FHWA Finalizes Rule Implementing 'Buy America' Provisions on Highway Projects
The Federal Highway Administration will be following Buy America requirements for manufactured products used in highway projects that use federal aid, according to a final rule that will be effective on March 17.
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By applying Buy America requirements, manufactured products used on federal-aid projects must be manufactured in the U.S. -- which is the "final assembly requirement." They also must have greater than 55% of the manufactured product's components produced, mined or manufactured in the U.S. -- which is the "55 percent requirement," according to a Federal Register notice.
The final assembly requirement will become effective for federal-aid projects obligated on or after Oct. 1 of this year, while the 55% requirement will become effective on or after Oct. 1, 2026.
In determining whether to pursue the Buy America requirement, FHWA noted that the existing manufactured products general waiver "was overly broad, disincentivizing manufacturers from domestically producing manufactured products by broadly covering all products, even those that are or could be produced domestically." This lack of clarity hinders domestic manufacturers from entering the market, FHWA said.
For manufactured products that may not be currently domestically produced in sufficient amounts, FHWA said that it intends to analyze which products and categories of products may require waivers and issue waivers where appropriate, rather than continue with the manufactured products general waiver.