Maryland Statutes
Subtitle 4 - Miscellaneous Purchasing Preferences
Section 14-416 - Purchase of American Manufactured Goods

(a)    (1)    In this section the following words have the meanings indicated.
        (2)    “American manufactured goods” means goods that:
            (i)    are manufactured in the United States; or
            (ii)    are assembled in the United States.
        (3)    (i)    “Emergency life safety and property safety goods” means any goods when provided for installation in, as part of, or as an addition to a system designed to:
                1.    prevent, respond to, alert regarding, suppress, control, or extinguish an emergency or the cause of an emergency that threatens life or property; or
                2.    assist in evacuation in the event of an emergency that threatens life or property.
            (ii)    “Emergency life safety and property safety goods” includes:
                1.    systems or items for or relating to:
                A.    fire alarms;
                B.    fire sprinklers;
                C.    fire suppression;
                D.    fire extinguishing;
                E.    security;
                F.    gas detection;
                G.    intrusion detection;
                H.    access control;
                I.    video surveillance and recording;
                J.    mass notification;
                K.    public address;
                L.    emergency lighting;
                M.    patient wandering;
                N.    infant tagging; and
                O.    nurse call; and
                2.    information technologies and telecommunications products and technologies that are used for the purposes listed in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph.
        (4)    “Public body” means:
            (i)    a unit;
            (ii)    a county;
            (iii)    a municipality in the State;
            (iv)    a school district in the State; or
            (v)    a special district in the State.
    (b)    Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a public body shall require a contractor or subcontractor to use or supply American manufactured goods in the performance of a contract for:
        (1)    constructing or maintaining a public work; or
        (2)    buying or manufacturing machinery or equipment that is to be installed at a public work site.
    (c)    This section does not apply:
        (1)    if the head of a public body determines that:
            (i)    the price of the American manufactured goods exceeds the price of a similar manufactured good that is not manufactured in the United States by an unreasonable amount;
            (ii)    the item or a similar item is not manufactured or available for purchase in the United States in reasonably available quantities;
            (iii)    the quality of the item or a similar item manufactured in the United States is substantially less than the quality of a comparably priced, similar, and available item that is not manufactured in the United States; or
            (iv)    the procurement of a manufactured good would be inconsistent with the public interest; or
        (2)    to emergency life safety and property safety goods.
    (d)    The Board of Public Works shall adopt regulations to define the following terms for the purposes of this section:
        (1)    “reasonably available”;
        (2)    “unreasonable amount”; and
        (3)    “substantially less”.