As if there was a “Now Serving Number…” sign at the Justice Department, Home Depot has joined a growing list of companies accused of illegal business practices with the Government.
In this case San Francisco-based attorney Paul Scott along with several colleagues filed a whistle blower suit against the home improvement giant alleging that Home Depot had illegally provided Chinese made products to the Government in violation of the Buy American Act. This has attracted the Justice Department’s attention but they have not decided whether to join the suit.
According to a recent Associated Press story on the subject, “In the last six years, Staples Inc., Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax Inc. have paid a combined $22 million to settle government claims they violated the act. In 2008, the Department of Justice announced that W.W. Grainger Inc. agreed to pay $6 million to settle claims the company overcharged the government and provided it with Chinese and Taiwanese products in violation of the Buy American Act.”
In my opinion two things are driving this recent upsurge in enforcement of the Buy American Act as well as other federal acquisition laws. First, the smaller war effort means that there will be fewer purchases and that they will be more closely scrutinized. Second, the faltering economy is causing American companies to ensure that they maintain as much of a competitive edge as possible. Large companies who provide a wide variety of products will claim that it is impossible to ensure that everything they sell complies with the Buy American Act. That is pathetic. I am all for our troops getting the best that they can, but you can’t tell me that ball point pens made overseas are better than ones made here. It is about profit, pure and simple. As an American tax payer, I just don’t see how it is in our best interest to purchase products made overseas for Government use unless they offer a distinct performance advantage unavailable from domestic products or are simply not produced here. Standard commodities do not fall into either of these categories.
