This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

12092 

Vol. 80, No. 44 

Friday, March 6, 2015 

1For example, 23 U.S.C. 140(d) authorizes the 

preferential employment of Indians living on or 

near a reservation on projects and contracts on 

Indian reservations roads under the Federal-aid 

Highway Program. 

2Effective December 26, 2014, 49 CFR part 18 

will apply only to grants obligated on or before 

December 25, 2014. Grants obligated on or after 

December 26, 2014 will be subject to 2 CFR part 

200. This provision (18.36(c)(2)) has been recodified 

at 2 CFR 200.319(b) and is substantively the same 

as 18.36(c)(2). Although Congress did not address 

the change in codification in section 418, FTA 

intends to apply section 418 to grants obligated on 

or after December 26, 2014 and subject to 2 CFR 

200.319(b). 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

2 CFR Part 1201 

[Docket DOT–OST–2015–0013] 

RIN 2105–AE38 

Geographic-Based Hiring Preferences 

in Administering Federal Awards 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST); 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

(DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The DOT proposes to amend 

its regulations implementing the 

Government-wide Uniform 

Administrative Requirements, Cost 

Principles, and Audit Requirements for 

Federal Awards to permit recipients and 

subrecipients to impose geographicbased hiring preferences whenever not 

otherwise prohibited by Federal statute. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before April 6, 2015. Late-filed 

comments will be considered to the 

extent practicable, but the DOT may 

issue a final rule at any time after the 

close of the comment period. 

ADDRESSES: To ensure that you do not 

duplicate your docket submissions, 

please submit them by only one of the 

following means: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE., W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery: West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE., between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. The telephone 

number is (202) 366–9329. 

• Instructions: You must include the 

agency name and docket number or the 

Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) 

for the rulemaking at the beginning of 

your comments. All comments received 

will be posted without change to 

http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Harkins, Deputy Assistant 

General Counsel for General Law (OST– 

C10), Office of the Secretary, 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Room W83– 

312, Washington, DC 20590, 202–366– 

0590. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

December 26, 2014, the DOT’s 

regulations at 2 CFR part 1201 became 

effective, which adopted the Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB) 

revised Government-wide Uniform 

Administrative Requirements, Cost 

Principles, and Audit Requirements for 

Federal awards to non-Federal entities 

at 2 CFR part 200 (Common Rule). 

These requirements at 2 CFR 200.319(b) 

prohibit the use of in-state or local 

geographic preferences in the evaluation 

of bids or proposals except where 

Federal statute mandates or encourages 

the use of such preferences.1 This 

prohibition extends to the use of 

geographic hiring preferences in 

contracts that are awarded by recipients 

and subrecipients with Federal financial 

assistance since such preferences could 

result in a competitive advantage for 

contractors based in the targeted hiring 

area. This provision in the OMB 

Common Rule is not new and was found 

in the DOT’s implementation of the 

prior version of OMB’s Common Rule 

(49 CFR 18.36(c)(2) (2014)). 

Many recipients and subrecipients at 

the local governmental level have local 

hiring provisions that they otherwise 

apply to procurements that do not 

involve Federal funding. Such 

provisions are intended to ensure that 

the communities in which the projects 

are located benefit from the jobs that 

result from their investment of their 

funds, particularly for workers in low 

income areas. Transportation plays a 

critical role in connecting Americans 

and communities to economic 

opportunity. The choices that are made 

regarding transportation infrastructure 

can strengthen communities, create 

pathways to jobs and improve the 

quality of life for all Americans. 

Transportation investments and policies 

can improve access to jobs, education, 

and goods movement, while providing 

construction and operations jobs. As 

such, the DOT believes that local and 

other geographic-based hiring 

preferences are essential to promoting 

Ladders of Opportunity for the workers 

in these communities by ensuring that 

they participate in, and benefit from, the 

economic opportunities such projects 

present. 

