EPA Finalizes Additional Waiver for Build America, Buy America Requirements

On September 26, EPA finalized an additional waiver from the requirements under the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA). The waiver is applicable to small projects with total federal funding (direct EPA funding and any other federal agency) in amounts equal to or less than the Simplified acquisition threshold, which is currently $250,000. ASDWA submitted comments when the waiver was first proposed generally supporting the waiver but recommended that EPA increase the threshold to $1 million. ASDWA argued that this increase would better achieve the Agency’s goals of reducing the burden on small and disadvantaged communities. The final waiver can be found on EPA’s ‘Approved BABA Waivers’ page.