NEMA’s Make It American™ program is helping U.S. manufacturers certify their products as compliant with the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA). The program ensures products used in federally funded infrastructure projects meet domestic content requirements, while supporting the reshoring of manufacturing and creating new job opportunities.
At the 2025 NEMA Annual Meeting, we sat down with Alexa Burr, Sr. Vice President of Strategic Growth and Membership at NEMA, to discuss the program. In this Q&A, she explains how it works and why it matters for tradespeople, distributors, and the broader manufacturing industry.
Our Make It American ™ program is our new Service Nation offering that we've developed to help our manufacturing sector introduce BABA-compliant products to the market. These are products that are used in federally funded infrastructure projects and that need to meet certain domestic content requirements in order to be used in that federally funded market.
For any project that is receiving federal dollars, or even some state dollars in places like Texas and Florida, there are certain requirements that products have to meet in order to show that they've actually been made here in the U.S.
As part of our commitment on behalf of the electric industry, that's why we developed this program—to help identify those products as Made in America and certify them as NEMA—so that we can show on your app and other places that these products really are meeting those requirements and are truly made in the U.S.
We've had so many companies who are really investing in reshoring manufacturing here in the U.S. We can all agree that we want to bring more jobs, and well-paying jobs, back here. Our program really helps them get credit for that investment for the manufacturing facilities here in the U.S., and then the actual products that are used by the electricians and contractors who are really working on these projects, to make it easier for them to identify those products and really help across the supply chain, from point of order to actually installing these products in projects.
We launched at the end of April 2025. These certifications include a third-party independent verification. It's making sure that companies are actually implementing their practices that they say they are and have that stamp of approval by that third-party independent audit.
We have a great team here at NEMA. We facilitate everything from identifying and working with companies to make sure that they have their practices in place in order to prepare them for the audit. We provide all the audit materials, like an audit checklist, and we do the scheduling to make sure that it's not too burdensome on either the actual third-party auditors or the companies themselves.
We've been, since the beginning, really trying to make sure that our government stakeholders who play a key role here are aware of this program, that it's a resource to them. We're really excited because we had the Federal Highway Administration identify our NEMA Make It American program as a certified resource for companies that are trying to meet domestic content requirements.
It depends on the company. Some are getting all of their U.S. facilities certified, some are starting with a select few and going through the process and learning and understanding it, and then will add more.
We work with the companies to identify how many facilities they want to get certified, if any product lines that they want to get certified. We tailor it for the needs of the company.
Our distributor, Fulltrades, went through and really led in this area. We reviewed all of their written procedures, how they keep track of certain BABA-compliant orders and keep those separate, and are sure that they're transparently tracking those orders and delivering them.
We go through and worked with their manufacturing partners as well to make sure that we saw, from the point of order to the point of leaving the distributor’s facility, that it was actually following the NEMA procedures, and therefore keeping up with the BABA-compliant requirements.
There is a small fee to participate, an annual certification fee. We have a great member discount for those participating.
The other thing I'll mention is that this program is not just applicable to new members or the electrical industry. It's broadly applicable to manufacturing facilities. So we've been talking with other groups like the Gear Manufacturing Association, even appliances like refrigerators, because they all have to meet BABA requirements to go into federally funded housing projects. This program is not just applicable to our sector; it has a lot of applicability across the manufacturing sector.
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This is part of the reason why we developed the program—there's some gray area in the legislation. We tried, through our standards development process, to simplify that, or at least put it in plainer language to help manufacturers understand it.
The great thing is, as part of this program, we actually have legal resources that we provide to our member companies. We've partnered with three expert law firms who have a lot of expertise in BABA. Our companies can set up one-on-one consultations and get their specific questions answered from those law firms. It's all covered by NEMA membership benefits. We provide that service to help make sure our companies are meeting the requirements.
In 2021, Congress passed the bipartisan infrastructure law. Within that piece of legislation, there's the Build America Buy America Act, or BABA. Congress set out domestic content requirements as a means of really trying to encourage more U.S. manufacturing. They thought that domestic content requirements were the way to go about that.
For things like manufactured products or construction materials, iron and steel products that go into any federally funded infrastructure projects—so think a new airport, a new highway, a new water treatment facility—all those products have to meet these BABA requirements. Congress setting these domestic content requirements really encouraged a lot of companies who are already looking to reshore manufacturing here in the U.S., really encouraging them to do that.
We've seen a lot of investment by our industry to actually bring back manufacturing, and we're excited that we have this program here to help them get credit for doing that.
Data centers are huge, and our companies provide about 38% of the products that go into a data center—so everything from the wiring cable to the fire and life safety systems to the substations that are outside of a data center.
We are really in an exciting time with our new members, a huge opportunity for growth. It's been a time of change for NEMA. We're just seeing a lot of new folks coming in and joining us as members during the wave that is the data center wave. But, you know, the critical role that this industry plays, as we continue to build on that.
NEMA’s Make It American™ program demonstrates how manufacturers can meet BABA requirements while supporting reshoring and U.S. job growth. By certifying products and providing clear visibility across the supply chain, distributors, contractors, and tradespeople can confidently identify compliant products and keep projects moving efficiently.
Learn more about the partnership: Trade Hounds Joins Forces with NEMA to Help America Build with Domestically Manufactured Products
About Trade Hounds
Trade Hounds is America’s largest social platform built exclusively for the skilled trades. With more than 440,000 users, the app connects tradespeople, contractors, and employers—helping them share work, find jobs, and discover products that make their lives easier. Learn more at tradehounds.com.
About NEMA
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) represents over 300 electrical equipment manufacturers that make safe, reliable, and efficient products and technologies that power, connect, and light our world. Together, our members contribute a full 1% of U.S. GDP and directly provide over 580,000 American jobs, adding more than $330 billion to the U.S. economy. Learn more at makeitelectric.org.
About Make It American
NEMA’s Make It American™ Certification Program identifies facilities and products that have undergone a rigorous, independent third-party supply chain evaluation to support domestic content requirements, providing certainty to customers and promoting investment in energy infrastructure made here at home.