy America" rules, especially for complex high-tech items. You can read it at, http://reason.com/blog/show/134921.html.

I read an article last night in ENR (see the online version at http://enr.ecnext.com/coms2/article_intr090729BayBridgeSte) about how severe quality flaws in Chinese steel bridge assemblies, fabricated in Shanghai, for the San Fransisco-Oakland Bay Bridge replacement of the East Span from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland are delaying the project. There are problems with cracked welds among other things. This is on a bridge replacement project caused by the last major SF Bay Area Earthquake. I don't understand how Chinese steel or steel fabricated in China is allowed on this project...

So you work for the USA for 20 or 30 or 40 years. You are given a Length of Service pin.

It makes you kinda proud, sure it's a little pin but you know it represents years of hard work and dedicated service.

You get ready to pin it to your lapel and you see that on the underside of the pin, it says "Made In China"

Does that seem right?

Maybe the pins should be made of the palladium GM no longer buys from US producers because they are buying Russian palladium.

Maybe some fine tuning of the Buy American Act needs to be done.

Perhaps you're right about fine tuning the Buy American Act. But the acquisition of service pins for federal employees is no different than just about anything else the government buys - there are tradeoff's between political issues and price/costs. The pins probably were brought from the low bidder and saved money for the taxpayers.

Regarding the San Fransisco-Oakland Bay Bridge replacement project, this is probabaly a CALDOT awarded contract, using FHWA Federal transportation funding with State contribution share. I suppose I should look up the rules on whether or not the BAA applies to these types of State awarded contracts. Certainly, Communist China does qualify under the various Trade Ageeement Acts...

If it's a project that uses Federal Transit Administration funds, then it is subject to the "Buy America" Act (not the "Buy American Act"). Different law, and the FTA's rules are different than the Buy American Act rules for federal contracts. I can dig up the USC and CFR cites if you need them.

As for China, I was not aware that it was covered by any trade agreements. It's not one of the designated countries (WTO GPA, FTA, Least-Developed, etc ) under the FAR.

If it's a project that uses Federal Transit Administration funds, then it is subject to the "Buy America" Act (not the "Buy American Act"). Different law, and the FTA's rules are different than the Buy American Act rules for federal contracts. I can dig up the USC and CFR cites if you need them.

As for China, I was not aware that it was covered by any trade agreements. It's not one of the designated countries (WTO GPA, FTA, Least-Developed, etc ) under the FAR.

'

Thank you, Ron. Here is a link to an article in the American Institute of Steel Construction's "Modern Steel Construction " magazine that provides an overview of the Buy America Act as it relates to FHWA funding of Bridge construction projects executed by the States. http://www.prosperousamerica.org/index2.ph...4&Itemid=58

It doesn't answer my question to self, how Chinese steel or Chinese fabricated steel is allowed on the gigantic CALTRANS (sorry- it's not "CALDOT") Bridge replacement project on the I-80 San Fransisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. I'll dig some more.

From a T.Y. Lin International technical article at http://www.pwri.go.jp/eng/ujnr/tc/g/pdf/23/23-9-2ho.pdf:

"Construction

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span replacement is truly an

international project. Elements of the bridge are supplied by vendors from all over the

world:

• China – Main steel tower, steel orthotropic box girder, main cables

• Japan – Cable saddle, cable wrapping

• Korea – Shear key casting, suspender cables

• United Kingdom – High strength prestressing anchor rods, cable bands

• Canada – Structural detailing, some aggregates

• United States – Piles, pile caps, transition structure (steel box girder) and pipe

beams.

The cranes, barges, temporary towers and many other construction related

equipment also come from fabricators around the world."

Fluor Construction with partner American Bridge Company is the contractor for the Bridge on the $1.43 billion project.

I found another article where it said that CALTRANS restructured the contracts to allow foreign steel after the original bid using US steel came in 23% over the foreign steel bid.