U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Federal Railroad 

Administration 

SEP 2 9 2017 

Mr. Richard L. Kelly 

Engineering Services Director 

City of Raleigh 

One Exchange Plaza 

219 Fayetteville St., Ste. 801 

Raleigh, NC 27601 

Deputy Administrator 

Re: Request for Waiver of Buy America Requirement 

Dear Mr. Kelly: 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

On September 23, 2016, Code Electric, Inc. requested a waiver from the Federal Railroad 

Administration's (FRA) Buy America requirement (49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)) to use certain 

components of a fire alarm system, which cannot be sourced in the United States, in the 

Raleigh Union Station project (Project). The Project is for construction of a passenger train 

station in downtown Raleigh that will replace the existing Amtrak station. The City of 

Raleigh (City), through its contractor, awarded Code Electric, Inc. the electrical construction 

sub-contract for the Project. The $90 million Project is funded in part by two Transportation 

Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery grants of $26.5 million from Fiscal Year (FY) 

2012 and $11.5 million from FY 2013 to the City, and $15 million from a $520 million 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of2009 grant to the North Carolina Department 

of Transportation. FRA is providing its decision on the waiver to the City as the FRA grant 

recipient for this Project. 

The Project is subject to 49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(l), which requires that the steel, iron, and 

manufactured goods used in a project to be produced in the United States. FRA may waive 

the Buy America requirements if FRA finds that: (1) applying the requirements would be 

inconsistent with the public interest; (2) the steel, iron, and goods manufactured in the United 

States are not produced in sufficient and reasonably available amounts or are not of a 

satisfactory quality; (3) rolling stock or power train equipment cannot be bought or delivered 

to the United States within a reasonable time; or (4) including domestic material will increase 

the cost of the overall project by more than 25 percent. 

For the reasons stated in this letter, FRA grants a "non-availability" Buy America waiver. 

This waiver applies only to this Project. 
Mr. Richard L. Kelly 

Page 2 

Code Electric, Inc. seeks a waiver for the following components for use in the Project: 

Description Quantity Description 

Addressable Pull Station 15 Addressable Module Flush Cover 

Duct Sensor Housing 6 Overvoltage Suppressor 

Remote Test Station 6 Relay JAM 

Sampling Tube 73 ", Plastic 6 Addressable Module Flush Cover 

Relay JAM 6 Relay Id NET 2 IAM W /T Sense 

Addressable Module Flush Cover 6 10 AH Battery 

Indoor/Outdoor Surface Back Box 8 Address Module Isolator 

Speaker Low Profile Ceiling Mount 9 Addressable Module Flush Cover 

Supervised 1AM 22 50 AH Battery 

1AM Bracket 22 Laptop 

Quantity 

22 

1 

13 

13 

1 

2 

10 

10 

4 

1 

The total cost of the fire alarm system is less than $30,000, and the total cost of the non-U.S. 

manufactured components is less thari $10,000. 

Code Electric, Inc. asserts the following facts in support of the waiver request: 

• Code Electric, Inc. received several bids for the fire alarm system from suppliers

Honeywell, Tyco Simplex Grinnell, and Edwards (United Technologies). Although these

suppliers source many fire alarm system components from U.S. manufacturers, none of

the suppliers offered a one hundred percent Buy America-compliant system. All fire

alarm system suppliers use a mix of foreign and U.S.-made components; and

• The foreign components used by suppliers vary. However, due to programming,

interoperability, and certification issues, the components are not interchangeable among

systems. Therefore, suppliers cannot swap components to meet the FRA Buy America

requirement.

FRA independently verified these assertions with its Monitoring and Technical Assistance 

Contractor (MTAC), TranSystems. An electrical engineer from FRA's MTAC explained that 

large international suppliers source or manufacture pieces of the fire alarm system in different 

countries. Further, many portions of the system are addressable (individually programmable), 

which means the software and hardware must be compatible and tested. In addition, fire alarm 

components and systems are UL® listed. UL® is a third-party, independent company that 

certifies safety compliance of many systems and their components, including fire alarm systems. 

Attempting to swap pieces of a fire alarm system would jeopardize its UL® listing and could 

cause product warranty and liability issues. 

FRA concludes a waiver is appropriate under 49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(2)(B) for the components 

because domestically-produced components are not currently "produced in sufficient and 

reasonably available amounts" (49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(2)(B)). FRA bases this determination on 

the following: 
Mr. Richard L. Kelly 

Page 3 

• For competitively bid, commercial products for buildings, such as fire alarm systems,

FRA views receiving no Buy America-compliant bids as presumptive evidence the

conditions exist to grant a non-availability waiver;

• On October 28, 2016, FRA provided public notice of this waiver request and a 15-day

opportunity for comment on its website. FRA also emailed notice to over 6,000 recipients

that requested Buy America notices through "GovDelivery." FRA received one comment.

However, the commenter did not provide any information about a domestic source for a

fu]ly Buy America-compliant frre alarm system; and

• FRA's MTAC concurred with Code Electric, Inc. that due to programming,

interoperability, and certification issues, components are not interchangeable among

systems. Therefore, fire alarm system suppliers cannot swap components to meet the

FRA Buy America requirement.

This waiver applies only to this Project for these specific components. 

Under 49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(4), FRA will publish this letter granting the Buy America waiver to 

the City in the Federal Register and provide notice of such finding and an opportunity for public 

comment after which this waiver will become effective. 

If you have any questions, please contact John Johnson, Attorney-Advisor, at 

John.Jo son@dot.gov or (202) 493-0078. 

Acting Administrator 

cc: Code Electric, Inc.