U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


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This memo was rescinded on March 13, 2008 by the memo "Revised Policy for the Approval of Buy America Waivers"

MEMORANDUM
Subject: INFORMATION: Canceled: Re-Delegation of Buy America Waiver Approval - Guidance Date: July 3, 2003
From: /s/ Original signed by:
Dwight A. Horne
Director of Program Administration
Refer To: HIPA-30
To: Division Administrators
Directors of Field Services

This memo replaces Mr. Thomas J. Ptak's memo of June 16, 1998, that re-delegated the Buy America waiver approval to the divisions. When the question was raised about delegating Buy America waiver approval to the divisions, one of the major concerns was ensuring nationwide consistency in waiver approval. To ensure that this consistency continues, we further delegate the approval of Buy America waiver request with total cost (as delivered to the project) up to $50,000 to the Division Administrator without prior concurrence from Headquarters. We require prior concurrence by Headquarters for Buy America waiver requests over $50,000 before the division may approve the waiver request. The Office of Program Administration is the office responsible for overseeing the Buy America program.

For most waiver requests, the prior Headquarters' concurrence will be simply a confirmation that the waiver is warranted and reasonable, and will be handled by phone, fax or e-mail.

Since Federal Highway Administration continues to get information requests from Congress and industries about the number of waivers granted and their nature, we will continue to collect basic information for each waiver. Specifically, we need the Federal-aid project number/description, project cost, waiver item, item cost, country of origin for the product, and reason for the waiver. This information may be sent by e-mail, surface mail, or fax (202-366-3988) to the attention of Edwin Okonkwo.

In the future, we will revise our regulation in 23 CFR 635.410 to reflect these operational changes. Questions about the Buy America requirements or waivers should be referred to Mr. Edwin Okonkwo at 202-366-1558 or Mr. Jerry Yakowenko at 202-366-1562.

Updated: 06/27/2017
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000