FTA Issues Guidance Letter on Buy America Small Purchase Waivers

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act changed FTA’s Buy America program by, among other things, defining “small purchases” for general public interest waivers. The FAST Act set the small purchase waiver at $150,000 or less; that threshold will not increase with future adjustments made to the simplified acquisition threshold under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The small purchase waiver applies to purchases regardless of project size and covers capital, planning, or operating assistance made by grant recipients or sub-recipients. This provision of the FAST Act applies to all purchases made after October 1, 2015. See FTA's Chief Counsel’s 9/16/2016 Dear Colleague letter.

FTA’s Buy America statute requires that the steel, iron and manufactured products used in FTA-funded transit projects must be produced in the United States. In 1995, FTA issued a general public interest waiver to exempt from Buy America requirements purchases of $100,000 or less. With the adoption of the Super Circular in December 2014, the small purchase waiver was tied to the simplified acquisition threshold in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and increased the small purchase waiver to $150,000. 

Links

9/16/2016 Dear Colleague letter
Buy America program
Uniform Guidance (Super Circular)