Buy American Provision

Overview

The Buy American provision requires School Food Authorities (SFAs) to purchase, to the maximum extent practicable, domestic commodities or products. This provision supports the mission of the child nutrition programs, which is to serve children nutritious meals and support American agriculture. Program regulations that govern this provision apply to SFAs that operate the National School Lunch (NSL) and/or School Breakfast Programs (SBP) and are found at 7 CFR 210.21(d) and 7 CFR 220.16(d).

SFAs comply by:

purchasing domestic commercial food products for the school meals programs;
including Buy American provision language in procurement procedures, solicitations, and contracts;
tracking non-domestic commercial food purchases.

Buy American Language in Procedures, Solicitations, and Contracts

SFAs must include the Buy American provisions in all procurement procedures, solicitations, and contracts.

Example Solicitation and Contract Language

Buy American: The SFA by participating in the National School Lunch and/or School Breakfast Programs is required to purchase domestic commodities and products for school meals to the maximum extent practicable. Domestic commodity or product means an agricultural commodity produced in the U.S. and a food product processed in the U.S. substantially (at least 51 percent of a food product must consist of agricultural commodities that were grown domestically). Selected Contractor shall notify SFA in advance of delivery of any product not compliant with this requirement. Product(s) delivered to the SFA which are not compliant with this requirement will be returned and invoice(s) for those items will not be paid.

Definition of “Substantially”

The USDA defines substantially as follows: “Substantially using agriculture commodities that are produced in the United States” means over 51 percent of a food product must consist of agricultural commodities that were grown domestically.

Tracking Non-Domestic Commerical Food Purchases

SFAs must maintain documentation to justify all non-domestic commercial food purchases. There are two limited exceptions (Availability and Price) when non-domestic foods may be purchased. Exceptions must be tracked using the Buy American Exceptions Tracking Standard Form Template. USDA Foods products/entitlement and other non-food related purchases cannot be included in the total commercial food costs.

SFAs do not need pre-approval or a waiver from the state agency or USDA to use an exception, unless the cap threshold is exceeded. If the cap threshold is exceeded, submit a Buy American accommodation request below.

Availability

The product is listed on the Federal Acquisitions Regulations Nonavailable articles list found at 48 CFR 25.104 and/or is not produced or manufactured in the U.S. in sufficient and reasonably available quantities of a satisfactory quality. Items listed on the Federal Acquisitions Regulations Non-available articles list must be counted toward the cap threshold on non-domestic purchases.

Price

Competitive bids reveal the costs of a U.S. product are significantly higher than the non-domestic product.

Non-Domestic Cap Thresholds

The limit on the percent of total commercial food costs from non-domestic foods will be phased in over 7 school years. This approach allows SFAs to adjust to the new requirement and allows USDA time to collect data on use of the Buy American exceptions.

SY 2025-26 and SY 2026-27 the non-domestic food purchases cap will be 10 percent.
SY 2028-29, SY 2029-30, and SY 2030-31 the non-domestic food purchases cap will be 8 percent.
SY 2031-32 the non-domestic food purchases cap will be 5 percent.

Request Buy American Accommodation

Requesting an accommodation allows the state agency to approve temporary relief for SFAs that demonstrate they cannot meet the SY 2025-26 ten percent cap threshold for non-domestic food purchases.

Submit WI DPI SFA Accommodation Plan SY 2025-26

The DPI will review and accept or reject completed requests for accommodation. The SFA will need to retain a copy.

Buy American Accommodation Process for School Year 2025-2026, SP 09-2025, USDA, 02/20/2025