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[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 215 (Monday, November 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68661-68662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28143]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket No. MARAD 2010 0097]

Buy America Waiver Notification

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides information regarding the Maritime 
Administration's (MarAd) finding that a Buy American waiver, stated in 
23 U.S.C. 313, is appropriate for the purchase of foreign Mobile Harbor 
Cranes in the Federal-aid/American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 
2009 (ARRA) for the Port of Searsport, Port of Stockton, Port of West 
Sacramento and the Port of Davisville via the Quonset

[[Page 68662]]

Development Corporation. The waivers for each of these projects involve 
specific items that are not produced in the United States and deemed 
necessary for the construction of the project. MarAd has reached out to 
the steel industry and solicited public comments on the domestic 
availability of these items. No domestic manufacturers have been 
located.

DATES: The effective date of the waiver is November 9, 2010. Comments 
may be submitted up to 15 days after publication.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Shuler Jr., Office of 
Infrastructure Development and Congestion Mitigation, Maritime 
Administration, MAR-510, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 
20590. Telephone: (202) 366-6639, or via e-mail at 
[email protected]. For legal questions, you may contact Murray 
Bloom, Chief, Division of Maritime Programs, Office of the Chief 
Counsel, Maritime Administration, MAR-222, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., 
Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-5320, or via e-mail at 
[email protected]. Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access

    An electronic copy of this document may be downloaded from the 
Federal Register's home page at: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/ and at http://www.regulations.gov.

Background

    Congress has enacted a Buy American provision which requires 
manufactured goods permanently incorporated into a project funded with 
Federal-aid funds to be produced in the United States. The application 
of Buy American is triggered by the obligation of Federal funds to a 
project. Once Federal-aid funds are obligated to a project, then all 
steel and iron incorporated into the project must be produced in the 
United States. The specific statutory requirement reads as follows:

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall not obligate any funds authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out the Surface Transportation Assistance Act 
of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-424) or this title and administered by the 
Department of Transportation, unless steel, iron, and manufactured 
products used in such project are produced in the United States.

23 U.S.C. 313(a)

    Under 23 U.S.C. 313(b), the Secretary may waive the Buy American 
requirements for specific products on a Federal-aid construction 
project when, Buy American is inconsistent with the public interest; 
such materials and products are not produced in the United States in 
sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of satisfactory 
quality; or inclusion of domestic material will increase the cost of 
the overall project contract by more than 25 percent.
    The waiver process is initiated by a requesting organization when 
it believes that a waiver is Warranted pursuant to any of the three 
waiver provisions under 23 U.S.C. 313(b). Pursuant to Division A, 
Section 123 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-
117), MarAd is required to provide an informal public notice and 
comment opportunity for a period of 15 days for all waiver requests. 
MarAd complied with this informal public notice and comment requirement 
through the establishment of a dedicated Web site for Buy America 
waiver requests. The Web site MarAd established for this purpose is 
located at the following address: http://www.marad.dot.gov. The waiver 
notification postings solicited public comments on the intent to issue 
a waiver for a 15-day period, and all comments received within the 15 
day comment period were evaluated and potential domestic sources were 
verified. During the 15-day comment period, MarAd conducted additional 
nationwide reviews by coordinating the waiver requests with appropriate 
industry associations and other potential domestic manufacturers. 
Following this comment period, and after MarAd's evaluation of the 
comments and coordination with the industry associations and potential 
manufacturers, MarAd developed findings and justifications for the 
waiver and publishes this decision in the Federal Register. MarAd's 
publication of its Buy American decision is required pursuant to the 
Buy American Act, 2 CFR 176.80(b)(2). The specific statutory 
requirement reads as follows:

    The head of the Federal department or agency shall publish a 
notice in the Federal Register within two weeks after the 
determination is made, unless the item has already been determined 
to be domestically non-available. A list of items that are not 
domestically available is at 48 CFR 25.104(a). The Federal Register 
notice or information from the notice may be posted by OMB to 
Recovery.gov. The notice shall include -- (i) The title ``Buy 
American Exception under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 
of 2009''; (ii) The dollar value and brief description of the 
project; and (iii) A detailed written justification as to why the 
restriction is being waived.

2 CFR 176.80(b)(2)

    Upon publication of this Federal Register notice, the public is 
afforded an opportunity to submit additional comments on this finding 
to MarAd's Web site for 15 days following the effective date of the 
finding.

    Authority:  2 CFR 176.80(b)(2), 48 CFR 25.104(a).

    Dated: November 2, 2010.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator
Murray Bloom,
Acting Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-28143 Filed 11-5-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P
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