Dive Brief:
- U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced a bill on Monday that would require federal agencies to comply with the Build America, Buy America Act for contracted projects funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- The proposed legislation, the Build America, Buy America Compliance Act, would mandate that agencies submit annual reports to the Made in America office and Congress detailing their implementation of the BABA Act, according to a one-pager.
- The bill would also require agencies to publish their reports in the Federal Register for transparency and accountability. As of May 1, the bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Dive Insight:
If the BABA Compliance Act becomes law, agencies will have to identify all federal financial assistance programs dedicated to infrastructure and specify which programs have fully or have not implemented the BABA requirements, according to the bill.
For programs that are fully BABA implemented, agencies will have to provide steps taken to comply with the law and how it maintains the existing legislation, policies or regulations that meet or exceed the requirements.
For programs that have not implemented BABA, agencies will have to provide a timeline and steps to fully comply with the law, including efforts to replace waivers with project-specific waivers, wherever possible.
Former President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in 2021. The legislation authorized $1.2 trillion for the repair and upgrade of transportation and infrastructure, as well as for job creation in the United States.
The IIJA also updated the requirements under the Buy American Act of 1933, requiring federal agencies to apply a price preference to domestically manufactured products and construction materials for U.S. government-backed projects.
The BABA Act expanded the requirements under the 1933 law and imposed additional requirements on domestic iron and steel products and construction materials to stabilize the supply chain. It also required every agency head to ensure that no federal funds for infrastructure projects, including deficient programs, are obligated unless all of the iron and steel products and construction materials used are manufactured in the U.S.
Additionally, the law allowed agencies to authorize waivers under certain circumstances. For example, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a BABA waiver to the Nevada Department of Transportation in 2024, allowing the state agency to purchase train sets from either Munich-based Siemens Mobility or France-based Alstom after rail company Brightline West received $3 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.
Siemens Mobility and Brightline had stated that the components needed to manufacture and assemble their train cars were unavailable in the U.S., according to the Nevada Department of Transportation’s 2023 request.
Baldwin and Banks accused many departments and agencies of partially or fully avoiding implementation of the BABA. An Office of Inspector General audit released April 20 found the Federal Aviation Administration failed to include required Buy American-related clauses in contracts funded through the IIJA.
The OIG also found that the FAA did not always properly issue Buy American waivers that supported foreign-made products in IIJA-funded contracts. Three of the nine contracts the OIG reviewed confirmed the FAA used foreign-made products, representing $115.9 million in IIJA funds. Moreover, the three contracts were issued waivers in which the FAA did not receive a required waiver, did not follow the approval process and used a “longstanding” waiver without reassessing the contracts.
Moreover, the OIG stated the FAA “lacked complete and accurate” Buy American data on its IIJA-backed contracts.
“To me, this is straightforward: When we use American tax dollars, we should be investing those dollars back into American workers, products, and businesses,” Baldwin said in a statement.
So far, the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the United Steelworkers union have endorsed the compliance bill, according to Baldwin’s press release.
“The Build America, Buy America Act was enacted in 2021 to ensure taxpayers’ dollars spent on infrastructure strengthen U.S. supply chains and support America’s workers,” AAM President Scott Paul said in a statement. “But that promise only works if the law is fully and consistently implemented across federal programs.”
