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WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) (CRS Report for Congress)

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Release Date Revised Aug. 9, 2024
Report Number IF11651
Report Type In Focus
Authors Andres B. Schwarzenberg
Source Agency Congressional Research Service
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  • Premium   Revised Sept. 22, 2023 (2 pages, $24.95) add
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Summary:

During the past 50 years, the United States has played a prominent role in developing international trade rules on government procurement. Most U.S. free trade agreements include government procurement obligations. The most notable international procurement agreement to which the United States is a party is the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). The GPA has opened procurement opportunities around the world to foreign competition, worth trillions of U.S. dollars annually. It also requires parties to establish transparent and nondiscriminatory rules for covered procurement. In particular, the agreement enables U.S. businesses to bid for certain government contracts in the markets of other GPA parties. Likewise, it allows foreign businesses to bid for contracts tendered by U.S. procuring entities in areas where federal and state governments have agreed to open up their procurement markets. The WTO estimates the size of the procurement market covered by the GPA at over $1.7 trillion; data limitations make it difficult to quantify accurately the extent to which governments acquire goods and services from suppliers of other GPA parties. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic increased Congress’ interest in better understanding the role of international trade in U.S. government procurement. In particular, some Members and the Trump and Biden Administrations have sought ways to incentivize U.S.-based production by prioritizing the procurement of domestic goods and services by the federal government and limiting waivers to statutory domestic preference provisions such as the Buy American Act (BAA). Within this context, some Members have raised questions about the GPA, including how U.S. commitments under the agreement affect federal agency acquisitions of goods and services.