48864 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 155 / Monday, August 12, 2013 / Notices 

performance of duties imposed upon the 

Department of Energy, by law and 

agreement. The Committee will 

continue to operate in accordance with 

the provisions of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, adhering to the rules 

and regulations in implementation of 

that Act. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Edmund J. Synakowski at (301) 903– 

4941. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 5, 

2013. 

Carol A. Matthews, 

Committee Management Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2013–19473 Filed 8–9–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Limited Public Interest Waiver Under 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of Limited Waiver. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a 

determination of inapplicability 

(unreasonable cost waiver) of section 

1605 of the American Reinvestment and 

Recovery Act of 2009 (Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions) to the California 

Energy Commission, recipient of EECBG 

grant EE0000905, for the installation of 

a heating, ventilation, and air 

conditioning (HVAC) system at the City 

of La Can ̃ ada Flintridge City Hall 

building. 

This waiver applies only to this 

project. 

DATES: Effective Date: September 12, 

2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Platt-Patrick, Weatherization 

and Intergovernmental Program, Office 

of Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy (EERE), (202) 287–1553, 

buyamerican@ee.doe.gov, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of the Recovery Act, section 

1605(b)(3), the head of a Federal 

department or agency may issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provisions) 

if the application of section 1605 would 

represent an ‘unreasonable cost’. The 

authority of the Secretary of Energy to 

make all inapplicability determinations 

was re-delegated to the Assistant 

Secretary for Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy (EERE), for EERE 

projects under the Recovery Act, in 

Redelegation Order No. 00–002.01E, 

dated April 25, 2011, for EERE Recovery 

Act projects. 

Pursuant to this delegation, the 

Assistant Secretary has determined that 

application of section 1605 restrictions 

represents an ‘unreasonable cost’ for the 

project described herein. 

Specifically, this unreasonable cost 

determination waives the Buy American 

requirements to the California Energy 

Commission, recipient of EECBG grant 

EE0000905, for the installation of a 

heating, ventilation, and air 

conditioning (HVAC) system at the at 

the City of La Can ̃ ada Flintridge City 

Hall building. 

EERE has developed a robust process 

to ascertain in a systematic and 

expedient manner whether or not there 

is domestic manufacturing capacity for 

the items submitted for a waiver of the 

Recovery Act Buy American provision. 

This process involves a close 

collaboration with the United States 

Department of Commerce National 

Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP), in order to scour the 

domestic manufacturing landscape in 

search of producers before making any 

nonavailability or unreasonable cost 

determinations. 

The NIST MEP has 59 regional centers 

with substantial knowledge of, and 

connections to, the domestic 

manufacturing sector. MEP uses their 

regional centers to ‘scout’ for current or 

potential manufacturers of the 

product(s) submitted in a waiver 

request. In the course of this interagency 

collaboration, MEP has been able to find 

exact or partial matches for 

manufactured goods that EERE grantees 

had been unable to locate. As a result, 

in those cases, EERE was able to work 

with the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a 

waiver. 

Upon receipt of completed waiver 

requests for the product in the current 

waiver, EERE reviewed the information 

provided and submitted the relevant 

technical information to the NIST MEP. 

The MEP then used their network of 

nationwide centers to scout for domestic 

manufacturers. 

In addition to the MEP collaboration 

outlined above, the EERE Buy American 

Team worked with labor unions, trade 

associations and other manufacturing 

stakeholders to scout for domestic 

manufacturing capacity or an equivalent 

product for the HVAC components 

contained in this waiver. EERE also 

conducted significant amounts of 

independent research to supplement 

MEP’s scouting efforts. 

As a result of EERE’s efforts and 

MEP’s scouting process, it was 

determined that if the described HVAC 

system was manufactured domestically, 

it will increase the total project cost by 

more than 25%. 

