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If you sell to the government, or to any customer who then contracts with the government, take heed: TAA compliance is more important than ever.

The Trade Agreements Act has been around for 30 years, but a rash of lawsuits and a new government focus on the effort to support American manufacturers and cooperative international trading partners have made TAA compliance a solid requirement for most government procurement contracts and anything on a GSA schedule.

TAA compliance requires that products be produced or undergo “substantial transformation” within the United States or in a country with a reciprocal trade agreement with the U.S. China and several other major sources of electronics manufacturing are not on that list which can make TAA compliance difficult. Defining the somewhat squishy concept of “substantial transformation” only adds to the confusion.

Though it became law in 1979, TAA went mostly unenforced for decades. But all that has changed recently. The government is making TAA enforcement a priority, and audits of government contracts for compliance are resulting in suspensions and debarment for contractors who flout the law.

The effort is being aided by vendors with TAA-friendly offerings who are scouring their competitors looking for violations. The end game there is often a “whistle blower” lawsuit that can not only damage a rival, but win the whistle-blowing vendor a quarter of any judgment against the guilty party. With billions of dollars in GSA Schedule contracts on the line, the stakes around TAA have never been higher.

The best bet for solution providers concerned about TAA compliance is to look to trusted vendor partners with complete control over the manufacturing process, many of whom are making diligent efforts to ensure they don’t run afoul of the fair-trade laws. Tripp Lite this week, for example, introduced a line of power, connectivity and rack solutions all certified to be TAA compliant.

The line includes UPS systems, battery packs, KVM switches, IP console servers, rack enclosures, open frame racks, and surge suppressors.

"In the current fiscal environment, government customers need to stretch every budget dollar," said Keelin Wyman, Tripp Lite Executive Vice President, in a statement. "With the most cost-effective lineup of TAA-compliant power, connectivity and rack solutions in the industry, Tripp Lite gives government contractors and suppliers the edge they need to win business. And because we’ve taken the risk and guesswork out of determining TAA compliance, fearing government audits is a thing of the past."