My first thought when looking at the text of the announcement was,
remember the rest of the world!
Quote:
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Originally Posted by FIRST E-mail Blast
The VENDOR must have a Federal Tax Identification number.
The Federal Tax Identification number establishes the VENDOR as a legal business entity with the IRS, and validates their status as a legitimate business.
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It is completely inappropriate for FIRST to restrict teams--especially non-U.S. teams--to U.S.-sourced parts. I hope that FIRST addresses this
immediately, to the satisfaction of its international participants. I will, however, postpone final judgement until I read the complete text of the relevant section. Perhaps there are other options which are not clear in the initial announcement.
When Woburn was the only foreign team, and Small Parts was the only supplier, it was annoying; I remember those days, and the hassles involved with cross-border commerce. With teams in Israel and Europe especially, shipping within 5 days is theoretically possible, but exorbitantly priced.