At the recent NAED National Meeting, Trade Hounds had the opportunity to sit down with leaders from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) to discuss their Make It American™ initiative and how it ties into the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act.
This initiative is designed to help manufacturers navigate the complex requirements of federally funded infrastructure projects, while making it easier for distributors, contractors, and on-the-job personnel to identify compliant products.
The Build America, Buy America Act, enacted in 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, sets domestic content requirements for materials used in federally funded infrastructure projects. This includes iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials.
The goal is to strengthen American manufacturing, create jobs, and ensure federal investment supports U.S. communities and workers. However, it can be complex for manufacturers to navigate the requirements.
Debra Phillips, NEMA President & CEO, explains, “What we've done is to try to create a program that allows companies to go through a certification process that will certify their facilities and also their products that are compliant with the BABA requirements and then offer them out with certainty to the market.”
Through NEMA’s program, manufacturers can certify both their facilities and individual products to confirm they meet BABA’s domestic content requirements. Certified products carry the NEMA Make It American™ mark, making it easier for distributors, contractors, and end users to identify compliant products.
BABA compliance isn’t just about manufacturers. The entire supply chain plays a role, from distributors to contractors to on-the-job personnel.
“[Distributors] can become certified too, so that they can affirm to the marketplace that they've got processes to identify products that are made here in America,” Debra explains. "It's about the supply chain partners all working together to try to clarify this.”
This collaboration is key because construction projects often require materials on short notice. Workers on job sites frequently discover they need additional products, different products, or replacements, making it critical that BABA-compliant products are identifiable and accessible in real time.
Alexa Burr, NEMA Vice President of Strategic Growth and Membership, noted how certification provides clarity for field personnel.
“Part of the certification is that companies, manufacturers and distributors will be able to put NEMA’s domestic content mark on the products themselves, on their websites and marketing materials, so that those folks in the field will actually know which products are certified to NEMA’s standards.”
At Trade Hounds, we’re excited to support NEMA’s initiative by building a feature that allows manufacturers to showcase NEMA-certified products directly on our supply house map and product search. This upcoming feature, expected in the coming months, will make it easier for users to:
Trade Hounds CEO David Bauders explains, “If we can get those check marks into the app where people are searching for material on a daily basis, hopefully we can start to bridge some of those gaps.”
For manufacturers, this feature represents more than visibility. Certification not only ensures compliance with federal standards, but also creates a competitive advantage—helping products find their way into federally funded projects and state-level infrastructure initiatives.
NEMA’s Make It American™ program represents a major step toward simplifying BABA compliance across the electrical supply chain. Manufacturers can certify their products, distributors can verify compliance, and contractors and field workers can quickly identify the right products—ensuring federal dollars support American-made materials.
As Alexa puts it, “We all want to increase U.S. manufacturing and U.S. products here. I think this program really shows how proactive our industry is, and we are looking for recognition across the supply chain—from [Trade Hounds] users all the way back to the manufacturers.”