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(2) NOTICE AND WAIT REQUIREMENT.—No fi-
nancial assistance (including a grant, a contract, or
any other type of financial assistance) may be
awarded pursuant to a provision of law that requires
or authorizes the award of the financial assistance
under this Act in a manner inconsistent with sub-
section (a) until—
(A) the head of the Federal agency intend-
ing to award the financial assistance submits to
the Congress a written notice of the intent to
award the financial assistance; and
(B) 180 days has elapsed after the date on
which the notice is received by the Congress.
TITLE VI—RISK ASSESSMENT
IMPROVEMENT
SEC. 601. CRITERIA FOR RISK ASSESSMENT.
Any risk assessment under section 201(a)(2) shall
contain the following:
(1) Criteria for accepting and evaluating data.
(2) A complete description of any mathematical
models or other assumptions likely to be used in the
risk assessment, including a discussion of their plau-
sibility.
(3) A description of the default options, the jus-
tification and validation for the default options, and
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an explicit statement of the rationale for selecting a
particular default option, in the absence of adequate
data, based on explicitly stated science policy choices
and consideration of relevant scientific information.
(4) The technical justification for, and a de-
scription of the degree of, conservatism each default
option imposes upon the risk assessment.
(5) Criteria for using iterative or tiered ap-
proaches to risk assessment, with varying levels of
effort and data requirements in the conduct of risk
assessment based on the need for accuracy of the
risk estimate.
(6) Criteria for conducting uncertainty analysis
during the course of the risk assessment, and an ex-
planation of the data needs for such analysis.
(7) Effective methods for reporting risk assess-
ment, to ensure that the results are reasonably un-
derstandable by interested persons, including for-
mats which clearly identify and distinguish sources
of uncertainty and variability in the risk assessment.
(8) Criteria for identification and use of the
most plausible and unbiased methodologies and as-
sumptions, given the scientific information available.
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(9) Relevant information on data and assess-
ment methods that significantly influence the risk
estimate.
(10) A statement of the limitations, assump-
tions, and default options included in the assessment
and a statement of the rationale and extent of sci-
entific consensus with respect to their use.
(11) A statement that identifies major uncer-
tainties and their influence upon the assessment.
The statement shall characterize uncertainties asso-
ciated with experimental measurement errors and
uncertainties associated with the choice of specific
models and default options.
(12) The range and distribution of exposures
derived from exposure scenarios used in a risk as-
sessment, including, for example, upper-bound and
central estimate(s) and their qualitative, or where
possible quantitative, likelihood, and, when available
and appropriate, the identification of highly suscep-
tible groups, species, individuals, and subpopulations
whose exposure exceeds that of the general popu-
lation.
(13) The use of both quantitative and quali-
tative descriptors, when available and appropriate, to
present a comprehensive range of risks which are or
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may be encountered by the various populations and
individuals in a human health risk assessment, or by
the various species and ecological communities in an
ecological risk assessment, exposed to the environ-
mental hazard being evaluated in the risk assess-
ment.
(14) A description of appropriate statistical ex-
pressions of the range and variability of the risk es-
timate, including the population or populations ad-
dressed by any risk estimate(s), central estimates of
the risk for the specific population, any appropriate
upper-bound and lower-bound estimates, and the
reasonable range or other description of uncertain-
ties in the assessment process.
(15) Comparisons of risk to public health, in-
cluding appropriate comparisons with estimates of
other risks to health, including those that are famil-
iar to and routinely encountered by the general pub-
lic, and relevant substitution risks, where informa-
tion on such risks is made available. Comparisons
shall identify relevant distinctions among categories
or risks and limitations to comparisons.
SEC. 602. SAVINGS PROVISION.
Nothing in this title shall be construed to modify any
requirement or standard provided for in another provision
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of law that provides for risk assessment or is designed to
protect health, safety, or the environment. Nothing in this
title shall be construed to require the conduct of a risk
assessment or a risk characterization that is not required
by law.
SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this title:
(1) The term ‘‘comparisons of risk’’ means a
process to systematically estimate, compare, and
rank the size and severity of environmental risks or
health risks in order to provide a common basis for
evaluating strategies for reducing or preventing
those risks.
(2) The term ‘‘default option’’ means a condi-
tion, assumption, or fact that is presumed on the
basis of available data and prevailing theory.
(3) The term ‘‘risk assessment’’ means the
process or procedure by which the potential adverse
health or ecological effects of exposure of human or
nonhuman species to environmental hazards is char-
acterized.
(4) The term ‘‘uncertainty analysis’’ means the
systematic process of identifying that which is not
known or is unclear, including measurement errors,
the lack of fundamental knowledge needed to choose
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among alternative hypotheses, and assumptions, or
experimental models.
(5) The term ‘‘central estimates’’ means esti-
mates of central tendencies or expected risk based,
to the extent feasible, on the most plausible and un-
biased assumptions, given the scientific information
available.
(6) The term ‘‘substitution risk’’ means a po-
tential increase in certain types of risk from a strat-
egy designed to decrease other risks.
TITLE VII—BUY AMERICA
SEC. 701. PURCHASE 
OF 
AMERICAN-MADE 
EQUIPMENT
AND PRODUCTS.
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con-
gress that, to the greatest extent practicable, all equip-
ment and products purchased with funds made available
in this Act should be American-made.
(b) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—In providing financial
assistance to, or entering into any contract with, any en-
tity using funds made available in this Act, the head of
each Federal agency, to the greatest extent practicable,
shall provide to such entity a notice describing the state-
ment made in subsection (a) by the Congress.
Passed the House of Representatives July 26, 1994.
Attest:
DONNALD K. ANDERSON,
Clerk.