The subject HVAC Replacement 

Project entails the replacement of eight 

(8) package rooftop units (gasheat/ 

electric cool) at the City of La Can ̃ ada 

Flintridge City Hall building. Units are 

in the range of 21⁄2 to 5 tons in cooling 

capacity. New package units shall be 

equipped with air-side economizers and 

new roof curbs. The City solicited bid 

proposals for the project through a 

public bid process. 

Contract drawings and specifications 

were created based on a Carrier design 

(Model 48ES Series) which at the time 

of document preparation was believed 

to be manufactured in the United States. 

A ‘‘Product Bulletin’’ (dated July 26, 

2010) from Carrier indicated that the 

Carrier unit (Model 48ES) was indeed 

manufactured in America not long ago. 

Specifically, the subject HVAC unit 

(48ES) was manufactured at Carrier’s 

plant in Tyler, TX, before recently 

moving its operation to Mexico. 

The primary reason that Carrier 

(Model 48ES) was used as the basis of 

design for this project was because the 

existing units presently serving the City 

Hall building are also made by Carrier. 

In an effort to reduce project complexity 

and installation costs, it was understood 

that the proposed units shall have equal 

(or near equal) dimensions as the 

existing units. The sure way this would 

be accomplished is through use of new 

Carrier units. While other manufacturers 

may have equal performance 

characteristics, dimensional data may be 

significantly different. This includes but 

is not limited to (a) Unit base 

dimensions/footprint, (b) unit height, (c) 

supply/return duct openings and 

dimensions, (d) electrical and natural 

gas line connection locations and 

clearances, all of which could impact 

the project’s complexity and costs. The 

grant recipient provided a mechanical 

unit schedule (from the Contract 

Drawings) in the application for a 

waiver, which includes a comparison of 

existing and proposed HVAC unit 

dimensions. 

City and Contractor then conducted a 

survey of the market to find HVAC 

Packaged Units that meet both the 

technical specs and the Buy American 

requirements. Four manufacturers were 

identified by the City, one was 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 155 / Monday, August 12, 2013 / Notices 48865 

identified by MEP. Accordingly, the 

City asked the Contractor to provide a 

price proposal for a change order that 

would accommodate the domestic units. 

In order to accommodate the domestic 

unit significant work would need to be 

done to the roof and ductwork. This 

work would include: 

‘‘equipment curbs will be re-leveled using 

sloped 4x lumber to match the original 

rooftop duct work bottom layout and be 

attached to the building structure. 4 of the 

units will need to be set back to allow for the 

hookup and transition to the existing duct 

work. The roof portion from where the 

existing equipment curb was will be properly 

re-roofed. Some of the existing roof ductwork 

will be demolished and disposed of properly 

to allow for the hook up of new duct. All 8 

units will get new rooftop duct transitions, 

duct, fittings and duct supports to 

accommodate the termination from the 

existing roof duct work to the new HVAC 

units and economizers. All utilities will be 

extended to terminate on the new equipment. 

The existing condensate system will be 

reconfigured to terminate to the new 

equipment. A/C #3 will have to have the 

existing stub ups for the high & low voltage 

relocated from the underside to 

accommodate the new equipment curb 

location and roofed in on completion.’’ 

(Contractor’s estimate, April 24, 2012) 

The total cost of this additional work 

would be approximately $29,770.00. The 

total cost of the manufactured goods would 

remain the same, $52,350.00. The additional 

cost represents a 56.9% increase in total 

project costs. 

Section 176.110 of Title 2 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations, entitled ‘‘Evaluating 

proposals of foreign iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods’’, states that if ‘‘the 

award official receives a request for an 

exception based on the cost of certain 

domestic iron, steel, and/or manufactured 

goods being unreasonable, in accordance 

with § 176.80, then the award official shall 

apply evaluation factors to the proposal to 

use such foreign iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods.’’ 

Per that section, the total evaluated 

cost = project cost estimate + (.25 × 

project cost estimate). The total cost of 

the project including the foreign 

manufactured HVAC is $52,350. The 

total evaluated cost is $52,350 + (.25 × 

$52,350) or $65,437.50 

The minimum cost for the project 

with US products is $82,120, a cost 

increase of 56%. In light of the 

foregoing, and under the authority of 

section 1605(b)(3) of Public Law No. 

