Federal grants and loans are a huge source of funding for infrastructure projects. To make sure the project qualifies for funding under recent Build America Buy America (BABA) policies, distributors and specifiers have to consider the origin of an inlet filter alongside usual concerns like performance specifications.
The Build America Buy America Act establishes domestic sourcing requirements for federally funded infrastructure. Federal requirements cover several categories of products incorporated into covered projects. Because of BABA, sourcing and product origin — once a minor purchasing detail — are now important to investigate during specification.
Below, we’ve assembled an overview for stormwater professionals about inlet filters and how they fit within BABA requirements. Read on to explore the applicable documentation required by the federal program.
Congress enacted the Build America Buy America Act as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. The law requires covered federal agencies to apply a domestic preference to iron and steel products as well as manufactured products and construction materials used in federally assisted infrastructure projects.
The definition of “infrastructure” is pretty broad in the policy’s scope. EPA guidance identifies roads and highways along with water systems, utilities, and public buildings.
The exact domestic-content standards vary by product category. For example, EPA states that a manufactured product must be manufactured in the United States. The cost of components mined, produced or manufactured domestically must also exceed 55% of the total component cost under the general BABA standard.
If you’re evaluating BABA Build America Buy America requirements, make sure you’re looking at the correct product classification before anything else.
There’s no automatic answer here. It will take a project-specific review.
Broadly speaking, BABA applies to products that are consumed in, incorporated into or affixed to covered infrastructure. EPA guidance also explains that temporary products used only during construction fall outside BABA in certain EPA-funded contexts. For example: scaffolding and trench boxes.
An inlet filter is used temporarily during construction, and could therefore receive different treatment from a permanent stormwater product that’s ultimately incorporated into the finished infrastructure.
Specifier language should reflect the requirements attached to the specific federal award or funding program. Contractors need to review all applicable contract documents and agency guidances in order to determine which stormwater products require BABA documentation.
Site inspectors may pay attention to these details while examining your inlet protection products for regulatory compliance.
“Made in America” and “BABA compliant” can overlap, but they mean two different things.
EPA guidance instructs recipients to seek certification for products subject to BABA in order to receive any form of federal financial assistance, including “grants, cooperative agreements, non-cash contributions or donations of property, direct assistance, loans, loan guarantees, and other types of financial assistance.”
A general “Made in America” claim alone fails to satisfy that certification threshold.
Therefore, documentation is an important part of procurement. Ask what supporting information is available from manufacturers and take time to identify applicable domestic preference requirements in procurement documents. Project teams should always retain required certifications with their records.
BABA also includes waiver mechanisms for circumstances that involve product availability and project cost. The EPA identifies nonavailability waivers for products that are unavailable domestically in sufficient quantities or satisfactory quality. An unreasonable-cost waiver applies when domestic products would raise total project cost by more than 25%.
Even when a project falls outside BABA requirements, domestic production is still a big benefit for the project. Whatever your role in the supply chain, you need confidence that the product will be available and show up on time.
Domestic manufacturing shortens the physical supply chain between production and a U.S. project. There’s an extra level of visibility into production schedules and inventory that comes with products from stateside U.S. companies. A dependable domestic source allows for faster responses to contractor requests and reduces exposure to overseas shipping disruptions or lengthy international replenishment cycles.
The EPA also instructs any federal programs conducting BABA market research to document whether suitable domestically manufactured products exist and whether they are available in sufficient quantities. Availability is therefore a concrete procurement consideration within the federal framework itself.
Even if your stormwater products are compliant with BABA procurement requirements, they still have to perform at the inlet.
Make sure to account for the inlet configuration and expected sediment load in your product selection. Crews will need a carefully thought out maintenance plan that will keep protection functioning throughout construction. Check out our guide on NPDES Phase II compliance and temporary inlet protection solutions to dig into those requirements in greater detail.
Dandy manufactures all of our instantly-identifiable orange inlet protection products in Ohio from domestically sourced raw materials. We’re committed to a domestic production model because we know you need a dependable U.S. source for inlet filters. Product availability — in any size, for any inlet — is never an issue. If you need a specialty size, we have it. The answer is YES.
When Build America Buy America requirements do apply, confirm the requirements for the specific project and product with the awarding agency. However, even if BABA falls outside the procurement, we’re still proud to give you a shorter supply chain with domestic manufacturing and responsive access to high-quality American inlet protection.