Buy American Exception Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 31291-31292 [E9-15480]
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31291
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 124 / Tuesday, June 30, 2009 / Notices
Number of
respondents
Annual
responses
492,450
6.129
Reporting Burden ..............................................................................
Total Estimated Burden Hours:
1,071,354.
Status: Revision of currently
approved collection.
Authority: Section 3507 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 35, as
amended.
Dated: June 24, 2009.
Lillian Deitzer,
Departmental Reports Management Officer,
Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E9–15478 Filed 6–29–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR–5311–N–03]
Buy American Exception Under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES6
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), and
implementing guidance of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), this
notice advises that an exception to the
Buy American requirements of the
Recovery Act was determined
applicable to the Boston Housing
Authority’s construction of a project
using Recovery Act funds.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dominique G. Blom, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Public Housing
Investments, Office of Public Housing
Investments, Office of Public and Indian
Housing, Department of Housing and
Urban Development, 451 7th Street,
SW., Room 4210, Washington, DC
20410–4000, telephone 202–402–8500
(this is not a toll-free number). Persons
with hearing- or speech-impairments
may access this number through TTY by
calling the toll-free Federal Information
Relay Service at 800–877–8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section
1605(a) of the Recovery Act imposes a
‘‘Buy American’’ requirement on
Recovery Act funds used for a project
for the construction, alteration,
maintenance, or repair of a public
building or public work unless all of the
iron, steel, and manufactured goods
used in the project are produced in the
VerDate Nov<24>2008
19:55 Jun 29, 2009
Jkt 217001
United States. Section 1605(b) provides
that the Buy American requirement
shall not apply in any case or category
in which the head of Federal
department or agency finds that: (1)
Applying the Buy American
requirement would be inconsistent with
the public interest; (2) iron, steel, and
the relevant manufactured goods are not
produced in the U.S. in sufficient and
reasonably available quantities or of
satisfactory quality, or (3) inclusion of
iron, steel, and manufactured goods will
increase the cost of the overall project
by more than 25 percent. Section
1605(c) provides that if the head of a
Federal department or agency makes a
determination pursuant to section
1605(b), the head of the department or
agency shall publish a detailed written
justification in the Federal Register.
In accordance with section 1605(c) of
the Recovery Act and OMB’s
implementing guidance published on
April 23, 2009 (74 FR 18449), this notice
advises the public that, on June 11,
2009, HUD granted the Boston Housing
Authority, upon its request, an
exception to applicability of the Buy
American requirements with respect to
work, using Recovery Act funds, in
connection with the construction of
units for Phase 1B of the Washington
Beech HOPE VI project. Although a final
determination of applicability of the
Buy American requirements to housing
had not been made at the time that HUD
granted the exception, given the
compelling exigencies presented by
BHA in its waiver request (as described
in this notice), HUD considered the
waiver request on the assumption of the
applicability of the Buy American
requirements to the Phase 1B project.
The exception was granted by HUD on
the basis that applicability of the
Recovery Act Buy American
requirements would be inconsistent
with the public interest.
BHA received Recovery Act funds in
the amount of $10 million for
construction of Phase 1B units of the
Washington Beech HOPE VI project. An
award of the HOPE VI funds to BHA
predated BHA’s award of the Recovery
Act funds. BHA notified HUD that it
had procured Trinity Financial as its
development partner in 2007 for the
HOPE VI grant awarded for the
construction of the Phase 1B units.
Because the award of the HOPE VI grant
to BHA was made prior to passage of the
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×
Hours per
response
0.354
=
Burden hours
1,071,354
Recovery Act’s requirements, the
requirements of section 1605(a) were
not included in BHA’s procurement
process. Trinity Financial secured and
selected a general contractor, CWC
Builders, Inc., to build the units in
Phase 1B. This construction contract
between Trinity Financial and CWC was
also negotiated prior to the passage of
the Recovery Act, and accordingly
section 1605 requirements were not
included in the contract. The contract
requires CWC Builders to obtain all
structural steel as soon as possible to
meet the construction deadlines for the
Phase 1B project.
In addition to these contracts entered
into prior to the Recovery Act,
Washington Beech Phase 1B will be
developed by a limited partnership that
includes a tax credit investor, RBC Tax
Credit Equity, LLC (RBC). Prior to
passage of the Recovery Act, Trinity
Financial received a commitment from
RBC to provide equity through the LowIncome Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)
program. RBC informed Trinity
Financial and BHA that if the funding
transaction for Phase 1B did not close
and documents were not recorded by
June 15, 2009, RBC would withdraw its
offer to purchase the Phase 1B credits.
Such withdrawal would place Trinity
Financial in the situation of having to
renegotiate the tax credit contribution or
find another equity investor. BHA
advised that delay at this juncture
would imperil the availability of the tax
credits and jeopardize the ability to
complete construction of the Phase 1B
units by the deadline of July 28, 2010.
BHA also advised that, in accordance
with the contracts entered into prior to
enactment of the Recovery Act, CWC
Builders are ready to begin construction
immediately upon the closing that was
scheduled to take place on June 15,
2009. BHA advised that if there is a
delay in the start of construction, jobs
planned by the construction would be
lost.
HUD determined that application of
the Buy American requirements to the
Phase 1B units, given the actions and
contracts that occurred prior to
enactment of the Recovery Act would be
inconsistent with the public interest.
The exception granted is for Phase 1B
units only. It is not applicable to future
construction phases at the Washington
Beech HOPE VI project.
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31292
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 124 / Tuesday, June 30, 2009 / Notices
Dated: June 23, 2009.
Dominique G. Blom,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing
Investments.
[FR Doc. E9–15480 Filed 6–29–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
Information Relay Service during
working hours at 800–877–8339.
Dated: June 18, 2009.
Jon L. Gant,
Director, Office of Healthy Homes and Lead
Hazard Control.
[FR Doc. E9–15460 Filed 6–25–09; 4:15 pm]
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
[Docket No. FR–5300–N–07]
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Notice of Availability: Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA) for Fiscal
Year (FY) 2009 Healthy Homes
Technical Studies
[Docket No. FR–5324–N–01]
AGENCY: Office of Healthy Homes and
Lead Hazard Control, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES6
AGENCY:
VerDate Nov<24>2008
19:55 Jun 29, 2009
Jkt 217001
Office of the General Counsel,
HUD.
Through this notice, HUD
announces the availability on its Web
site of the application information,
submission deadlines, funding criteria,
and other requirements for the FY2009
Healthy Homes Technical Studies
NOFA. The Healthy Homes Technical
Studies NOFA makes $4 million
available under the Department of
Housing and Urban Development
Appropriations Act 2009 (Pub. L. 111–
8, approved March 11, 2009).
Applicants for assistance under the
Healthy Homes Technical Studies
NOFA must address applicable
requirements found in the Notice of
HUD’s Fiscal Year 2009 Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA) Policy
Requirements and General Section to
the HUD’s FY2009 NOFAs for
Discretionary Programs published on
December 29, 2008 (73 FR 79548), as
amended on April 16, 2009 (74 FR
17685). Applicants should take
particular note that they should follow
the application submission instructions
contained in this NOFA and not use
those in the General Section. The notice
providing information regarding the
application process, funding criteria and
eligibility requirements is available on
the HUD Web site at https://
www.hud.gov/lead.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
information concerning the Healthy
Homes Technical Studies Program,
contact Dr. Peter Ashley, Office of
Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard
Control, Department of Housing and
Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street,
SW., Room 8236, Washington, DC
20410–3000; telephone 202–402–7595
(this is not a toll-free number) or via email at Peter.J.Ashley@hud.gov. Persons
with speech or hearing impairments
may access this telephone number via
TTY by calling the toll-free Federal
SUMMARY:
Notice of Regulatory Waiver Requests
Granted for the First Quarter of
Calendar Year 2009
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY: Section 106 of the Department
of Housing and Urban Development
Reform Act of 1989 (the HUD Reform
Act) requires HUD to publish quarterly
Federal Register notices of all
regulatory waivers that HUD has
approved. Each notice covers the
quarterly period since the previous
Federal Register notice. The purpose of
this notice is to comply with the
requirements of section 106 of the HUD
Reform Act. This notice contains a list
of regulatory waivers granted by HUD
during the period beginning on January
1, 2009 and ending on March 31, 2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
general information about this notice,
contact Aaron Santa Anna, Assistant
General Counsel for Regulations,
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 7th Street, SW.,
Room 10276,Washington, DC 20410–
0500, telephone (202) 708–3055 (this is
not a toll-free number). Persons with
hearing or speech-impairments may
access this number through TTY by
calling the toll-free Federal Information
Relay Service at (800) 877–8339.
For information concerning a
particular waiver that was granted and
for which public notice is provided in
this document, contact the person
whose name and address follow the
description of the waiver granted in the
accompanying list of waivers that have
been granted in the first quarter of
calendar year 2009.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Section 106 of the HUD Reform Act
added a new section 7(q) to the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(q)),
which provides that:
1. Any waiver of a regulation must be
in writing and must specify the grounds
for approving the waiver;
PO 00000
Frm 00057
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
2. Authority to approve a waiver of a
regulation may be delegated by the
Secretary only to an individual of
Assistant Secretary or equivalent rank,
and the person to whom authority to
waive is delegated must also have
authority to issue the particular
regulation to be waived;
3. Not less than quarterly, the
Secretary must notify the public of all
waivers of regulations that HUD has
approved, by publishing a notice in the
Federal Register. These notices (each
covering the period since the most
recent previous notification) shall: a.
Identify the project, activity, or
undertaking involved; b. Describe the
nature of the provision waived and the
designation of the provision; c. Indicate
the name and title of the person who
granted the waiver request; d. Describe
briefly the grounds for approval of the
request; and e. State how additional
information about a particular waiver
may be obtained.
Section 106 of the HUD Reform Act
also contains requirements applicable to
waivers of HUD handbook provisions
that are not relevant to the purpose of
this notice.
This notice follows procedures
provided in HUD’s Statement of Policy
on Waiver of Regulations and Directives
issued on April 22, 1991 (56 FR 16337).
In accordance with those procedures
and with the requirements of section
106 of the HUD Reform Act, waivers of
regulations are granted by the Assistant
Secretary with jurisdiction over the
regulations for which a waiver was
requested. In those cases in which a
General Deputy Assistant Secretary
granted the waiver, the General Deputy
Assistant Secretary was serving in the
absence of the Assistant Secretary in
accordance with the office’s Order of
Succession.
This notice covers waivers of
regulations granted by HUD from
January 1, 2009 through March 31, 2009.
For ease of reference, the waivers
granted by HUD are listed by HUD
program office (for example, the Office
of Community Planning and
Development, the Office of Fair Housing
and Equal Opportunity, the Office of
Housing, and the Office of Public and
Indian Housing, etc.). Within each
program office grouping, the waivers are
listed sequentially by the regulatory
section of title 24 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) that is being waived.
For example, a waiver of a provision in
24 CFR part 58 would be listed before
a waiver of a provision in 24 CFR part
570.
Where more than one regulatory
provision is involved in the grant of a
particular waiver request, the action is
E:\FR\FM\30JNN1.SGM
30JNN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 124 (Tuesday, June 30, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31291-31292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-15480]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-5311-N-03]
Buy American Exception Under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009 (Recovery Act), and implementing guidance of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), this notice advises that an exception to
the Buy American requirements of the Recovery Act was determined
applicable to the Boston Housing Authority's construction of a project
using Recovery Act funds.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dominique G. Blom, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Public Housing Investments, Office of Public Housing
Investments, Office of Public and Indian Housing, Department of Housing
and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 4210, Washington, DC
20410-4000, telephone 202-402-8500 (this is not a toll-free number).
Persons with hearing- or speech-impairments may access this number
through TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service
at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act imposes
a ``Buy American'' requirement on Recovery Act funds used for a project
for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public
building or public work unless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured
goods used in the project are produced in the United States. Section
1605(b) provides that the Buy American requirement shall not apply in
any case or category in which the head of Federal department or agency
finds that: (1) Applying the Buy American requirement would be
inconsistent with the public interest; (2) iron, steel, and the
relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the U.S. in sufficient
and reasonably available quantities or of satisfactory quality, or (3)
inclusion of iron, steel, and manufactured goods will increase the cost
of the overall project by more than 25 percent. Section 1605(c)
provides that if the head of a Federal department or agency makes a
determination pursuant to section 1605(b), the head of the department
or agency shall publish a detailed written justification in the Federal
Register.
In accordance with section 1605(c) of the Recovery Act and OMB's
implementing guidance published on April 23, 2009 (74 FR 18449), this
notice advises the public that, on June 11, 2009, HUD granted the
Boston Housing Authority, upon its request, an exception to
applicability of the Buy American requirements with respect to work,
using Recovery Act funds, in connection with the construction of units
for Phase 1B of the Washington Beech HOPE VI project. Although a final
determination of applicability of the Buy American requirements to
housing had not been made at the time that HUD granted the exception,
given the compelling exigencies presented by BHA in its waiver request
(as described in this notice), HUD considered the waiver request on the
assumption of the applicability of the Buy American requirements to the
Phase 1B project. The exception was granted by HUD on the basis that
applicability of the Recovery Act Buy American requirements would be
inconsistent with the public interest.
BHA received Recovery Act funds in the amount of $10 million for
construction of Phase 1B units of the Washington Beech HOPE VI project.
An award of the HOPE VI funds to BHA predated BHA's award of the
Recovery Act funds. BHA notified HUD that it had procured Trinity
Financial as its development partner in 2007 for the HOPE VI grant
awarded for the construction of the Phase 1B units. Because the award
of the HOPE VI grant to BHA was made prior to passage of the Recovery
Act's requirements, the requirements of section 1605(a) were not
included in BHA's procurement process. Trinity Financial secured and
selected a general contractor, CWC Builders, Inc., to build the units
in Phase 1B. This construction contract between Trinity Financial and
CWC was also negotiated prior to the passage of the Recovery Act, and
accordingly section 1605 requirements were not included in the
contract. The contract requires CWC Builders to obtain all structural
steel as soon as possible to meet the construction deadlines for the
Phase 1B project.
In addition to these contracts entered into prior to the Recovery
Act, Washington Beech Phase 1B will be developed by a limited
partnership that includes a tax credit investor, RBC Tax Credit Equity,
LLC (RBC). Prior to passage of the Recovery Act, Trinity Financial
received a commitment from RBC to provide equity through the Low-Income
Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. RBC informed Trinity Financial and
BHA that if the funding transaction for Phase 1B did not close and
documents were not recorded by June 15, 2009, RBC would withdraw its
offer to purchase the Phase 1B credits. Such withdrawal would place
Trinity Financial in the situation of having to renegotiate the tax
credit contribution or find another equity investor. BHA advised that
delay at this juncture would imperil the availability of the tax
credits and jeopardize the ability to complete construction of the
Phase 1B units by the deadline of July 28, 2010. BHA also advised that,
in accordance with the contracts entered into prior to enactment of the
Recovery Act, CWC Builders are ready to begin construction immediately
upon the closing that was scheduled to take place on June 15, 2009. BHA
advised that if there is a delay in the start of construction, jobs
planned by the construction would be lost.
HUD determined that application of the Buy American requirements to
the Phase 1B units, given the actions and contracts that occurred prior
to enactment of the Recovery Act would be inconsistent with the public
interest. The exception granted is for Phase 1B units only. It is not
applicable to future construction phases at the Washington Beech HOPE
VI project.
[[Page 31292]]
Dated: June 23, 2009.
Dominique G. Blom,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing Investments.
[FR Doc. E9-15480 Filed 6-29-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P
