A coalition of four national trade associations urged the White House on Thursday to improve its implementation of “made in America” requirement for construction products and materials.
The group, made up of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA); the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA); the Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA); and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), requested that rulemaking address the current approach to the requirements. All four organizations said they had experienced difficulty navigating the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) “opaque and unbalanced implementation” which could create delays and cost increases for housing, transportation and water infrastructure projects across the country that are part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
At issue is implementation of the Build America, Buy America Act that was passed in 2021 as part of the law, which expands requirements preferring domestic products and services for construction projects that incorporate federal dollars.
“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.”
The groups said uncertainty over the waiver process that allowed for exceptions to the Buy America provisions if products were unavailable in the U.S., or were significantly more costly. Under a previous executive order, OMB must review the waiver requests made to federal agencies, a process that is often lengthy and unpredictable, the groups said.
The group is calling for more timely waivers, and put forth several recommendations to ensure an effective and “depoliticized” waiver process that would allow requests to be treated equally and transparently.
“OMB needs to change course and foster a deliberative, data-driven implementation process that not only prioritizes domestic manufacturing but also provides adequate consideration for the timely and successful delivery of essential infrastructure projects,” the coalition wrote. “Failure to act will result in the IIJA’s inability to fulfill its infrastructure promise to the American people.”