Senior government affairs, without the full-time hire.
Laws, rules and standards decide where your product can be sold and who is allowed to buy it. Most mid-size manufacturers cannot justify a full-time government affairs director, so policy reaches them late, as a compliance problem. GroundReach Advisory provides that function on a monthly retainer. I track what is coming for your product category, work out what it means for your business, and prepare your position before the decision is made.
A standing function, or a defined project.
Fractional government affairs
Your government affairs function without the full-time hire: monitoring of federal and state legislation, rules and standards, impact analysis, advocacy strategy and executive preparation.
How the retainer works → Fixed scope and feeProduct compliance projects
When a specific gate is in the way: codes, standards and certification, Buy American and BABA eligibility, tariff and trade exposure, and site selection and incentives for a U.S. footprint.
See the project lines →Your government affairs function, on retainer.
You get an experienced government affairs director who knows manufacturing, on a defined monthly scope. It fits companies without an in-house government affairs lead, in-house teams that need senior support on a specific issue, and manufacturers outside the United States selling into it.
Federal and state legislation, rulemaking and standards revisions that affect your products, filtered to what matters to you. Each finding is tied to the primary government source, so you can see what was actually proposed or decided.
What a bill, rule or tariff action means in cost, market access and timing for your business, with the options open to you and a recommendation.
Advocacy strategy, position papers and issue briefs, and a plan that uses every route open to you: trade associations, coalition partners and direct meetings with legislators and their staff.
Briefing materials and preparation for you and your executives before meetings with legislators, staff and regulators. You, your team or your registered lobbyist make the contacts, with the approach and the materials ready.
Situations where a first call makes sense.
A few typical starting points. If yours looks different, the first conversation is still the right place to start.
Monitoring flags it at introduction, well before the committee vote. You get the impact on your product line and a plan to shape the outcome while there is still time: through your trade association and coalition partners, in direct meetings with legislators and their staff, or all of these.
Briefing materials, a clear ask and a preparation session, so you walk in ready and leave with a concrete next step.
A review of what your manufacturing and content record actually supports, what you can sign, and how to close any gap before the bid.
A classification and exposure review, the effect on your landed cost, and the options open to you.
Which standards and listings apply, which certifier to work with, a realistic timeline and budget, and a plan from defined requirements to listing.
Site selection criteria, state and local incentives, and how the location you choose affects what your product can claim.
Four gates stand between your product and a new market.
Policy matters most where it reaches your product. Moving into a new market or a new application means clearing four gates at once, and each one constrains the others. Most advisors cover one of them.
The standard your product must meet, the testing behind it, the third-party listing, and acceptance by the engineer and the authority having jurisdiction.
Buy American, Build America, Buy America (BABA) and the state preferences that decide whether public money can buy your product at all.
Classification, duty treatment, Section 232 and 301 exposure, and origin questions that can change your landed cost with little notice.
The bill, rule or standard revision that can close a market after you are in it, and the window to act before it is decided.
One route, one person accountable.
Every engagement starts with an assessment of what blocks you, then works through the gates in the order your product needs. How a product is listed affects whether it qualifies. Where it is made drives both its content claim and its duty exposure. Policy work protects the position once you have it. Run as one engagement, the sequence holds together.
Project work, when a specific gate is in the way.
Alongside the retainer or on their own, I take on defined projects with a fixed scope and fee. Each line stands on its own, and each one sets up the next.
Codes, standards, and listing
- The standard your product actually has to meet in the target market
- Selecting and managing the testing and listing pathway
- Managing the certification program through to listing
- Acceptance by specifying engineers and authorities having jurisdiction
- Keeping the listing current as standards revise
Procurement and domestic content
- Buy American Act and BABA eligibility
- What the manufacturing and content record has to show
- A content analysis process your team can run for every new product
- Supporting an attestation that will survive scrutiny
- Federal and state procurement preferences that gate public work
Trade, tariff, and exposure
- Classification and duty treatment
- Section 232 and 301 exposure and mitigation
- Origin and supply chain questions behind a content claim
- Early detection of the rule changes that move your economics
Policy and regulatory projects
- A one-time impact analysis of a specific bill or rule
- A position paper or issue brief on a specific bill or rule
- Association and coalition strategy on a defined issue
- Executive preparation for a specific meeting or hearing
Where a U.S. manufacturing footprint is part of the answer, I also take on site selection and state and local incentive negotiation alongside the core work.
Twenty years on the manufacturer's side of the table.
Martin Knieps, Principal. Twenty years at the U.S. arm of a German plumbing and piping manufacturer, including nearly a decade of policy and advocacy work and the last four years as Government Affairs Director, building and leading the function. Before that, twelve years of freight forwarding across Europe and the United States. Trade, procurement, codes, policy and operations usually sit with four or five different firms. I have worked them together inside one company, which is how they reach a client.
Secured statutory language in the FY26 NDAA and the follow-on appropriations. Built and led the government affairs function, working through outside counsel, lobbyists and industry associations.
Led a nine-figure U.S. manufacturing plant project from site selection through state and local incentive negotiation and selection of the architect, engineer and general contractor, working with an external consulting firm.
Owned U.S. product certification strategy and agency engagement, and oversaw codes and standards strategy together with product management.
Created and ran the Buy American Act, BABA and Made in America compliance analysis process for a product portfolio.
Hands-on HTS classification, Incoterms and OFAC/BIS screening. Analyzed Section 301 and 232 tariffs and their impact on the company's products.
Past President of the Plumbing Manufacturers International (PMI) Board of Directors, on the board 2019 to 2023. Former co-chair of the PMI Government Affairs Committee and former member of the PPI and CDA government affairs committees.
One advisor, with a bench
I hold the relationship, the engagement and the accountability. Where the work needs a discipline outside my own, such as a testing body specialist, U.S. entity and tax setup, customs brokerage, licensed legal counsel, technical translation or a registered lobbyist, I bring in a specialist under my contract rather than sending you elsewhere. You get the depth of a firm with one name responsible for the result.
A short paid read, before any large commitment.
Most engagements begin with a fixed-fee diagnostic measured in days. You get a clear answer about what stands between your product and the market, whether or not we go further.
A fixed-fee diagnostic
A Policy Exposure Review maps the legislation, rules and standards activity that affects your category, ranks it by business impact and recommends what to act on. Where the issue is narrower, a BAA/BABA Eligibility Review, a Tariff Exposure Review or a Certification Pathway Assessment covers it.
A monthly retainer
The diagnostic becomes the work plan for the retainer: a defined monthly scope, a standing briefing, and decisions made before the deadline rather than after it.
Project work as needed
When a specific gate is in the way, I take that stage on a defined scope and fee and deliver it to completion.
Tell me what is coming for your category.
Send me your product category and the markets you sell into. I will tell you what I see coming, and whether a diagnostic or a retainer makes sense for you.
Email [email protected]Or call 720-966-1500