FHWA Clarifies Buy America Provisions

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sent a Memorandum to its Division offices clarifying the application of Buy America requirements to manufactured products used on Federal-aid highway contracts. Since 1982, Buy America requirements have applied to all steel and iron products used on projects with FHWA funding.  At that time, FHWA waived the application of these requirements to manufactured products that are not predominantly steel products. When Congress enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), stimulus legislation, it instituted Buy America requirements for projects funded under this legislation. The new law created a great deal of uncertainty as to what is and is not covered under Buy America and many states were applying these requirements more broadly than intended. FHWA’s Memorandum, issued on December 21, 2012, clarifies that, “in order for a manufactured product to be considered subject to Buy America, the product must be manufactured predominantly of steel or iron. The FHWA deems a product to be manufactured predominately of steel or iron if the product consists of at least 90% steel or iron content when it is delivered to the job site for installation. For the purposes of applying Buy America and determining whether a product is a steel or iron manufactured product, the job site includes the sites where any precast concrete products are manufactured.” The entire memo can be read here.