Berry Amendment

The Berry Amendment is Department of Defense only, narrow in scope, and absolute in requirement. Originally enacted in 1941, it requires that certain items purchased with DoD appropriated funds be entirely grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States. No foreign content. No percentage threshold. No price preference escape valve. If the item is on the Berry list and DoD is buying it, it must be 100% domestic.

The covered items are specific: food, clothing, fabrics, fibers, yarns, textiles, tents and tarpaulins, footwear, hand or measuring tools, and flags. For most contractors working on infrastructure or selling safety equipment, Berry will never come up. But if you sell hand tools, work gloves, protective clothing, or measuring equipment to the military, Berry is the law that controls.

The statute is codified at 10 USC 4862 (formerly 10 USC 2533a). It has been amended multiple times since 1941, most recently through successive National Defense Authorization Acts, but the core requirement has never changed: covered items must be entirely domestic.

Berry covers a specific list of product categories. If your product is not on this list, Berry does not apply (though BAA or BABA might).

The standard is "entirely grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States." This is stricter than both BAA and BABA. Every component, every raw material, every stage of processing must be domestic.

For textiles, this means from the fiber (cotton grown in the US, or synthetic fiber produced domestically) through spinning, weaving, cutting, and sewing. A glove sewn in the US from imported fabric fails Berry. A tent assembled in the US from imported webbing fails Berry.

For hand tools, it means from the raw steel through forging, machining, heat treating, and finishing. A wrench forged overseas and finished in the US fails Berry. There is no percentage test, no component cost calculation, no "substantially all" loophole. The requirement is absolute.

Berry is implemented through the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), specifically DFARS 225.7002. Contracting officers must include Berry Amendment clauses in contracts for covered items. The clause requires offerors to certify that all covered items delivered under the contract will be entirely domestic.

The requirement flows down to subcontractors. If a prime contractor subcontracts the supply of Berry-covered items, the subcontractor must also comply. The prime is responsible for ensuring compliance throughout the supply chain.

Berry has narrow exceptions, but they are harder to invoke than BAA or BABA waivers.

Berry is stricter than BAA in every way that matters. BAA requires 65% domestic content (rising to 75% in 2029). Berry requires 100%. BAA has a price preference mechanism that allows foreign products when domestic alternatives cost too much. Berry has no price preference. BAA exempts commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products in many cases. Berry does not exempt COTS for covered items.

Berry applies specifically to DoD purchases of covered items. BAA applies broadly to all direct federal purchases. When both Berry and BAA apply to the same DoD purchase, Berry controls for covered items. You follow the stricter standard.

Berry and BABA are completely separate regimes with almost no overlap. Berry applies to direct DoD purchases of specific product categories. BABA applies to grant-funded infrastructure projects regardless of agency. They target different funding mechanisms and different product types.

In the rare case where a DoD-funded infrastructure project involves Berry-covered items (say, purchasing hand tools for use on a military construction project), both may apply. Berry controls for covered items (100% domestic), and BABA controls for everything else (iron/steel 100%, manufactured products 55%, construction materials 100%).

This is one of the most commonly misunderstood points in federal procurement. The Trade Agreements Act waives the Buy American Act on large federal purchases (above the WTO GPA threshold of approximately $183,000), allowing products from designated countries. But TAA does not waive Berry.

This is a statutory override. Congress explicitly excluded Berry-covered items from trade agreement obligations. A pair of work gloves sold to the Army must be entirely US-made, regardless of purchase size. A set of wrenches sold to the Navy must be entirely US-made, even if the contract exceeds the TAA threshold. No trade agreement changes this.

Berry is enforced by DoD contracting officers under DFARS procedures. The consequences of non-compliance are significant and can escalate quickly.