Buy America Waiver Notification

Victor M. Mendez
Federal Highway Administration
February 25, 2013

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 37 (Monday, February 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12808-12809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04247]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration


Buy America Waiver Notification

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides information regarding the FHWA's finding 
that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the use of non-domestic 
(1) Electrical Controls and Electrical Equipment; (2) Main Drive 
Electrical Motor; (3) Auxiliary Drive Electric Motor; (4) Span Lock 
Electric Motor & Controls for a specific project in the State of 
Washington.

DATES: The effective date of the waiver is February 26, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this notice, 
please contact Mr. Gerald Yakowenko, FHWA Office of Program 
Administration, (202) 366-1562, or via email at 
gerald.yakowenko@dot.gov. For legal questions, please contact Mr. 
Michael Harkins, FHWA Office of the Chief Counsel, (202) 366-4928, or 
via email at michael.harkins@dot.gov. Office hours for the FHWA are 
from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    An electronic copy of this document may be downloaded from the 
Federal Register's home page at: http://www.archives.gov and the 
Government Printing Office's database at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara.

Background

    The FHWA's Buy America policy in 23 CFR 635.410 requires a domestic 
manufacturing process for any steel or iron products (including 
protective coatings) that are permanently incorporated in a Federal-aid 
construction project. The regulation also provides for a waiver of the 
Buy America requirements when the application would be inconsistent 
with the public interest or when satisfactory quality domestic steel 
and iron products are not sufficiently available. This notice provides 
information regarding the FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is 
appropriate to use (1) Electrical Controls and Electrical Equipment; 
(2) Main Drive Electrical Motor; (3) Auxiliary Drive Electric Motor; 
(4) Span Lock Electric Motor & Controls for a specific project in the 
State of Washington.
    In accordance with Division A, section 122 of the ``Consolidated 
and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012'' (Pub. L. 112-55), the 
FHWA published a notice of intent to issue a waiver on its Web site for 
(1) Electrical Controls and Electrical Equipment; (2) Main Drive 
Electrical Motor; (3) Auxiliary Drive Electric Motor; (4) Span Lock 
Electric Motor & Controls for a specific project in the State of 
Washington (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/contracts/waivers.cfm?id=76) on May 22nd. The FHWA received three comments in 
response to the publication. The first commenter (Donald Pearsal) 
stated that ``if'' there are manufacturers of this equipment in the 
United States, we should use it. The FHWA agrees with this comment. 
Unfortunately, however, the FHWA has been unable to locate a 
manufacturer who is able to produce these products in compliance with 
the FHWA Buy America requirements. The second commenter (Muhamad A. 
Naboulsi) opposed the waiver saying that ``we have this type of 
technology,'' but he did not provide information regarding which 
domestic manufacturer may produce these products in compliance with the 
FHWA's Buy America requirements. The third commenter (Rich) supports 
the waiver if the American product is more than 50 percent over non-
domestic product. However, this is not the standard for the application 
of Buy America. Under Buy America, all steel and iron of predominantly 
steel or iron products must manufactured in the United States.
    During the 15-day comment period, the FHWA conducted additional 
nationwide review to locate potential domestic manufacturers of (1) 
Electrical Controls and Electrical Equipment; (2) Main Drive Electrical 
Motor; (3) Auxiliary Drive Electric Motor; (4) Span Lock Electric Motor 
& Controls. Based on all the information available to the agency, 
including the consideration of

[[Page 12809]]

the comments, the FHWA concludes that there are no manufacturers of (1) 
Electrical Controls and Electrical Equipment; (2) Main Drive Electrical 
Motor; (3) Auxiliary Drive Electric Motor; (4) Span Lock Electric Motor 
& Controls for the project in the State of Washington that produce the 
products in compliance with the FHWA's Buy America requirements.
    Therefore, in accordance with the provisions of section 117 of the 
SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-244, 122 
Stat. 1572), the FHWA is providing this notice as its finding that a 
waiver of Buy America requirements is appropriate. The FHWA invites 
public comment on this finding for an additional 15 days following the 
effective date of the finding. Comments may be submitted to the FHWA's 
Web site via the link provided to the Washington State waiver page 
noted above.

    Authority:  23 U.S.C. 313; Pub. L. 110-161, 23 CFR 635.410.

     Issued on: February 13, 2013.
Victor M. Mendez,
Federal Highway Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2013-04247 Filed 2-22-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P