On FHWA-funded projects, a single missing manufacturer certification can stall a pay application, trigger an audit finding, or put federal reimbursement at risk. Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) requirements place the documentation burden on general contractors, who must collect, validate, and retain domestic content certifications for every covered iron, steel, manufactured product, and construction material. When a reviewer asks for proof, rebuilding that paper trail after the fact is slow, costly, and exposed. This guide on BABA certifications GCs must keep for audit breaks down which manufacturer certifications to retain, for how long, and what a defensible file looks like under FHWA Buy America review. It also shows how continuous, AI-driven compliance monitoring converts certificate collection into an always-audit-ready record instead of a year-end scramble. Certivo, an AI-powered compliance platform and system of record, applies CORA-driven compliance intelligence to parse
