Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 137 / Tuesday, July 19, 2022 / Notices 43101 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Communications received by 

September 2, 2022 will be considered by 

FRA before final action is taken. 

Comments received after that date will 

be considered if practicable. Anyone 

can search the electronic form of any 

written communications and comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the document, if 

submitted on behalf of an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). Under 5 

U.S.C. 553(c), the U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT) solicits comments 

from the public to better inform its 

processes. DOT posts these comments, 

without edit, including any personal 

information the commenter provides, to 

www.regulations.gov, as described in 

the system of records notice (DOT/ALL– 

14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 

https://www.transportation.gov/privacy. 

See also https://www.regulations.gov/ 

privacy-notice for the privacy notice of 

regulations.gov. 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

Carolyn Hayward-Williams, 

Director, Office of Railroad Systems and 

Technology. 

[FR Doc. 2022–15330 Filed 7–18–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

[Docket No. FTA–2022–0013] 

Notice of Proposed Buy America 

Waiver and Request for Comment 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, 

Department of Transpiration (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice; request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) has received 

multiple individual requests for a Buy 

America waiver for non-ADA accessible 

passenger vans and minivans that can 

be used in vanpool programs, based on 

the nonavailability of Buy Americacompliant vehicles. FTA is proposing a 

partial general nonavailability waiver of 

limited duration for mass-produced, 

unmodified non-ADA accessible vans 

and minivans. Under FTA’s proposal, in 

lieu of applying Buy America’s rolling 

stock standard to these vans and 

minivans, FTA would require the vans 

and minivans to have their place of final 

assembly and engine country of origin 

in the United States as reported under 

the American Automobile Labeling Act. 

FTA proposes that this partial waiver 

will expire after two years, or when a 

compliant vehicle becomes available, 

whichever is first. FTA seeks public and 

industry comment on whether FTA 

should grant the waiver as proposed, or 

in a modified form. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

August 3, 2022. Late-filed comments 

will be considered only to the extent 

practicable. 

ADDRESSES: Please submit all comments 

electronically to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://

www.regulations.gov and follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

refer to the Federal Transit 

Administration and the docket number 

in this notice (FTA–2022–0013). Note 

that all submissions received, including 

any personal information provided, will 

be posted without change and will be 

available to the public on https://

www.regulations.gov. You may review 

DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement 

in the Federal Register published April 

11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or at https://

www.transportation.gov/privacy. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jason Luebbers, FTA Attorney-Advisor, 

at (202) 366–8864 or Jason.Luebbers@

dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

purpose of this notice is to seek public 

comment on whether FTA should grant 

a partial Buy America waiver of limited 

duration for the procurement of massproduced, unmodified (complete and 

fully assembled as provided by the 

original equipment manufacturer) nonADA accessible passenger vans and 

minivans. 

Background 

Under FTA’s Buy America statute, 

FTA may obligate funds for a project to 

procure rolling stock only if the cost of 

components and subcomponents 

produced in the United States is more 

than 70 percent of the cost of all 

components of the rolling stock, and 

final assembly of the rolling stock 

occurs in the United States. 49 U.S.C. 

5323(j)(2)(C). A manufacturer of rolling 

stock must submit to pre-award and 

post-delivery audits and independent 

inspections to verify its compliance 

with Buy America. 49 U.S.C. 5323(m). 

FTA may waive Buy America 

requirements for a product if, among 

other reasons, a compliant version of the 

product is not produced in a sufficient 

and reasonably available amount or is 

not of a satisfactory quality. 49 U.S.C. 

5323(j)(2)(B). FTA cannot deny a request 

for a nonavailability waiver unless it 

can provide the waiver applicant with a 

written certification that: the item is 

produced in the United States in a 

sufficient and reasonably available 

amount; the item produced in the 

United States is of a satisfactory quality; 

and includes a list of known 

manufacturers in the United States from 

which the item can be obtained. 49 

U.S.C. 5323(j)(6). 

