ARLINGTON, VA. — Four national U.S. trade associations including the Associated General Contractors of America have announced they are petitioning the White House to make improvements in its implementation of “made in America” requirements for construction products and materials.
The allies noted in a release that their members have encountered significant difficulty in navigating the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) “opaque and unbalanced implementation,” risking delays and cost increases for housing, transportation and water infrastructure projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.
The infrastructure law, which was enacted in 2021, includes the Build America, Buy America Act, which expands longstanding domestic preference requirements for construction projects that incorporate federal dollars.
The other groups are the American Public Transportation Association, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association and the National Association of Home Builders.
“Our coalition fully supports the act’s laudable core purpose of strengthening domestic manufacturing,” the trade groups said. “Unfortunately, OMB’s focus on managing virtually every aspect of the Build America, Buy America Act requirements is not practical and causes confusion and delay with federal agencies that fund construction projects.”
In particular, the groups note continued uncertainty surrounding the waiver process. The Buy America provisions allow for these exceptions if domestically made products are unavailable or significantly more costly. However, under executive order, OMB must review the hundreds of waiver requests made to federal agencies each year. The process often proves to be lengthy and unpredictable as the politics of these waivers can lead to bureaucratic inertia, the allies said.
Such uncertainty with the waiver process threatens project delays, cost increases, and even project cancellations, say the four associations.
The groups’ filing calls for more timely waivers, given the record number of projects utilizing federal funding, short-term deficiencies in domestic manufacturing capabilities, increased materials costs and unpredictable lead times for key components.
The groups filed a formal petition for a new rulemaking under the Administrative Procedures Act and a request under the Paperwork Reduction Act to review the way the administration collects Buy America waivers.
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