Additionally, Section 418 of the 

Consolidated and Further Continuing 

Appropriations Act, 2015, Public Law 

113–235 (FY 2015 Appropriations Act), 

prohibits the Federal Transit 

Administration from using fiscal year 

(FY) 2015 funds to implement, 

administer, or enforce 49 CFR 

18.36(c)(2), for construction hiring. 

Section 18.36(c)(2) prohibits the use of 

statutorily or administratively imposed 

in-State or local geographical 

preferences in the evaluation of bids or 

proposals.2 Thus, at least for FTAfunded project in FY 2015, Congress has 

diminished the legal effectiveness of 

this provision. 

Therefore, the DOT is proposing to 

amend Part 1201 by promulgating a 

provision to deviate from the OMB 

guidance by making clear that 

geographic hiring preferences may be 

used in DOT grant programs. With this 

deviation, local communities will be in 

a better position to leverage Federal and 

State and local funds into local jobs and 

economic growth. However, this 

deviation would only apply to the 

extent that such geographic hiring 

preferences are not otherwise prohibited 

by Federal statute or regulation. For 

example, the Federal statutory provision 

at 23 U.S.C. 112 requires full and open 

competition in the award of contracts 

under the Federal-aid highway program. 

The Federal Highway Administration 

has traditionally interpreted this 

provision as prohibiting the use of 

geographic hiring preferences and 

reinforced this interpretation in 23 CFR 

635.117(b). Under a 2013 Opinion from 


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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 44 / Friday, March 6, 2015 / Proposed Rules 12093 

the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), OLC 

clarified that section 112 does not 

compel the DOT from prohibiting 

recipients and subrecipients under the 

Federal-aid Highway Program from 

imposing contract requirements that do 

not directly relate to the performance of 

work. Rather, the OLC opinion states 

that the Secretary has discretion to 

permit such requirements as long as 

they do not ‘‘unduly limit competition.’’ 

(See Competitive Bidding Requirements 

Under the Federal-Aid Highway 

Program, 23 U.S.C. 112, (Aug. 23, 

2013)). 

In order to determine whether 

contracting requirements may be used 

consistent with the 2013 OLC opinion, 

the DOT has established a pilot program 

under which such geographic-based 

hiring requirements may be used on an 

experimental basis. This program, 

which is published in today’s Federal 

Register, allows recipients and 

subrecipients of Federal Highway 

Administration and Federal Transit 

Administration funds to use such 

requirements pursuant to the 

experimental authorities of those 

agencies. For any such projects, the 

DOT will monitor and evaluate whether 

the contracting requirements approved 

for use under the pilot program have an 

undue restriction on competition. 

Regulatory Analyses and Notices 

Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory 

Planning and Review) and USDOT 

Regulatory Policies and Procedures 

The DOT has preliminarily 

determined that this action would not 

be a significant regulatory action within 

the meaning of Executive Order 12866 

and would not be significant within the 

meaning of DOT regulatory policies and 

procedures. It is anticipated that the 

economic impact of this rulemaking 

would be minimal. These proposed 

changes would not adversely affect, in 

a material way, any sector of the 

economy. In addition, these changes 

would not interfere with any action 

taken or planned by another agency and 

would not materially alter the budgetary 

impact of any entitlements, grants, user 

fees, or loan programs. Consequently, a 

full regulatory evaluation is not 

required. 

Allowing local geographic preferences 

in hiring, where none currently exist, 

may result in additional local hiring and 

in non-local workers not obtaining jobs 

they otherwise might get. To the extent 

this occurs this would be an economic 

transfer from non-local workers to local 

workers and not a cost. 

To the extent local labor markets are 

tight this could increase labor costs for 

the DOT-Grant funded projects if all 

hiring is local. Similarly, if local supply 

of labor in the skilled trades is low, 

productivity on DOT-Grant funded 

project could decrease and project costs 

could increase if all hiring is local. 

However, the proposed rule is not 

forcing local governments to hire 

locally; it is only saying that they may 

use geographic hiring preferences. They 

will only exercise this option if they feel 

it is net beneficial to their communities 

to do so. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

In compliance with the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96–354, 5 U.S.C. 