On October 20, 2016, FTA granted a 

general public interest waiver for massproduced, unmodified non-ADAaccessible vans and minivans, only from 

its domestic content requirement, for 

three years or until a compliant 

manufacturer came forward, whichever 

came first. (https://www.govinfo.gov/ 

content/pkg/FR-2016-10-20/pdf/2016- 

25370.pdf). At that time FTA had 

identified some models of van or 

minivan for which final assembly 

occurred in the United States, but could 

not identify a van or minivan that also 

satisfied the domestic content 

requirement. FTA, therefore, 

temporarily waived the domestic 

content requirement, but continued to 

require final assembly in the United 

States for mass-produced, unmodified 

non-ADA accessible vans and minivans. 

The waiver expired on September 30, 

2019. Since the waiver’s expiration, 

FTA has received requests to reissue a 

general public interest waiver for nonADA-accessible vans and minivans from 

grant recipients, the American Public 

Transit Association (APTA), and 

turnkey vanpool service provider 

Enterprise. 

In 2021, FTA received three 

applications for waivers for non-ADA 

accessible vans and minivans to be used 

as vanpool vehicles, based on the 

nonavailability of compliant vehicles. A 

vanpool vehicle is a vehicle with seating 

capacity for at least six adults not 

including the driver. 49 U.S.C. 

5323(i)(2)(C). The three applicants are 

Coast Transit Authority of Biloxi, 

Mississippi; the Metropolitan 

Transportation Commission of San 

Francisco, California; and the Ann 

Arbor Area Transportation Authority in 

Michigan. All three applications are to 

support procurements of service 

contracts with ‘‘Commute with 

Enterprise’’ to carry out vanpool 

programs of between 40 and 250 

vehicles. 

Today, final assembly for a number of 

mass-produced, unmodified non-ADA 

accessible van and minivan models 

occurs in the United States. FTA 

recipients, however, cannot verify the 

domestic content of such vehicles 

because manufacturers are unwilling to 

sign the required Buy America 

certification regarding minimum 

domestic content or submit to FTA’s 

pre-award and post-delivery audit 

requirements. Reasons that some of 

these manufacturers have provided to 


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43102 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 137 / Tuesday, July 19, 2022 / Notices 

FTA for their unwillingness to comply 

with these requirement include: (1) 

FTA-funded procurements do not 

generate a large percentage of overall 

sales of such vehicles, and therefore, 

their distribution chain is not set up for 

compliance with FTA Buy America 

requirements; and (2) it is burdensome 

to determine the components and 

subcomponents and their origin for Buy 

America audit purposes, and there are 

concerns regarding confidentiality of 

component pricing in audit reporting. 

FTA, therefore, currently is unable to 

identify a model that complies with its 

Buy America’s 70- percent domestic 

content requirement. FTA recipients 

and their contractors use these vehicles 

to operate vanpool service. Without a 

waiver, recipients could not procure 

these vehicles with FTA funds, which 

may result in such consequences as the 

operation of vehicles beyond their 

useful life; procurement of larger Buy 

America compliant vehicles that are 

more expensive and have less desirable 

access/egress characteristics compared 

to minivans; or termination of vanpool 

programs or failure to form new vanpool 

service, which could have climate 

change and equity impacts because 

vanpools provide an important 

transportation alternative to private 

passenger vehicles both in large cities 

and rural areas, and service to the 

elderly and disabled who do not need 

an ADA-accessible van. 

Proposed Waiver 

Under the American Automobile 

Labeling Act (AALA), manufacturers of 

mass-produced passenger motor 

vehicles for sale in the United States 

must report to the National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

by carline and by model year, 

information about each vehicle’s place 

of assembly and the country of origin of 

its engine and transmission. See, 49 

U.S.C. 32304 and 49 CFR part 583. This 

information is available on NHTSA’s 

website at https://www.nhtsa.gov/part583-american-automobile-labeling-actreports. 

