U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Federal Railroad 

Administration 

NCDOT Rail Division 

1553 Mail Service Center 

1 South Wilmington Street 

Raleigh, NC 27699-1553 

Administrator 

Re: Request for Waiver of Buy America Requirement 

Dear Mr. Allan Paul: 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

APR - 9 2018 

On April 4, 2017, Lake 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 

Locomotive and Railcar Maintenance Facility project in Charlotte, NC (Project). The Project is 

for the construction of a railcar and maintenance facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. The North 

Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), through its contractor, awarded Lake Electric, 

Inc. the electrical construction sub-contract for the Project. The $23 .25 million project is funded 

by an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of2009 grant to NCDOT. 

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

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

the Buy America requirements ifFRA 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. FRA is 

providing its decision on the waiver to NCDOT as the FRA grant recipient for this Project, and 

this waiver applies only to this Project. 
NCDOT Rail Division 

Page2 

Lake Electric seeks a waiver for the following components (Components) for use in the Project: 

Description Quantity Description 

252 Point Fire Alarm Control Panel 1 Relay Modules 

Digital Alarm Communicator 1 Red Wall Mount Hom/Strobes 

Transmitter 

Remote Annunciators 1 Red Wall Mount Strobes 

RS-485 Interface Modules 1 Multi-Criteria Fire Detectors 

12V7ah SIA Batteries 4 Monitor Modules 

Dual Action Manual pull stations 7 Dual Input Monitor Modules 

Photoelectric Smoke Detectors 22 

The total cost of the fire alarm system is less than $6,000, and the total cost of the non-U.S. 

manufactured components is less than $4,000. 

Lake Electric asserts the following facts in support of the waiver request: 

Quantity 

4 

18 

14 

5 

5 

1 

Lake Electric sought bids from fourteen qualified suppliers and received two bids for the fire 

alarm system from suppliers Southern Sound and Lefler Electronics. Although these suppliers 

source many fire alarm system components from U.S. manufacturers, neither of the suppliers 

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

use a mix of foreign and US-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 out components to meet Buy America. 

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: 

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; 
NCDOT Rail Division 

Page 3 

On September 28, 2017, 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 fully Buy 

America-compliant fire alarm system; and 

FRA's MTAC concurred with Lake Electric that due to programming, interoperability, and 

certification issues, components are not interchangeable among systems. Therefore, fire alarm 

system suppliers cannot swap out components to meet Buy America. 

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. 

Questions about this letter can be directed to, John Johnson, Attorney-Advisor, at 

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