601–612), the DOT has evaluated the 

effects of this proposed action on small 

entities and has determined that the 

proposed action would not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

This proposed action does not affect any 

funding distributed under any of the 

programs administered by the DOT. For 

these reasons, I hereby certify that this 

action would not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

This proposed rule would not impose 

unfunded mandates as defined by the 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

(Pub. L. 104–4, 109 Stat. 48). This 

proposed rule will not result in the 

expenditure by State, local, and tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of $128.1 million or more 

in any one year (2 U.S.C. 1532). Further, 

in compliance with the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995, the DOT 

will evaluate any regulatory action that 

might be proposed in subsequent stages 

of the proceeding to assess the effects on 

State, local, tribal governments and the 

private sector. 

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism 

Assessment) 

This proposed action has been 

analyzed in accordance with the 

principles and criteria contained in 

Executive Order 13132, and the DOT 

has determined preliminarily that this 

proposed action would not have 

sufficient federalism implications to 

warrant the preparation of a federalism 

assessment. The DOT has also 

determined that this proposed action 

would not preempt any State law or 

State regulation or affect the States’ 

ability to discharge traditional State 

governmental functions. 

Executive Order 13211 (Energy Effects) 

We have analyzed this action under 

Executive Order 13211, Actions 

Concerning Regulations That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use, dated May 18, 

2001. We have determined that it is not 

a significant energy action under that 

order since it is not likely to have a 

significant adverse effect on the supply, 

distribution, or use of energy. Therefore, 

a Statement of Energy Effects is not 

required. 

Executive Order 12372 

(Intergovernmental Review) 

Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance Program Number 20.205, 

Highway Planning and Construction. 

The regulations implementing Executive 

Order 12372 regarding 

intergovernmental consultation on 

Federal programs and activities apply to 

this program. Accordingly, the DOT 

solicits comments on this issue. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501), Federal 

agencies must obtain approval from the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for each collection of 

information they conduct, sponsor, or 

require through regulations. The DOT 

has determined that this proposal does 

not contain collection of information 

requirements for the purposes of the 

PRA. 

Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice 

Reform) 

This action meets applicable 

standards in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of 

Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice 

Reform, to minimize litigation, 

eliminate ambiguity, and reduce 

burden. 

Executive Order 13045 (Protection of 

Children) 

We have analyzed this rule under 

Executive Order 13045, Protection of 

Children from Environmental Health 

Risks and Safety Risks. The DOT 

certifies that this proposed action would 

not cause any environmental risk to 

health or safety that might 

disproportionately affect children. 

Executive Order 12630 (Taking of 

Private Property) 

The DOT has analyzed this proposed 

rule under Executive Order 12630, 

Governmental Actions and Interface 

with Constitutionally Protected Property 

Rights. The DOT does not anticipate 

that this proposed action would affect a 

taking of private property or otherwise 

have taking implications under 

Executive Order 12630. 


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12094 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 44 / Friday, March 6, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

National Environmental Policy Act 

The DOT has analyzed the 

environmental impacts of this proposed 

action pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and has 

determined that it is categorically 

excluded pursuant to DOT Order 

5610.1C, Procedures for Considering 

Environmental Impacts (44 FR 56420, 

Oct. 1, 1979). Categorical exclusions are 

actions identified in an agency’s NEPA 

implementing procedures that do not 

normally have a significant impact on 

the environment and therefore do not 

require either an environmental 

assessment (EA) or environmental 

impact statement (EIS). See 40 CFR 

1508.4. In analyzing the applicability of 

a categorical exclusion, the agency must 

also consider whether extraordinary 

circumstances are present that would 

warrant the preparation of an EA or EIS. 

Id. Paragraph 3.c.5 of DOT Order 

5610.1C incorporates by reference the 

categorical exclusions for all DOT 

Operating Administrations. This action 

is covered by the categorical exclusion 

listed in the Federal Highway 

Administration’s implementing 

procedures, ‘‘[p]romulgation of rules, 

regulations, and directives.’’ 23 CFR 

771.117(c)(20). The purpose of this 

rulemaking is to permit recipients and 

subrecipients to impose geographicbased hiring preferences whenever not 

otherwise prohibited by Federal statute. 