111–5 and the Re-delegation Order 

dated April 25, 2011, with respect to 

Recovery Act projects funded by EERE, 

on October 24, 2011, the Acting 

Assistant Secretary issued a 

determination of inapplicability 

(unreasonable cost waiver) of section 

1605 of the American Reinvestment and 

Recovery Act of 2009 (Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions) to the California 

Energy Commission, recipient of EECBG 

grant EE0000905, for the installation of 

a heating, ventilation, and air 

conditioning (HVAC) system at the at 

the City of La Can ̃ ada Flintridge City 

Hall building. This waiver applies only 

to this project. 

This waiver determination was made 

pursuant to the delegation of authority 

by the Secretary of Energy to the 

Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy with respect to 

expenditures within the purview of his 

responsibility. Consequently, this 

waiver applies only to EERE projects 

carried out under the Recovery Act; and 

only to this project specifically, waiver 

requests, even for the same or similar 

items, will be handled individually, 

because individual factors apply to each 

project. 

Authority: Public Law 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued in Washington, DC on September 

12, 2012. 

David T. Danielson, 

Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

Editorial Note: This document was 

received at the Office of the Federal Register 

August 7, 2013. 

[FR Doc. 2013–19477 Filed 8–9–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of Amended Limited 

Waivers. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is hereby granting an 

Amended Waiver of section 1605 of the 

American Reinvestment and Recovery 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions) in EERE-funded 

projects limiting the waiver issued 

February 11, 2010 to plug in CFLs of 10 

inches or less and fluorescent electronic 

ballasts not capable of dimming. 

DATES: Effective Date: 01/31/2013. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Platt-Patrick, Office of Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

(EERE), (202) 586–7691, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of Recovery Act, Public Law 

111–5, section 1605(b)(2), the head of a 

Federal department or agency may issue 

a ‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provision) 

if the iron, steel, or relevant 

manufactured good is not produced or 

manufactured in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality 

(‘‘nonavailability’’). The authority of the 

Secretary of Energy to make all 

inapplicability determinations was redelegated to the Assistant Secretary for 

Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy (EERE), for EERE projects under 

the Recovery Act, in Redelegation Order 

No. 00–002.01F, dated October 31, 2012. 

On February 11, 2010, The Assistant 

Secretary issued a nonavailability 

waiver for fluorescent electronic 

ballasts. 

As with all waivers, the Assistant 

Secretary reserved the right to revisit 

and amend this determination based on 

any changes in the manufacturing 

landscape, such as the entry into the 

market of new domestic manufacturers. 

In this case, domestic manufacturers 

have retooled manufacturing lines and 

increased manufacturing capacity to the 

United States, reducing costs associated 

with producing dimmable fluorescent 

electronic ballasts and complete 

dimming systems including controls, 

decreasing the price and broadening the 

scope of domestically manufactured 

systems available for purchase. 

The remaining items covered by the 

February 2010 Waiver (Plug in CFLs of 

10 inches or less and fluorescent 

electronic ballasts not capable of 

dimming) continue to be covered by the 

February 11, 2010 waiver and remain 

subject to the specifications and 

conditions of that waiver. 

In order for the withdrawn waivers to 

continue to apply substantial steps to 

commit funds for the purchase of the 

formerly waived items must have been 

made on or before March 31, 2013. 

Substantial steps to commit funds 

would include, but are not limited to, 

(1) issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) 

on or before March 31, 2013 (applicable 

only where the grantee accepts a 

proposal received under that RFP); (2) 

in the case of a sole source selection: 

placing an order for the goods on or 

before March 31, 2013; (3) commencing 

a bidding process on or before March 

31, 2013; (4) in circumstances where the 

grantee solicited quotes without an RFP: 

the grantee purchases the goods based 

on a quote dated on or before March 31, 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES