Notice of a Regional Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American Requirement) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the City of Ocean Shores (the City), WA, 41495-41497 [2011-17061]
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 135 / Thursday, July 14, 2011 / Notices
GAN also incorporates your approved
application as part of your binding
commitments under the grant.
3. Reporting: (a) If you apply for a
grant under this competition, you must
ensure that you have in place the
necessary processes and systems to
comply with the reporting requirements
in 2 CFR Part 170 should you receive
funding under the competition. This
does not apply if you have an exception
under 2 CFR 170.110(b).
(b) At the end of your project period,
you must submit a final performance
report, including financial information,
as directed by the Secretary. If you
receive a multi-year award, you must
submit an annual performance report
that provides the most current
performance and financial expenditure
information as directed by the Secretary
under 34 CFR 75.118. The Secretary
may also require more frequent
performance reports under 34 CFR
75.720(c). For specific requirements on
reporting, please go to https://
www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/
appforms/appforms.html.
4. Performance Measures: Under the
Government Performance and Results
Act of 1993 (GPRA), the Secretary has
established four performance measures
to assess the effectiveness of this
program. Projects funded under this
competition will be expected to collect
and report to the Department data
related to these measures. Applications
should, but are not required to, discuss
in the application narrative how they
propose to collect these data. The four
GPRA performance measures are: (1)
The total number of students who
participate in standards-based arts
education sponsored by the grantee; (2)
the number of teachers participating in
the grantee’s program who receive
professional development that is
sustained and intensive; (3) the total
number of students from low-income
families who participate in standardsbased arts education sponsored by the
grantee; and (4) the total number of
students with disabilities who
participate in standards-based arts
education sponsored by the grantee.
5. Continuation Awards: In making a
continuation award, the Secretary may
consider, under 34 CFR 75.253, the
extent to which a grantee has made
‘‘substantial progress toward meeting
the objectives in its approved
application.’’ This consideration
includes the review of a grantee’s
progress in meeting the targets and
projected outcomes in its approved
application, and whether the grantee
has expended funds in a manner that is
consistent with its approved application
and budget. In making a continuation
VerDate Mar<15>2010
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grant, the Secretary also considers
whether the grantee is operating in
compliance with the assurances in its
approved application, including those
applicable to Federal civil rights laws
that prohibit discrimination in programs
or activities receiving Federal financial
assistance from the Department (34 CFR
100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
VII. Agency Contact
41495
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[FRL–9324–4]
Notice of a Regional Waiver of Section
1605 (Buy American Requirement) of
the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to
the City of Ocean Shores (the City),
WA
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Carolyn Warren, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.,
Room 4W209, Washington, DC 20202–
5950. Telephone: (202) 205–5443 or by
e-mail: carolyn.warren@ed.gov.
If you use a TDD, call the FRS, toll
free, at 1–800–877–8339.
VIII. Other Information
Accessible Format: Individuals with
disabilities can obtain this document
and a copy of the application package in
an accessible format (e.g., braille, large
print, audiotape, or computer diskette)
on request to the program contact
person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT in section VII of
this notice.
Electronic Access to This Document:
The official version of this document is
the document published in the Federal
Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register
and the Code of Federal Regulations is
available via the Federal Digital System
at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this
site you can view this document, as well
as all other documents of this
Department published in the Federal
Register, in text or Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF). To use PDF
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader,
which is available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at: https://
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically,
through the advanced search feature at
this site, you can limit your search to
documents published by the
Department.
Dated: July 11, 2011.
James H. Shelton, III,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and
Improvement.
[FR Doc. 2011–17756 Filed 7–13–11; 8:45 am]
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The Regional Administrator
of EPA Region 10 is hereby granting a
waiver from the Buy American
requirements of ARRA Section 1605(a)
under the authority of Section
1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not
produced in the United States in
sufficient and reasonably available
quantities and of a satisfactory quality]
to the City for the purchase of
Greensand Plus pressure filter media,
manufactured in Brazil. This is a project
specific waiver and only applies to the
use of the specified products for the
ARRA project being proposed. Any
other ARRA recipient that wishes to use
the same product must apply for a
separate waiver based on project
specific circumstances. The waiver
applicant states that the project requires
the Greensand Plus filter media for use
in their new shallow aquifer treatment
plant. The design specifications of the
project require a combination treatment
process comprised of greensand
filtration and MIEX ® treatment. The
greensand filtration process will
primarily target the removal of iron and
manganese, whereas the proprietary
MIEX ® process targets removal of
dissolved organic carbon and other
anionic species. Greensand Plus is
currently used in the City’s existing
water treatment plant 1. In 2005, the
City utilized Greensand Plus for their
greensand filter media during pilot
testing, and identified that product as
the desired filter media for the proposed
water treatment plant.
The Regional Administrator is making
this determination based on the review
and recommendations of the Drinking
Water Unit. The City has provided
sufficient documentation to support
their request.
DATES: July 14, 2011.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Johnny Clark, DWSRF ARRA Program
Management Analyst, Drinking Water
Unit, Office of Water & Watersheds
(OWW), (206) 553–0082, U.S. EPA
Region 10 (OWW–136), 1200 Sixth
Avenue, Suite 900, Seattle, WA 98101.
SUMMARY:
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41496
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 135 / Thursday, July 14, 2011 / Notices
In
accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c),
the EPA hereby provides notice that it
is granting a project waiver of the
requirements of Section 1605(a) of
Public Law 111–5, Buy American
requirements, to the City for purchase of
non-domestic manufactured Greensand
Plus pressure filter media. The City is
replacing an existing deep aquifer water
treatment plant with a new shallow
aquifer water treatment plant. The
shallow aquifer water supply contains
levels of iron, manganese, and color
near or exceeding their secondary
maximum contaminant levels, and also
has detectable levels of hydrogen
sulfide, ammonia, and organic nitrogen,
as well as relatively high total organic
carbon. The proposed new shallow
aquifer treatment plant is designed to
accommodate an average day demand of
1 MGD and a maximum day demand of
2 MGD. After conducting a pilot plant
treatment study and evaluating three
treatment alternatives, the City selected
a combination treatment process
comprising greensand filtration and
MIEX ® treatment. The City previously
obtained a Buy American waiver,
granted July 24, 2009 for this project for
the use of MIEX ® DOC Resin used in
the MIEX ® filtration process. The
greensand filtration process primarily
targets removal of iron and manganese,
whereas the proprietary MIEX ® process
targets removal of dissolved organic
carbon and other anionic species.
Greensand Plus media was used by the
City during their pilot testing, consistent
with existing plant greensand
operations. The shallow aquifer
treatment plant project will require
approximately 900 cubic feet (79,200
lbs) of Greensand Plus filter media.
During the City’s recent experience
with Greensand Plus, currently used in
their existing water treatment plant 1
process, the City utilized this product
during greensand filter pilot testing and
identified that product as the desired
media for the proposed water treatment
plan. The shallow aquifer raw water
supply is a challenging water source
from a water quality perspective;
therefore, an extensive effort was made
by the City to pilot a number of
processes and to select the most suitable
combination of treatment processes for
effective water treatment. If a traditional
greensand filter media, such as
Manganese Greensand, is used, it could
introduce uncertainty based on the
unproven effectiveness of an alternative
agent. Greensand Plus has a number of
properties that set it apart from
traditional greensand media. Key
distinguishing points for Greensand
wreier-aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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14:55 Jul 13, 2011
Jkt 223001
Plus media relate to its performance and
durability. Greensand Plus has a more
robust physical structure and is
expected to have a longer service life of
10–15 years compared to traditional
greensand, which typically has 5–8
years of service life. Greensand Plus has
more of an absorptive capacity over
traditional media and a lower headloss
profile. This contributes to more
effective iron and manganese removal,
with less backwashing resulting in
higher average plant capacity. Use of a
traditional media would likely result in
diminished plant performance and plant
capacity de-rating. Based on available
information, it is unlikely that other
traditional greensand filter media would
function within the requirement of the
project specifications. Additionally, the
City was informed that traditional
greensand filter media is in short supply
because it is no longer commonly used
since the advent of Greensand Plus,
which is a superior product.
EPA has also evaluated the City’s
request to determine if its submission is
considered late or if it could be
considered timely, as per the OMB
Guidance at 2 CFR 176.120. EPA will
generally regard waiver requests with
respect to components that were
specified in the bid solicitation or in a
general/primary construction contact as
‘‘late’’ if submitted after the contract
date. However, EPA could also
determine that a request be evaluated as
timely, though made after the date that
the contract was signed, if the need for
a waiver was not reasonably foreseeable.
If the need for a waiver is reasonably
foreseeable, then EPA could still apply
discretion in these late cases as per the
OMB Guidance, which says ‘‘the award
official may deny the request.’’ For
those waiver requests that do not have
a reasonably unforeseeable basis for
lateness, but for which the waiver basis
is valid and there is no apparent gain by
the ARRA recipient or loss on behalf of
the government, then EPA will still
consider granting a waiver.
In this case, there are no U.S.
manufacturers that meet the City’s
requirement for Greensand Plus
pressure filter media, which was
selected based on their pilot testing. The
waiver request was submitted after
contract signing; however, it was
reasonably unforeseeable. During the
design and bid preparation process, this
product was understood by the
greensand filter vendor Roberts Filter to
be manufactured in the United States. A
request for ARRA compliance
documentation was sent by Roberts
Filter to their filter media supplier CEI
on January 17, 2010.
PO 00000
Frm 00049
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Documentation of ARRA compliance
was provided; however, the ARRA
compliance supplied was for a lesser
greensand material, manufactured in
New Jersey and not Greensand Plus, a
fact which was overlooked at the time
even though they have variations in
their chemical properties. In a letter
dated January 28, 2011, Roberts Filter
notified the contractor Pease and Sons
that Roberts had determined based on
communications about material
shipping that Greensand Plus is not
manufactured in the United States, but
is instead, produced by an American
company in Brazil and subsequently
imported to the U.S. This was the first
time they were notified of the fact that
Greensand Plus filter media was not
manufactured in the United States.
Because ARRA compliance
documentation was solicited and
thought to be in hand, the circumstance
of applying for a waiver after the start
of construction was not foreseen. EPA
has evaluated this information and
recognizes that the responses submitted
to the City regarding Buy American
compliance were done so in error. EPA
will consider the City’s waiver request
as a timely request since it was
reasonably unforeseeable.
The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ
Memorandum, Implementation of Buy
American provisions of Public Law
111–5, the ‘‘American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009’’, defines
‘‘satisfactory quality’’ as the quality of
iron, steel or the relevant manufactured
good as specified in the project plans
and design. The City has provided
information to the EPA representing
there are no current domestic
manufacturers of the Greensand Plus
pressure filter media. EPA’s consulting
contractor (Cadmus) reviewed the
information provided by the City and
determined that the project
specifications include the option for
traditional greensand filter media as
well as Greensand Plus and identified
traditional greensand mined and
produced domestically by Inversand
Company (Inversand) as an available
alternative. However, the City provided
information from Inversand indicating
that it has permanently reduced
production of traditional greensand as it
is no longer commonly used since it
does not perform as well as Greensand
Plus. The City provided information
indicating that the reduced production
by Inversand has resulted in extensive
lead time and potential project delays
for the use of the traditional greensand.
Based on the information provided by
Inversand, the project engineers began
the process of modifying the project
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 135 / Thursday, July 14, 2011 / Notices
specifications to indicate that
Greensand Plus be used for the project.
Ultimately the project specifications
were not modified after the pilot testing
showed Greensand Plus to be the
selected filter media for this project
because all of the project bids were
based on Greensand Plus.
Furthermore, the purpose of the
ARRA provisions was to stimulate
economic recovery by funding current
infrastructure construction, not to delay
projects that are already shovel ready by
requiring entities, like the City, to revise
their design and potentially choose a
more costly and less effective project.
The implementation of ARRA Buy
American requirements on such projects
eligible for DWSRF assistance would
result in unreasonable delay and thus
displace the ‘‘shovel ready’’ status for
this project. To further delay
construction is in direct conflict with
the most fundamental economic
purposes of ARRA to create or retain
jobs.
The Drinking Water Unit has
reviewed this waiver request and has
determined that the supporting
documentation provided by the City is
sufficient to meet the following criteria
listed under Section 1605(b) and in the
April 28, 2009, Implementation of Buy
American provisions of Public Law
111–5, the ‘‘American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009’’
Memorandum:
wreier-aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
Iron, steel, and the manufactured goods are
not produced in the United States in
sufficient and reasonably available quantities
and of a satisfactory quality.
The basis for this project waiver is the
authorization provided in Section
1605(b)(2), due to the lack of production
of this product in the United States in
sufficient and reasonably available
quantities and of a satisfactory quality
in order to meet the City’s design
specifications. The March 31, 2009
Delegation of Authority Memorandum
provided Regional Administrators with
the authority to issue exceptions to
Section 1605 of ARRA within the
geographic boundaries of their
respective regions and with respect to
requests by individual assistance
recipients. Having established both a
proper basis to specify the particular
good required for this project and that
this manufactured good was not
available from a manufacturer in the
United States, the City is hereby granted
a waiver from the Buy American
requirements of Section 1605(a) of
Public Law 111–5 for the purchase of
Greensand Plus pressure filter media,
manufactured in Brazil, for a shallow
aquifer water treatment plant project
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14:55 Jul 13, 2011
Jkt 223001
specified in the City’s waiver request of
February 11, 2011. This supplementary
information constitutes the detailed
written justification required by Section
1605(c) for waivers based on a finding
under subsection (b).
Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605.
Dated: June 13, 2011.
Dennis J. McLerran,
Regional Administrator, EPA, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2011–17061 Filed 7–13–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE
UNITED STATES
Sunshine Act Meeting
Notice of a Partially Open
Meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Export-Import Bank of the United
States.
ACTION:
Thursday, July 14, 2011
at 9:30 a.m. The meeting will be held at
Ex-Im Bank in Room 1143, 811 Vermont
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20571.
OPEN AGENDA ITEMS: Item No. 1:
Resolution honoring the service of ExIm Bank’s outgoing Director, Diane
Farrell.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: The meeting will
be open to public observation for Item
No. 1 only.
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of
the Secretary, 811 Vermont Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20571, (202) 565–
3957.
TIME AND PLACE:
Lisa V. Terry,
Assistant General Counsel for Administration
(Acting).
[FR Doc. 2011–17527 Filed 7–13–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6690–01–M
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
Privacy Act System of Records
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC or Commission).
ACTION: Notice; one altered Privacy Act
system of records.
AGENCY:
Pursuant to subsection (e)(4)
of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended
(Privacy Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a, the FCC
proposes to alter one system of records,
FCC/OSP–1, ‘‘Broadband Dead Zone
Report and Consumer Broadband Test.’’
The altered system of records
incorporates more details about the
voluntary fixed and mobile consumer
broadband test. The FCC will also alter
the categories of individuals; categories
SUMMARY:
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41497
of records; the purposes for which the
information is maintained; the
retrievability procedures; Routine Use
(5); and delete Routine Use (2); and
make other edits and revisions as
necessary to update the information and
to comply with the requirements of the
Privacy Act.
DATES: In accordance with 5 U.S.C.
552a(e)(4) and (e)(11) of the Privacy Act,
any interested person may submit
written comments concerning the
alteration of this system of records on or
before August 15, 2011. The Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA), Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), which has oversight
responsibility under the Privacy Act to
review the system of records, and
Congress may submit comments on or
before August 23, 2011. The proposed
altered system of records will become
effective on August 23, 2011 unless the
FCC receives comments that require a
contrary determination. The
Commission will publish a document in
the Federal Register notifying the
public if any changes are necessary. As
required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the
Privacy Act, the FCC is submitting
reports on this proposed altered system
to OMB and Congress.
ADDRESSES: Address comments to Leslie
F. Smith, Privacy Analyst, Performance
Evaluation and Records Management
(PERM), Room 1–C216, Federal
Communications Commission (FCC),
445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC
20554, or via the Internet at
Leslie.Smith@fcc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Contact Leslie F. Smith, Performance
Evaluation and Records Management
(PERM), Room 1–C216, Federal
Communications Commission (FCC),
445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC
20554, (202) 418–0217, or via the
Internet at Leslie.Smith@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As
required by the Privacy Act of 1974, as
amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and
(e)(11), this document sets forth notice
of the proposed alteration of one system
of records maintained by the FCC. The
FCC previously gave complete notice of
the system of records (FCC/OSP–1,
‘‘Broadband Dead Zone Report and
Consumer Broadband Test’’) covered
under this Notice by publication in the
Federal Register on April 7, 2010 (75 FR
17738). This notice is a summary of the
more detailed information about the
proposed altered system of records,
which may be viewed at the location
given above in the ‘‘ADDRESSES’’ section.
The purposes for altering FCC/OSP–1,
‘‘Broadband Dead Zone Report and
Consumer Broadband Test’’ are to revise
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 135 (Thursday, July 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41495-41497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17061]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9324-4]
Notice of a Regional Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American
Requirement) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA) to the City of Ocean Shores (the City), WA
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Regional Administrator of EPA Region 10 is hereby granting
a waiver from the Buy American requirements of ARRA Section 1605(a)
under the authority of Section 1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not
produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available
quantities and of a satisfactory quality] to the City for the purchase
of Greensand Plus pressure filter media, manufactured in Brazil. This
is a project specific waiver and only applies to the use of the
specified products for the ARRA project being proposed. Any other ARRA
recipient that wishes to use the same product must apply for a separate
waiver based on project specific circumstances. The waiver applicant
states that the project requires the Greensand Plus filter media for
use in their new shallow aquifer treatment plant. The design
specifications of the project require a combination treatment process
comprised of greensand filtration and MIEX [supreg] treatment. The
greensand filtration process will primarily target the removal of iron
and manganese, whereas the proprietary MIEX [supreg] process targets
removal of dissolved organic carbon and other anionic species.
Greensand Plus is currently used in the City's existing water treatment
plant 1. In 2005, the City utilized Greensand Plus for their greensand
filter media during pilot testing, and identified that product as the
desired filter media for the proposed water treatment plant.
The Regional Administrator is making this determination based on
the review and recommendations of the Drinking Water Unit. The City has
provided sufficient documentation to support their request.
DATES: July 14, 2011.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Johnny Clark, DWSRF ARRA Program
Management Analyst, Drinking Water Unit, Office of Water & Watersheds
(OWW), (206) 553-0082, U.S. EPA Region 10 (OWW-136), 1200 Sixth Avenue,
Suite 900, Seattle, WA 98101.
