General Services Administration Fraud

The General Services Administration, or GSA, is astandards set out by the TAA. Therefore, the GSA
federal agency responsible for supplying goods andis prohibited from entering into contracts that involve
products to other federal agencies through contractsgoods and services from non-compliant countries.
with commercial firms. The GSA negotiates contractsFailure to Comply with the Trade Agreements Act
and purchases products in large quantities in order toCountries that do not comply with the conditions in
save individual agencies time and resources. Thesethe TAA are restricted from entering into certain
contracts, in turn, must be in compliance with thecontracts with the U.S. Countries that are not
Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to ensure the safetyTAA-compliant include:
of the product and the secure relationship between- China
the U.S. and the product's country of origin. However,- Taiwan
sometimes commercial suppliers attempt to sell- India
products to the GSA that do not comply with these- Malaysia
standards.- Thailand
The Trade Agreements ActThese countries manufacture and export a large
The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (TAA) dictatesnumber of products commonly used throughout the
trade agreements between the U.S. and otherU.S. However, since they are not in compliance with
countries. Certain countries, called "designatedthe TAA, the General Services Administration may
countries," are in compliance with the TAA andnot supply products from these countries to federal
therefore the General Services Administration mayagencies. In some cases, though, certain companies
enter into agreements with companies that purchaseattempt to fraud the GSA and supply them with
or supply goods and services from these countries.products that do not meet the minimum federal
However, certain countries do not conform to thestandards.