Waiver of Buy America Requirements for the Pacific Island Territories and the Freely Associated States
Published Date: 1/15/2025
Notice
Summary
The Department of Transportation is waiving the Buy America rules for infrastructure projects in Pacific Island territories like Guam, CNMI, and American Samoa, plus the Freely Associated States. This means these places can use materials not made in the U.S. for five years, starting January 10, 2025. This change helps speed up projects and makes it easier to get federal money for building and repairs in these areas.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Five-year Buy America waiver for Pacific Islands
DOT is waiving Buy America domestic-content requirements for federal infrastructure projects in the Pacific Island territories (CNMI, Guam, and American Samoa) and for discretionary DOT grants to the Freely Associated States (Palau, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia). The waiver lets those projects use materials not made in the U.S. for five years, from January 10, 2025 through January 9, 2030, and applies to awards obligated on or after January 10, 2025 (and to expenditures after that date for prior awards).
Certain critical items remain excluded
The waiver does not cover a specified list of critical products: telecommunications equipment and related video surveillance hardware, broadcasting/radio-frequency devices, broadband physical components (fiber/coax, conduit, pedestals, handholes, tower structures), grid-connected utility-scale energy generation and stationary storage larger than 5 MW, and certain cargo handling equipment identified in DOT maritime advisories. Purchases of these excluded items remain subject to domestic preference rules unless DOT grants a case-by-case waiver.
Waiver applies to obligations and later expenditures
The waiver applies to DOT-administered awards obligated on or after January 10, 2025, and also applies to expenditures for non-domestic materials incurred after that date for awards obligated before January 10, 2025. DOT will periodically review the waiver and may terminate or modify it before January 9, 2030 based on those reviews.
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