Document

Identification of Federal Financial Assistance Infrastructure Programs Subject to the Build America, Buy America Provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

This notice announces that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, the Department) has conducted an initial review required by the Build America, Buy America Act (...

Department of Housing and Urban Development
  1. [Docket No. FR-6310-N-01]

AGENCY:

Office of Chief Financial Officer, HUD.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, the Department) has conducted an initial review required by the Build America, Buy America Act (the Act) to identify and evaluate its Federal financial assistance programs for infrastructure to determine whether they are inconsistent with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the IIJA). The Act imposes domestic content procurement preference requirements on Federal financial assistance programs for infrastructure that do not currently have such a requirement and requires Federal agencies to evaluate each financial assistance program for infrastructure administered by the agency to identify programs inconsistent with the Act's requirements for application of a domestic procurement preference. Each Federal agency must submit its report on the agency's programs and related determinations to Congress and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and publish its report in the Federal Register . Today's notice complies with the Act's publication and reporting requirements and contains HUD's list of identified Federal financial assistance programs for infrastructure. HUD has determined that none of the programs it has reviewed to date are consistent with the Act. HUD's initial analysis errs on the side of over-inclusiveness based on the Department's current understanding of information contained in the Act and the imminent timing requirements for reporting.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

J. Malcom Smith, Management and Program Analyst, Grants Management and Oversight Division, Office of the Assistant Chief Financial Officer of Systems, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-8000; telephone number 202-402-6472 (this is not a toll-free number), or email with the subject line “Build America, Buy America”. Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this number through TTY by calling the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On November 15, 2021, the President signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58) (the IIJA), which includes the Build America, Buy America Act at sections 70911 through 70927 (the Act). The Act ensures that Federal financial assistance programs for infrastructure require the use of materials produced in the United States, increases requirements for American-made content, and strengthens the waiver process associated with Buy American provisions. Section 70913 of the Act requires, within 60 days of the enactment of the IIJA, that each Federal agency, including HUD,[1] file a report with Congress and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) which identifies and evaluates all financial assistance programs for infrastructure to determine whether the program is inconsistent with section 70914 of the Act. The report must be published in the Federal Register . The reports must identify and provide a list of which of these programs are “deficient,” as defined in section 70913(c) of the Act.[2]

Section 70914 of the Act requires that no later than 180 days after enactment of the IIJA (which would be May 14, 2022), Federal agencies “shall ensure that none of the funds made available for a Federal financial assistance program for infrastructure, including each deficient program, may be obligated for a project unless all of the iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in the project are produced in the United States.” [3] Federal agencies must identify all infrastructure programs and determine whether a program is inconsistent with section 70914 of the Act, regardless of whether the program received funding from IIJA. (HUD did not receive funding.) Pursuant to the Act, an infrastructure program is considered inconsistent with section 70914 if: (1) It does not require that all the iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in the project are produced in the United States; (2) it does not issue waivers and written justifications as specified in section 70914; or (3) it is subject to a waiver of general applicability under section 70914(b) of the Act. On December 20, 2021, OMB issued a memorandum titled “Identification of Federal Financial Assistance Infrastructure Programs Subject to the Build America, Buy America Provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” M-22-08, to implement these requirements and provide guidance to Federal agencies.[4]

HUD awards discretionary funding through over 20 Grant programs and 10 formula programs in support of HUD's mission. These programs generally meet the definition of “Federal financial assistance” as defined in the Act. HUD has evaluated these programs and they are included in this report, but a full assessment of whether they fund infrastructure as described by the Act has not yet been completed. HUD has ( printed page 2895) determined that no programs reviewed to date fully meet the requirements outlined in section 70914 of the Act. Details on each of these programs and the programs are listed below are included on a spreadsheet that can be accessed at: https://www.hud.gov/​program_​offices/​spm/​gmomgmt/​grantsinfo/​fundingopps. HUD's initial analysis errs on the side of over-inclusiveness, as recommended by OMB Memorandum M-22-08, based on the Department's current understanding of information contained in the Act and the imminent timing requirements for reporting.

Discretionary Programs

Office of Community Planning and Development

Office of Healthy Homes Lead Hazard Control

Office of Housing

Office of Policy Development and Research

Office of Public and Indian Housing

Non-Discretionary Programs

Office of Community Planning and Development

Office of Public and Indian Housing

George Tomchick,

Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

Footnotes

1.  The Act applies to “any authority of the United States that is an “agency'” as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502. Public Law 117-58, section 70912(3).

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2.  The Act defines “deficient programs” as “any Federal financial assistance program for infrastructure . . . for which a domestic content procurement preference requirement does not apply in a manner consistent with section 70914 of the law; or is subject to a waiver of general applicability not limited to the use of specific products for use in a specific project.” Id. at section 70913(c).

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3.  Section 70912(4) of the Act defines “Federal financial assistance” and provides that the definition is consistent with the definition in 2 CFR 200.1 and includes “all expenditures by a Federal agency to a non-Federal entity for an infrastructure project, except that it does not include expenditures for assistance authorized under section 402, 403, 404, 406, 408, or 502 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170a, 5170b, 5170c, 5172, 5174, or 5192) relating to a major disaster or emergency declared by the President under section 401 or 501, respectively, of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191) or pre and post disaster or emergency response expenditures.”

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[FR Doc. 2022-01071 Filed 1-14-22; 4:15 pm]

BILLING CODE 4210-67-P

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Federal Register Citation

Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.

87 FR 2894

Web Citation

Suggested Web Citation

Use this when citing the archival web version of the document.

“Identification of Federal Financial Assistance Infrastructure Programs Subject to the Build America, Buy America Provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” thefederalregister.org (January 19, 2022), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2022-01071/identification-of-federal-financial-assistance-infrastructure-programs-subject-to-the-build-america-buy-america-provisio.