[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 2, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30799-30800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-13308]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Notice of a Waiver of Section 1605 of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for Poplar School District, Poplar, MT
ACTION: Notice of a Waiver of Section 1605 of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for Poplar School District, Poplar,
Montana.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, the Department of Education (the Department)
announces its waiver of the Buy American requirements in section
1605(a) of the ARRA (Buy American Requirements) for the Poplar School
District in Poplar, Montana (Poplar District) and the justification for
this waiver. This waiver permits use of imported T8 4-foot electronic
ballasts in the Poplar District's lighting project, which is supported
with Impact Aid funds appropriated under the ARRA.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department provided Poplar District with
an Impact Aid ARRA formula grant for school construction activities
authorized under section 8007(a) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965, as amended. The Poplar District proposes to use
these funds for a lighting project, but reports that the particular
lights needed (T8 4-foot electronic ballasts) for this construction
project are not produced in the United States.
In accordance with section 1605(c) of the ARRA, the Department
hereby provides notice that it is granting a waiver of the Buy American
Requirements for the Poplar District's lighting project. This notice
constitutes the detailed written justification that the Department is
required to publish in instances when it grants such a waiver pursuant
to section 1605(b) of the ARRA.
Section 1605(a) of the ARRA requires that none of the appropriated
funds be used 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. The ARRA further provides that this requirement does not apply,
and that a waiver may be granted, when the head of the Federal
department or agency involved finds that: (1) Applying these
requirements would be inconsistent with the public interest; (2) iron,
steel, and relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the United
States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a
satisfactory quality; or (3) inclusion of iron, steel, and relevant
manufactured goods produced in the United States will increase the
overall cost of the project by more than 25 percent.
The Secretary has determined that a section 1605(b) waiver of the
Buy American Requirements is appropriate for the Poplar District's
lighting project because, based on the Department's research, the
particular lights needed for this project are not manufactured in the
United States. The Department bases this determination on information
provided by the Poplar District as well as the Department's own
research. The Poplar District has provided information to the
Department documenting that there are no T8 4-foot electronic ballast
manufacturers in the United States. In addition, based on the
Department's own research (Internet product literature searches) and to
the best of the Department's knowledge at the time of its review of the
Poplar District's waiver request, there do not appear to be U.S.-
manufactured T8 4-foot electronic ballasts available to the Poplar
District for the ARRA-funded lighting project.
Furthermore, the purpose of the ARRA is to stimulate economic
recovery, in part, by funding current infrastructure construction, and
not to delay projects that are ``shovel ready'' by requiring the
revision of standards and specifications or a new bidding process. The
imposition of the Buy American Requirements on such otherwise eligible
projects would result in unreasonable delay, and to further delay
construction would be in direct conflict with a fundamental economic
purpose of the ARRA, which is to create or retain jobs.
The Department has reviewed the Poplar District's waiver request
and has determined that the supporting documentation is sufficient to
demonstrate that a waiver is justified under section 1605(b)(2) of the
ARRA. Having established both a proper basis to specify the particular
good required for this project, and that this manufactured good is not
available from a producer in the United States, the Poplar District is
hereby granted a waiver from the Buy American Requirements reflected in
section 1605(a) of the ARRA for the purchase of T8 4-foot electronic
ballasts using ARRA funds as specified in the Poplar District's
request.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Walls-Rivas, Impact Aid
Program, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 260-1357 or via Internet:
[email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the
Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339. Individuals
with disabilities can obtain this document in an accessible format
(e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on
request to the program contact person listed in this section.
Electronic Access to This Document: You may 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) on the
Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister. To
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
this site.
Note: 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 on GPO
[[Page 30800]]
Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.
Authority: Section 1605 of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act, Public Law 111-5.
Dated: May 28, 2010.
Arne Duncan,
Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 2010-13308 Filed 6-1-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P