ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

[EPA-R07-OW-2010-0898 ; FRL ] 

Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy 

American) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(ARRA) to the Central Iowa Water Association . 

AGENCY : Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) . 

ACTION : Notice . 

SUMMARY : EPA is hereby granting a waiver of the Buy American 

requirements of ARRA Section 1605 under the authority of Section 

1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of 

a satisfactory quality] to the Central Iowa Water Association 

(CIWA) for the purchase of ORION Water Meter Monitor with Leak 

Detection Indicator in-home water meter monitors manufactured in 

Malaysia by Eastech, Inc ., under license from Badger Meter, 

Inc ., located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin . This is a project 

specific waiver and only applies to the use of the specified 

product for the ARRA project being proposed . Any other ARRA 

recipient that wishes to use the same product must apply for a 

separate waiver based on project specific circumstances . The 

waiver applicant states that the Badger in-home water meter 

monitors are the only devices that are compatible with the water 

meter heads installed by the CIWA . The Regional Administrator 

is making this determination based on the review and 
recommendations of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund 

(DWSRF) staff . CIWA has provided sufficient documentation to 

support their waiver request . The Assistant Administrator of 

the Office of Administration and Resources Management has 

concurred on this decision to make an exception to Section 1605 

of ARRA . 

DATES : Effective Date : [Regional Administrator signature date] . 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT : Christopher Simmons, 

Environmental Engineer, Water Wetlands and Pesticides Division 

(WWPD), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7, 901 N . 5th 

Street, Kansas City, KS 66101, telephone number (913) 551-7237 ; 

e-mail address : simmons .christopher@epa .gov 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION : In accordance with ARRA Section 

1605(c), EPA hereby provides notice that we are granting a 

project waiver of the requirements of Section 1605(a) of Public 

Law 111-5, Buy American requirements, to the Central Iowa Water 

Association for the purchase of a non-domestically manufactured 

ORION Water Meter Monitor with Leak Detection Indicator in-home 

water meter monitors manufactured in Malaysia by Eastech, Inc ., 

under license from Badger Meter, Inc ., located in Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin, to meet CIWA's project specifications . 

Section 1605 of the ARRA requires that none of the 

appropriated funds may be used for the construction, alteration, 

maintenance, or repair of a public building or a public works 
project unless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods 

used in the project is produced in the United States, or unless 

a waiver is provided to the recipient by the head of the 

appropriate agency, here the EPA . A waiver may be provided if 

EPA determines that (1) applying these requirements would be 

inconsistent with the public interest ; (2) iron, steel, and the 

relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of 

a satisfactory quality ; or (3) inclusion of iron, steel, and the 

relevant manufactured goods produced in the United States will 

increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25 

percent . 

The CIWA drinking water improvement project is proposing 

the use of a non-domestically manufactured water meter monitor . 

This project will improve efficiency and promote water 

conservation by providing customers with a single meter reading 

platform and in-home monitoring devices . Residential water 

meters have been supplied and utilized by Sensus since the late 

1970's . The current Sensus water meters are now aged and 

obsolete . The Sensus meter technology has been discontinued and 

an in home monitoring unit is not available for the North 

American market . 

The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) staff has 

reviewed this waiver request and has determined that the 
supporting documentation provided by the CIWA establishes both a 

proper basis to specify a particular manufactured good, and that 

there is no domestic manufactured good currently available . The 

information provided is sufficient to meet the following 

criteria listed under Section 1605(b) of the ARRA and in the 

April 28, 2009 Memorandum : Iron, steel, and the manufactured 

goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and 

reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality . 

EPA has also evaluated CIWA's request to determine if its 

submission is considered late or if it could be considered 

timely, as per the OMB Guidance at CFR 176 .120 . EPA will 

generally regard waiver requests with respect to components that 

were specified in the bid solicitation or in a general/primary 

construction contract as "late" if submitted after the contract 

date . However, EPA could also determine that a request be 

evaluated as timely, though made after the date that the 

contract was signed, if the need for a waiver was not reasonably 

foreseeable . If the need for a waiver is reasonably 

foreseeable, then EPA could still apply discretion in these late 

cases as per the OMB Guidance, which says "the award official 

may deny the request ." For those waiver requests that do not 

have a reasonably unforeseeable basis for lateness, but for 

which the waiver basis is valid and there is no apparent gain by 
the ARRA recipient or loss on behalf of the government, then EPA 

will still consider granting a waiver . 

In this case, CIWA's waiver request indicates that the 

Badger in-home water meter monitors are the only devices 

compatible with the Badger meter transmitter system and that no 

other water meter monitors are capable of meeting satisfactory 

quality to meet the technical specifications . The existing 

installed Sensus meter technology has been discontinued and 

Sensus has indicated that an equivalent in home monitoring unit 

is not available from Sensus for the North American market at 

this time . CIWA was not informed that the water meter monitor 

was not American made until the point of signing a final 

purchase agreement, after the contract was signed . There is no 

indication that CIWA failed to request a waiver in order to 

avoid the requirements of the ARRA, particularly since there are 

no domestically manufactured products available that meet the 

project specifications . Therefore, EPA will consider CIWA's 

waiver request, a foreseeable late request, as though it had 

been timely made since there is no gain by CIWA and no loss by 

the government due to the late request . 

Furthermore, the purpose of the ARRA is to stimulate 

economic recovery by funding current infrastructure 

construction, not to delay projects that are "shovel ready" by 

requiring potential SRF eligible recipients, such as the Central 
Iowa Water Association to revise their design standards and 

specifications as well as their construction schedule . There 

are no domestic manufacturers that can provide a compatible 

water meter monitor that meets the specifications of this 

drinking water improvement project . To delay this construction 

would directly conflict with a fundamental economic purpose of 

ARRA, which is to create or retain jobs . 

The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ Memorandum, "Implementation of 

Buy American provisions of P .L . 111-5, the `American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act of 2009' " ("Memorandum"), defines 

reasonably available quantity as "the quantity of iron, steel, 

or relevant manufactured good is available or will be available 

at the time needed and place needed, and in the proper form or 

specification as specified in the project plans and design ." 

The same Memorandum defines "satisfactory quality" as "the 

quality of steel, iron or manufactured good specified in the 

project plans and designs ." 

The March 31, 2009 Delegation of Authority Memorandum 

provided Regional Administrators with the temporary authority to 

issue exceptions to Section 1605 of the ARRA within the 

geographic boundaries of their respective regions and with 

respect to requests by individual grant recipients . 

Having established both a proper basis to specify the 

particular good required for this project and that this 
manufactured good was not available from a producer in the 

United States, the CIWA is hereby granted a waiver from the Buy 

American requirements of Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5 . 

This waiver permits use of ARRA funds for the purchase of a nondomestic manufactured ORION Water Meter Monitors with Leak 

Detection Indicator documented in the CIWA's waiver request 

submittal dated June 24, 2010 . This supplementary information 

constitutes the detailed written justification required by 

Section 1605(c) for waivers based on a finding under subsection 

(b) . 

Authority : P .L . 111-5, section 1605 . 

Dated : ~ ~ ~-3 CJi ( U 

November 30, 2010 Karl Brooks, 

Regional Administrator, 

Region 7 .