Notice of Buy America Waiver Request

The purpose of this web page is to provide the public with an informal notice and comment opportunity regarding Buy America waiver requests. The FHWA is addressing two separate statutes regarding Buy America Waiver Notice provisions:

Public Law 110-161, the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008" was enacted December 26, 2007. Division K, Section 130 states: "Not less than 15 days prior to waiving, under her statutory authority, any Buy America requirement for Federal aid highway projects, the Secretary of Transportation shall make an informal public notice and comment opportunity on the intent to issue such waiver and the reasons therefor: Provided, That the Secretary shall provide an annual report to the appropriations Committees of the Congress on any waivers granted under the Buy America requirements."

The SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Bill (Public Law No. 110-244, 122 Stat.1572) was enacted June 6, 2008. Section 117, "Buy America waiver notification and annual reports," states in part:

"(a) Waiver notification.-

(1) In general.-If the Secretary of Transportation makes a finding under section 313(b) of title 23, United States Code, with respect to a project, the Secretary shall-

(A) publish in the Federal Register, before the date on which such finding takes effect, a detailed written justification as to the reasons that such finding is needed; and

(B) provide notice of such finding and an opportunity for public comment on such finding for a period of not to exceed 60 days.

(2) Limitation on statutory construction.-Nothing in paragraph (1) shall be construed to require the effective date of a finding referred to in paragraph (1) to be delayed until after the close of the public comment period referred to in paragraph (1)(B)."

FHWA Notice, Comment and Review Process

For all waiver requests, we will post a notice of a waiver request on this web site and solicit public comments on the intent to issue a waiver for a 15-day period. Following this comment period, we will publish a notice in the Federal Register documenting our finding regarding the waiver. The effective date of the finding will be the date following publication in the Federal Register. Upon publication of the Federal Register notice, the public may submit comments on this finding to this web site for an additional 15 days following the effective date of the finding.

We will consider all comments received in the initial 15-day comment period during our evaluation of the waiver request. Comments received after this period, but before notice of our finding is published in the Federal Register, will be considered to the extent practical. Follow-up coordination on the comments received may result in a delay in the publication of our waiver finding in the Federal Register. Comments received during the 15-day comment period after notice of our finding is published in the Federal Register will be reviewed, but the finding will continue to remain valid. Comments received during the comment period after the effective date of the finding will be reviewed, and may influence the FHWA's decision to terminate or modify a finding.

Each Buy America waiver request that is currently open for public comment is identified below under the section "waiver request for comment." To view the information pertaining to any particular waiver request, click on the appropriate link and follow the directions for submitting a comment. A listing of all waiver requests either approved or denied dating back to March, 2008 is also provided in the appropriate sections below.

For additional information regarding the FHWA's Buy America policies see: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/construction/cqit/buyam.cfm

Waiver requests for comment

Waiver requests approved

Waiver requests denied

Events

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Contact

Edwin Okonkwo
Office of Program Administration
202-366-1558
E-mail Edwin

This page last modified on 10/08/09