[[Page 41496]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c), the
EPA hereby provides notice that it is granting a project waiver of the
requirements of Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5, Buy American
requirements, to the City for purchase of non-domestic manufactured
Greensand Plus pressure filter media. The City is replacing an existing
deep aquifer water treatment plant with a new shallow aquifer water
treatment plant. The shallow aquifer water supply contains levels of
iron, manganese, and color near or exceeding their secondary maximum
contaminant levels, and also has detectable levels of hydrogen sulfide,
ammonia, and organic nitrogen, as well as relatively high total organic
carbon. The proposed new shallow aquifer treatment plant is designed to
accommodate an average day demand of 1 MGD and a maximum day demand of
2 MGD. After conducting a pilot plant treatment study and evaluating
three treatment alternatives, the City selected a combination treatment
process comprising greensand filtration and MIEX [supreg] treatment.
The City previously obtained a Buy American waiver, granted July 24,
2009 for this project for the use of MIEX [supreg] DOC Resin used in
the MIEX [supreg] filtration process. The greensand filtration process
primarily targets removal of iron and manganese, whereas the
proprietary MIEX [supreg] process targets removal of dissolved organic
carbon and other anionic species. Greensand Plus media was used by the
City during their pilot testing, consistent with existing plant
greensand operations. The shallow aquifer treatment plant project will
require approximately 900 cubic feet (79,200 lbs) of Greensand Plus
filter media.
During the City's recent experience with Greensand Plus, currently
used in their existing water treatment plant 1 process, the City
utilized this product during greensand filter pilot testing and
identified that product as the desired media for the proposed water
treatment plan. The shallow aquifer raw water supply is a challenging
water source from a water quality perspective; therefore, an extensive
effort was made by the City to pilot a number of processes and to
select the most suitable combination of treatment processes for
effective water treatment. If a traditional greensand filter media,
such as Manganese Greensand, is used, it could introduce uncertainty
based on the unproven effectiveness of an alternative agent. Greensand
Plus has a number of properties that set it apart from traditional
greensand media. Key distinguishing points for Greensand Plus media
relate to its performance and durability. Greensand Plus has a more
robust physical structure and is expected to have a longer service life
of 10-15 years compared to traditional greensand, which typically has
5-8 years of service life. Greensand Plus has more of an absorptive
capacity over traditional media and a lower headloss profile. This
contributes to more effective iron and manganese removal, with less
backwashing resulting in higher average plant capacity. Use of a
traditional media would likely result in diminished plant performance
and plant capacity de-rating. Based on available information, it is
unlikely that other traditional greensand filter media would function
within the requirement of the project specifications. Additionally, the
City was informed that traditional greensand filter media is in short
supply because it is no longer commonly used since the advent of
Greensand Plus, which is a superior product.
EPA has also evaluated the City's request to determine if its
submission is considered late or if it could be considered timely, as
per the OMB Guidance at 2 CFR 176.120. EPA will generally regard waiver
requests with respect to components that were specified in the bid
solicitation or in a general/primary construction contact as ``late''
if submitted after the contract date. However, EPA could also determine
that a request be evaluated as timely, though made after the date that
the contract was signed, if the need for a waiver was not reasonably
foreseeable. If the need for a waiver is reasonably foreseeable, then
EPA could still apply discretion in these late cases as per the OMB
Guidance, which says ``the award official may deny the request.'' For
those waiver requests that do not have a reasonably unforeseeable basis
for lateness, but for which the waiver basis is valid and there is no
apparent gain by the ARRA recipient or loss on behalf of the
government, then EPA will still consider granting a waiver.
In this case, there are no U.S. manufacturers that meet the City's
requirement for Greensand Plus pressure filter media, which was
selected based on their pilot testing. The waiver request was submitted
after contract signing; however, it was reasonably unforeseeable.
During the design and bid preparation process, this product was
understood by the greensand filter vendor Roberts Filter to be
manufactured in the United States. A request for ARRA compliance
documentation was sent by Roberts Filter to their filter media supplier
CEI on January 17, 2010.
Documentation of ARRA compliance was provided; however, the ARRA
compliance supplied was for a lesser greensand material, manufactured
in New Jersey and not Greensand Plus, a fact which was overlooked at
the time even though they have variations in their chemical properties.