In response to the three individual 

applications for nonavailability waivers 

of non-ADA accessible vans and 

minivans, FTA proposes the following 

partial general nonavailability waiver 

for mass-produced, unmodified nonADA accessible vans and minivans with 

seating capacity for at least six adults 

not including the driver. In lieu of 

applying the Buy America standards for 

rolling stock, FTA would require: 

(1) Final assembly must be in the 

United States, as reported to NHTSA 

under the AALA; 

(2) The country of origin of the 

engine, or (in the case of electric 

vehicles) motor must be the United 

States, as reported to NHTSA under the 

AALA; 

(3) The waiver is available to all grant 

recipients; 

(4) The waiver would expire two 

years from issuance, or upon a fully Buy 

America—compliant van or minivan 

becoming available, whichever occurs 

first. 

FTA is proposing to require that 

engines/motors be of United States 

origin, as reported under the AALA, as 

an easily verifiable way to maximize 

domestic content in vans and minivans 

absent a fully compliant vehicle. 

Manufacturers already report this 

information, and the information is 

readily available to the public, thus 

limiting burdens for manufacturers and 

procuring entities. For the duration of 

this partial general nonavailability 

waiver, FTA recipients would not have 

to submit individual applications for 

nonavailability waivers for massproduced, unmodified non-ADA 

accessible vans and minivans. 

FTA is not proposing to require that 

transmissions must be of United States 

origin, so that the procurement of 

hybrid vans or minivans with 

transmissions manufactured outside the 

United States would be eligible for FTA 

funding, and because electric vehicles 

do not have transmissions. The 

availability of hybrid and electric 

vehicles for use in federally funded 

vanpool service will contribute to the 

reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 

and environmental justice. FTA could 

revise this proposed waiver to require 

transmissions for hybrid vehicles be of 

United States origin if comments or later 

changes in market conditions 

demonstrate hybrid vans and minivans 

are available with transmissions made 

in the United States. 

Request for Comment 

This notice satisfies FTA’s 

requirement to publish any proposed 

Buy America waiver in the Federal 

Register and provide the public with a 

reasonable period of time for notice and 

comment. 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(3). FTA 

seeks public and industry comment 

from all interested parties. In particular, 

FTA seeks comment regarding whether 

the waiver should be approved, and, if 

so, whether it should be modified from 

FTA’s proposal and why. Relevant 

information and comments will help 

FTA understand completely the facts 

surrounding the waiver requests and 

FTA’s proposal. 

Nuria I. Fernandez, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2022–15356 Filed 7–18–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–57–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

[FTA Docket No. FTA 2022–0021] 

Agency Information Collection Activity 

Under OMB Review: National Transit 

Database (NTD) 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, 

Department of Transportation. 

ACTION: Notice of request for comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice announces the intention of the 

Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to 

request the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) to approve the extension 

of a currently approved information 

collection: National Transit Database. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted 

before September 19, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: To ensure that your 

comments are not entered more than 

once into the docket, submit comments 

identified by the docket number by only 

one of the following methods: 

1. Website: www.regulations.gov. 

Follow the instructions for submitting 

comments on the U.S. Government 

electronic docket site. (Note: The U.S. 

Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) 

electronic docket is no longer accepting 

electronic comments.) All electronic 

submissions must be made to the U.S. 

Government electronic docket site at 

www.regulations.gov. Commenters 

should follow the directions below for 

mailed and hand-delivered comments. 

2. Fax: 202–366–7951. 

3. Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Docket Operations, M–30, 

West Building, Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

4. Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Docket Operations, M–30, 

West Building, Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001 

between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except federal 

holidays. 

Instructions: You must include the 

agency name and docket number for this 

notice at the beginning of your 

comments. Submit two copies of your 

comments if you submit them by mail. 

For confirmation that FTA has received 


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