SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fiscal Accountability 
and Transparency in Infrastructure Spending Act of 
2011’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 
meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in sec-
tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 
(2) ALTERNATE INFRASTRUCTURE TYPE BID-
DING.—The term ‘‘alternate infrastructure type bid-
ding’’ means a process under which a Federal, State 
or local agency determines, from engineering and 
economic analysis, that 2 or more initial project de-
signs utilizing different construction materials and 
methods and their forecasted performance and life- 
cycle costs are comparable or similar enough to war-
rant solicitation of bids on more than 1 design for 
a project. 
(3) LIFE-CYCLE
COST
ANALYSIS.—The term 
‘‘life-cycle cost analysis’’ means a process for evalu-
ating the total economic worth of an infrastructure 
project by analyzing initial costs and discounted fu-
ture costs, such as structural maintenance, user 
costs, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and 
resurfacing costs, over at least a 50-year period. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:06 Jul 21, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2602.IH
H2602
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(4) MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS.—The 
term ‘‘major infrastructure projects’’ means high-
way, transit, rail (including high-speed passenger 
rail), airport, seaport, public housing, energy, water, 
bridge, and military construction projects, including 
those authorized under titles 23, 40, and 49, United 
States Code, for which the total Federal cost esti-
mated by the Federal or State government, includ-
ing the cost of materials, is not less than 
$5,000,000. 
(5) MECHANISTIC-EMPIRICAL
PAVEMENT
DE-
SIGN
GUIDE.—The term ‘‘Mechanistic-Empirical 
Pavement Design Guide’’ means the pavement de-
sign guide and software, developed under National 
Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 1– 
37A, providing a uniform basis for the design of 
flexible, rigid, and composite pavements, using 
mechanistic-empirical approaches. 
SEC. 3. LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO OBTAIN LIFE-CYCLE COST 
ANALYSIS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, each agency shall obtain a life-cycle 
cost analysis based on the standards developed by the Of-
fice of Management and Budget pursuant to subsection 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:06 Jul 21, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2602.IH
H2602
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(c) for each major infrastructure project prior to obli-
gating funds. 
(b) SOURCES OF LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS.—The 
life-cycle cost analysis required under subsection (a) may 
be obtained from State or local governments, or private 
sector entities. 
(c) GUIDANCE.— 
(1) DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 6 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di-
rector of the Office of Management and Budget, in 
consultation with the American Association of State 
Highway and Transportation Officials, shall issue a 
circular that provides guidance to agencies on imple-
menting the requirements under subsection (a). 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the cir-
cular required under paragraph (1), the Director 
shall— 
(A) provide the public with notice and op-
portunity to comment before issuing the cir-
cular; 
(B) consider the principles contained in 
section 2 of Executive Order 12893, ‘‘Principles 
for Federal Infrastructure Investments’’ (Janu-
ary 31, 1994; 59 Fed. Reg. 4233); and 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:06 Jul 21, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2602.IH
H2602
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
(C) require that any analysis obtained pur-
suant to subsection (a)— 
(i) be conducted over at least a 50- 
year valuation period; and 
(ii) use actual material life and main-
tenance cost data. 
(d) TRANSPARENCY.—Any life-cycle analysis ob-
tained by an agency pursuant to subsection (a) shall be 
posted on the agency’s Web site not later than 72 hours 
after it is received. 
SEC. 4. FLEXIBILITY TO USE ALTERNATE INFRASTRUC-
TURE TYPE BIDDING PROCEDURES. 
(a) APPLICATION
TO NATIONAL HIGHWAY SYS-
TEM.—A State transportation department or local trans-
portation agency may, in its sole discretion, award con-
tracts for projects on the National Highway System pur-
suant to alternate infrastructure type bidding procedures. 
(b) APPLICATION TO OTHER MAJOR INFRASTRUC-
TURE PROGRAMS.—Notwithstanding any other provision 
of law, Federal, State and local governments may award 
contracts for major infrastructure projects pursuant to al-
ternate infrastructure type bidding procedures. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:06 Jul 21, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2602.IH
H2602
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
SEC. 
5. 
MECHANISTIC-EMPIRICAL 
PAVEMENT 
DESIGN 
GUIDE. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall require 
States to utilize the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement De-
sign Guide for the initial design phase of all projects au-
thorized under title 23, United States Code. 
Æ 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:06 Jul 21, 2011
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H2602.IH
H2602
tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS