Department of the Interior Begins to Examine Compliance with New Buy American Mandates
The U.S. Department of the Interior (USDOI) recently completed its initial review to determine which Federal Financial Assistance Programs are considered “deficient” for purposes of complying with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) buy American mandates related to manufactured products. Included in its report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a spreadsheet detailing UDOI’s review findings specific to each assistance program. As detailed, USBR’s programs are determined to be deficient and thereby will need to be revised to ensure compliance with the law’s mandate that only American manufactured products are used when federal assistance is provided to a project. The findings can be viewed here.

This is the first formal statement by a federal agency in the water sector identifying which federal assistance programs are inconsistent with the IIJA’s expanded Buy America mandates. Agencies had until last week to submit their reports to OMB on program deficiencies, so it is expected that other agencies will be publishing their report findings over the coming weeks. OMB is expected to issue guidance to federal agencies after reviewing the reports’ findings on how the agencies must implement the new mandates.

Earlier this month, CASA sent a joint letter along with fellow water sector stakeholders to OMB and USEPA expressing concerns over how the IIJA’s expanded Buy America mandates will adversely impact the water sector.

USDOI Announces Three New Funding Opportunities
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced three funding opportunities available to help Western communities create or expand clean, new water sources. The selected projects, which include desalination, water reclamation, and reuse projects, will be funded through investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and, when enacted, fiscal year 2022 appropriations. The Notice of Funding Opportunity for each of the three project funding categories can be reviewed here. The notices provide information regarding the type of federal funding award, eligibility requirements, and what is needed to complete and submit applications. Submission deadlines for all three funding categories is March 15, 2022, by 4:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).