Discusses the legal requirements for selling to the host government, including whether the government has agreed to abide by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or is a party to a government procurement chapter in a U.S. FTA. Specifies areas where there are opportunities.
Last Published: 7/8/2019

Some opportunities exist for selling to the government. This is particularly the case when project financing is from international financial institutions or from foreign government aid sources that do not require purchase from donor country companies.  Opportunities exist in renewable energy, construction, engineering, water and sanitation, and other project consultancies.  Barbados is not party to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.  Many governments finance public works projects through borrowing from the multilateral development banks.  Please refer to the “Project Financing” Section in “Trade and Project Financing” for more information. 

The government usually issues and publishes a tender requesting bids from interested parties.  Some large-scale public projects are funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), of which the United States is not a member.  Only borrowing and non-borrowing members of the CDB can bid on these funded projects.  In addition, some bid requirements state that the bidder must be registered as a local company and bids are often open for a short period of time.  This places some U.S. companies at a disadvantage.

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.