The LG must comply with the latest provisions of Buy America as listed at . The LG is required to use steel or iron materials manufactured in the United States except when:

Buy America requires all manufacturing processes must take place domestically. Manufacturing begins with the initial melting and mixing, and continues through the coating stage. Any process modifying the chemical content, the physical size or shape, or the final finish is considered a manufacturing process. These processes include rolling, extruding, machining, bending, grinding, drilling and coating. The provides additional information related to items included or excluded from Buy America provisions.

Buy America does not apply to minimal use of iron/steel materials provided the total cost of all foreign source items used in the project, as delivered to the project site, is less than $2,500 or one-tenth of 1 percent (1/10 of 1%) of the contract amount, whichever is greater. More information regarding the application of Buy America provisions to partial fabrication processes and temporary items are included in the . The practice of making otherwise eligible items non-participating for the purpose of circumventing the Buy America requirements is unacceptable and will not be approved. FHWA retains the authority to resolve all Buy America issues.

Buy America provisions apply to all material permanently incorporated in a federal-aid project, even if an item is rendered as a “donated material” in accordance with . While the LG may receive a credit for donated material, this material must generally comply with Buy America.

Buy America does not apply to raw materials (iron ore and alloys), scrap, pig iron, or processed, pelletized and reduced iron ore. Insufficient domestic supplies of raw materials caused FHWA to issue a nationwide waiver allowing foreign source supplies of these items. The waiver may be found at the . If domestically produced steel billets or iron ingots are shipped overseas for any manufacturing process and then returned to the United States, the resulting product does not conform to the Buy America requirements.

Approval authority for waivers of Buy America requirements is retained by FHWA for all federally funded projects. The FHWA may grant a waiver of the Buy America requirements for specific projects if the LG can demonstrate either of the following:

Materials delivery delay will not be considered as grounds for a waiver. The cost differential between domestic and foreign products is also not grounds for a waiver.

A LG may apply for a waiver of the Buy America provisions if it believes a waiver is warranted. The LG must submit the waiver request with supporting information through TxDOT to FHWA sufficiently in advance of its need to allow time for proper review and action.

An alternative bidding procedure may be used to justify the use of foreign steel or iron. Under this procedure, the total project is bid using two alternatives: one based on foreign source products; and the second using domestic products. The use of foreign products may be justified if the lowest total bid based on domestic steel or iron products is 25 percent more than the lowest bid using corresponding foreign steel or iron products. The 25 percent differential applies to the total bid for the entire project, not just the bids for the steel or iron products.

The LG is responsible for enforcing the Buy America provisions. The contract provisions should require the contractor to provide a definitive statement about the origin of all products covered under the Buy America provisions. An alternate procedure is to use step certification for products. Under step certification, each handler of the product (supplier, fabricator, manufacturer, processor, etc.) certifies its step in the process was domestically performed.

The provides the required practices that must be followed by the LG in order to comply with Buy America.