The “Buy American/Hire American” Executive Order issue by President Trump last week will likely cause more confusion for contractors and their customers in the short term, rather than drive any new behavior.  Various, and not always consistent, “Buy America(n)” requirements already exist, so it is unclear what the new EO adds.  Importantly, commercial IT is exempt from the most widely used standard, the Buy America Act.  An entire new regulatory process would have to be initiated to change this. Similar regulatory cases would need to be open to implement any changes the EO envisions.  It is not at all certain what types of actions will actually be taken.  Additionally, commercial IT contractors continue to be covered, and must abide by, free trade-based regulations such as the Trade Agreements Act.  The best bet for contractors is to be aware of what the EO says, while at the same time being able to point out that it is not (yet) applicable to commercial IT.  To the extent that your federal customers are aware of the EO, they’re likely confused as well.