In a letter dated January 28, 2011, Roberts Filter notified the
contractor Pease and Sons that Roberts had determined based on
communications about material shipping that Greensand Plus is not
manufactured in the United States, but is instead, produced by an
American company in Brazil and subsequently imported to the U.S. This
was the first time they were notified of the fact that Greensand Plus
filter media was not manufactured in the United States. Because ARRA
compliance documentation was solicited and thought to be in hand, the
circumstance of applying for a waiver after the start of construction
was not foreseen. EPA has evaluated this information and recognizes
that the responses submitted to the City regarding Buy American
compliance were done so in error. EPA will consider the City's waiver
request as a timely request since it was reasonably unforeseeable.
The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ Memorandum, Implementation of Buy
American provisions of Public Law 111-5, the ``American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009'', defines ``satisfactory quality'' as the
quality of iron, steel or the relevant manufactured good as specified
in the project plans and design. The City has provided information to
the EPA representing there are no current domestic manufacturers of the
Greensand Plus pressure filter media. EPA's consulting contractor
(Cadmus) reviewed the information provided by the City and determined
that the project specifications include the option for traditional
greensand filter media as well as Greensand Plus and identified
traditional greensand mined and produced domestically by Inversand
Company (Inversand) as an available alternative. However, the City
provided information from Inversand indicating that it has permanently
reduced production of traditional greensand as it is no longer commonly
used since it does not perform as well as Greensand Plus. The City
provided information indicating that the reduced production by
Inversand has resulted in extensive lead time and potential project
delays for the use of the traditional greensand. Based on the
information provided by Inversand, the project engineers began the
process of modifying the project
[[Page 41497]]
specifications to indicate that Greensand Plus be used for the project.
Ultimately the project specifications were not modified after the pilot
testing showed Greensand Plus to be the selected filter media for this
project because all of the project bids were based on Greensand Plus.
Furthermore, the purpose of the ARRA provisions was to stimulate
economic recovery by funding current infrastructure construction, not
to delay projects that are already shovel ready by requiring entities,
like the City, to revise their design and potentially choose a more
costly and less effective project. The implementation of ARRA Buy
American requirements on such projects eligible for DWSRF assistance
would result in unreasonable delay and thus displace the ``shovel
ready'' status for this project. To further delay construction is in
direct conflict with the most fundamental economic purposes of ARRA to
create or retain jobs.
The Drinking Water Unit has reviewed this waiver request and has
determined that the supporting documentation provided by the City is
sufficient to meet the following criteria listed under Section 1605(b)
and in the April 28, 2009, Implementation of Buy American provisions of
Public Law 111-5, the ``American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009'' Memorandum:
Iron, steel, and the manufactured goods are not produced in the
United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and
of a satisfactory quality.
The basis for this project waiver is the authorization provided in
Section 1605(b)(2), due to the lack of production of this product in
the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and
of a satisfactory quality in order to meet the City's design
specifications. The March 31, 2009 Delegation of Authority Memorandum
provided Regional Administrators with the authority to issue exceptions
to Section 1605 of ARRA within the geographic boundaries of their
respective regions and with respect to requests by individual
assistance recipients. Having established both a proper basis to
specify the particular good required for this project and that this
manufactured good was not available from a manufacturer in the United
States, the City is hereby granted a waiver from the Buy American
requirements of Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5 for the purchase of
Greensand Plus pressure filter media, manufactured in Brazil, for a
shallow aquifer water treatment plant project specified in the City's
waiver request of February 11, 2011. This supplementary information
constitutes the detailed written justification required by Section
1605(c) for waivers based on a finding under subsection (b).
Authority: Pub. L. 111-5, section 1605.
Dated: June 13, 2011.
Dennis J. McLerran,
Regional Administrator, EPA, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2011-17061 Filed 7-13-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
