The Build America Buy America (BABA) Act, enacted as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) on November 15, 2021, strengthens domestic content procurement preferences for all federal financial assistance programs for infrastructure projects. For instance, BABA requires that all iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in covered federally funded infrastructure projects are produced in the United States.
BABA and its implementing regulations establish discrete requirements for (1) iron and steel, (2) manufactured products, and (3) construction materials. For certain fiber optical cable products (including drop optical fiber cable products), all manufacturing processes, from the initial ribboning, through buffering, fiber stranding and jacketing, must occur in the United States. For broadband-related manufactured products, such as hubs, terminals, cabinets, and interface devices, these types of products must be manufactured in the United States and the costs of components that are mined, produced or manufactured in the United States must be greater than 55 percent of the total component cost.
Belden is committed to complying with BABA and offers a range of solutions that meet its requirements. In the years since the passage of the IIJA and as the relevant federal agencies provide guidance regarding BABA requirements for various products, Belden’s global supply chain system has adapted to accommodate options for the U.S.-only sourced components. Belden’s domestically based manufacturing locations are also undergoing a myriad of updates to increase manufacturing capacity and support greater production of its pioneering BABA compliant solutions.
Belden has also engaged in strategic partnerships with many U.S.-based vendors to achieve and ensure compliance requirements for a broad array of products manufactured in its U.S. facilities. This encompasses the major commodities and categories defined in BABA, such as plastics and injection molding, optical glass, metals and alloys, among many others.
Belden offers several finished goods that have BABA compliant configurations or options. These include fiber premises and outside plant solutions that comprise cabling, microduct, house boxes, wall plates, handholes and ancillary; in addition to cable protection, hardware and telecom products.
Belden continues to grow its BABA compliant options to soon provide you with a vast portfolio of industry-leading solutions.
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