The agency does not anticipate any 

environmental impacts, and there are no 

extraordinary circumstances present in 

connection with this rulemaking. 

Regulation Identifier Number 

A regulation identifier number (RIN) 

is assigned to each regulatory action 

listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal 

Regulations. The Regulatory Information 

Service Center publishes the Unified 

Agenda in April and October of each 

year. The RIN contained in the heading 

of this document can be used to cross 

reference this action with the Unified 

Agenda. 

List of Subjects in 2 CFR Part 1201 

Uniform administrative requirements, 

Cost principles, and audit requirements 

for Federal awards. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 24, 

2015. 

Anthony R. Foxx, 

Secretary of Transportation. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, part 1201 of title 2 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations is proposed 

to be amended as follows: 

PART 1201—UNIFORM 

ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS, 

COST PRINCIPLES, AND AUDIT 

REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL 

AWARDS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1201 

continues to read: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322. 

■ 2. Add § 1201.319 to read as follows: 

§ 1201.319 Competition. 

Notwithstanding 2 CFR 200.319, nonFederal entities may utilize geographic 

hiring preferences (including local 

hiring preferences) pertaining to the use 

of labor on a project consistent with 

such non-Federal entities’ policies and 

procedures, when not otherwise 

prohibited by Federal statute or 

regulation. 

[FR Doc. 2015–05215 Filed 3–5–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–0250; Directorate 

Identifier 2014–NM–216–AD] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Airbus 

Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: We propose to adopt a new 

airworthiness directive (AD) for all 

Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and 

A321 series airplanes. This proposed 

AD was prompted by reports of airspeed 

indication discrepancies while flying at 

high altitudes in inclement weather. 

This proposed AD would require 

replacing certain pitot probes on the 

captain, first officer, and standby sides 

with certain new pitot probes. We are 

proposing this AD to prevent airspeed 

indication discrepancies during 

inclement weather, which, depending 

on the prevailing altitude, could lead to 

unknown accumulation of ice crystals 

and consequent reduced controllability 

of the airplane. 

DATES: We must receive comments on 

this proposed AD by April 20, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

using the procedures found in 14 CFR 

11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: 202–493–2251. 

• Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

For service information identified in 

this proposed AD, contact Airbus, 

Airworthiness Office—EIAS, 1 Rond 

Point Maurice Bellonte, 31707 Blagnac 

Cedex, France; telephone +33 5 61 93 36 

96; fax +33 5 61 93 44 51; email 

account.airworth-eas@airbus.com; 

Internet http://www.airbus.com. You 

may view this referenced service 

information at the FAA, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, WA. For information on 

the availability of this material at the 

FAA, call 425–227–1221. 

Examining the AD Docket 

You may examine the AD docket on 

the Internet at http://

www.regulations.gov by searching for 

and locating Docket No. FAA–2015– 

0250; or in person at the Docket 

Management Facility between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. The AD docket 

contains this proposed AD, the 

regulatory evaluation, any comments 

received, and other information. The 

street address for the Docket Operations 

office (telephone 800–647–5527) is in 

the ADDRESSES section. Comments will 

be available in the AD docket shortly 

after receipt. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sanjay Ralhan, Aerospace Engineer, 

International Branch, ANM–116, 

Transport Airplane Directorate, FAA, 

1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, WA 

98057–3356; telephone 425–227–1405; 

fax 425–227–1149. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited 

We invite you to send any written 

relevant data, views, or arguments about 

this proposed AD. Send your comments 

to an address listed under the 

ADDRESSES section. Include ‘‘Docket No. 

FAA–2015–0250; Directorate Identifier 

2014–NM–216–AD’’ at the beginning of 

your comments. We specifically invite 

comments on the overall regulatory, 

economic, environmental, and energy 


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