[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2894-2895]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-01071]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-6310-N-01]


Identification of Federal Financial Assistance Infrastructure 
Programs Subject to the Build America, Buy America Provisions of the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

AGENCY: Office of Chief Financial Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD, the Department) has conducted an initial review 
required by the Build America, Buy America Act (the Act) to identify 
and evaluate its Federal financial assistance programs for 
infrastructure to determine whether they are inconsistent with the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the IIJA). The Act imposes 
domestic content procurement preference requirements on Federal 
financial assistance programs for infrastructure that do not currently 
have such a requirement and requires Federal agencies to evaluate each 
financial assistance program for infrastructure administered by the 
agency to identify programs inconsistent with the Act's requirements 
for application of a domestic procurement preference. Each Federal 
agency must submit its report on the agency's programs and related 
determinations to Congress and to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) and publish its report in the Federal Register. Today's notice 
complies with the Act's publication and reporting requirements and 
contains HUD's list of identified Federal financial assistance programs 
for infrastructure. HUD has determined that none of the programs it has 
reviewed to date are consistent with the Act. HUD's initial analysis 
errs on the side of over-inclusiveness based on the Department's 
current understanding of information contained in the Act and the 
imminent timing requirements for reporting.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:  J. Malcom Smith, Management and 
Program Analyst, Grants Management and Oversight Division, Office of 
the Assistant Chief Financial Officer of Systems, Office of the Chief 
Financial Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-8000; telephone number 202-402-6472 
(this is not a toll-free number), or email [email protected] with the 
subject line ``Build America, Buy America''. Persons with hearing or 
speech impairments may access this number through TTY by calling the 
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 15, 2021, the President signed 
into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58) 
(the IIJA), which includes the Build America, Buy America Act at 
sections 70911 through 70927 (the Act). The Act ensures that Federal 
financial assistance programs for infrastructure require the use of 
materials produced in the United States, increases requirements for 
American-made content, and strengthens the waiver process associated 
with Buy American provisions. Section 70913 of the Act requires, within 
60 days of the enactment of the IIJA, that each Federal agency, 
including HUD,\1\ file a report with Congress and the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) which identifies and evaluates all 
financial assistance programs for infrastructure to determine whether 
the program is inconsistent with section 70914 of the Act. The report 
must be published in the Federal Register. The reports must identify 
and provide a list of which of these programs are ``deficient,'' as 
defined in section 70913(c) of the Act.\2\
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    \1\ The Act applies to ``any authority of the United States that 
is an ``agency''' as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502. Public Law 117-58, 
section 70912(3).
    \2\ The Act defines ``deficient programs'' as ``any Federal 
financial assistance program for infrastructure . . . for which a 
domestic content procurement preference requirement does not apply 
in a manner consistent with section 70914 of the law; or is subject 
to a waiver of general applicability not limited to the use of 
specific products for use in a specific project.'' Id. at section 
70913(c).
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    Section 70914 of the Act requires that no later than 180 days after 
enactment of the IIJA (which would be May 14, 2022), Federal agencies 
``shall ensure that none of the funds made available for a Federal 
financial assistance program for infrastructure, including each 
deficient program, may be obligated for a project unless all of the 
iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in 
the project are produced in the United States.'' \3\ Federal agencies 
must identify all infrastructure programs and determine whether a 
program is inconsistent with section 70914 of the Act, regardless of 
whether the program received funding from IIJA. (HUD did not receive 
funding.) Pursuant to the Act, an infrastructure program is considered 
inconsistent with section 70914 if: (1) It does not require that all 
the iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used 
in the project are produced in the United States; (2) it does not issue 
waivers and written justifications as specified in section 70914; or 
(3) it is subject to a waiver of general applicability under section 
70914(b) of the Act. On December 20, 2021, OMB issued a memorandum 
titled ``Identification of Federal Financial Assistance Infrastructure 
Programs Subject to the Build America, Buy America Provisions of the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,'' M-22-08, to implement these 
requirements and provide guidance to Federal agencies.\4\
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    \3\ Section 70912(4) of the Act defines ``Federal financial 
assistance'' and provides that the definition is consistent with the 
definition in 2 CFR 200.1 and includes ``all expenditures by a 
Federal agency to a non-Federal entity for an infrastructure 
project, except that it does not include expenditures for assistance 
authorized under section 402, 403, 404, 406, 408, or 502 of the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5170a, 5170b, 5170c, 5172, 5174, or 5192) relating to a major 
disaster or emergency declared by the President under section 401 or 
501, respectively, of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191) or pre and 
post disaster or emergency response expenditures.''
    \4\ Available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/M-22-08.pdf.
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    HUD awards discretionary funding through over 20 Grant programs and 
10 formula programs in support of HUD's mission. These programs 
generally meet the definition of ``Federal financial assistance'' as 
defined in the Act. HUD has evaluated these programs and they are 
included in this report, but a full assessment of whether they fund 
infrastructure as described by the Act has not yet been completed. HUD 
has

[[Page 2895]]

determined that no programs reviewed to date fully meet the 
requirements outlined in section 70914 of the Act. Details on each of 
these programs and the programs are listed below are included on a 
spreadsheet that can be accessed at: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/spm/gmomgmt/grantsinfo/fundingopps. HUD's initial 
analysis errs on the side of over-inclusiveness, as recommended by OMB 
Memorandum M-22-08, based on the Department's current understanding of 
information contained in the Act and the imminent timing requirements 
for reporting.

Discretionary Programs

Office of Community Planning and Development

 Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP)
 Community Development Technical Assistance
 Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and 
Affordable Housing.
 Tribal HUD-VASH Program for Community Development and 
Affordable Housing
 Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
 Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) State and Local
 Fair Housing Initiatives Program for Education and Outreach
 Fair Housing Initiatives Program for Private Enforcement 
Initiatives
 Fair Housing Initiatives Program for Fair Housing Organization 
Initiatives

Office of Healthy Homes Lead Hazard Control

 Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control in Privately Owned Housing
 Lead and Healthy Homes Technical Studies
 Healthy Homes and Weatherization Cooperation Demonstration
 Healthy Homes Production Grant Program
 Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grant Program
 Older Adults Modification Grant Program

Office of Housing

 Multifamily Housing Service Coordinator Grant Program
 Congregate Housing Services Program
 Project Rental Assistance Demonstration (PRA Demo) Program of 
Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
 Supportive Service Demonstration Program for Elderly Housing

Office of Policy Development and Research

 Research and Evaluations, Demonstrations, and Data Analysis 
and Utilization

Office of Public and Indian Housing

 Family Self Sufficiency
 Resident Self Sufficiency Service Coordinators
 Juvenile Re-entry Assistance Program
 Choice Neighborhood Planning
 Community Development Block Grant Indian Tribes and Alaska 
Native Villages
 Jobs Plus Pilot
 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation

Non-Discretionary Programs

Office of Community Planning and Development

 Community Development Block Grants/Entitlement Grants
 Community Development Block Grants/State's program and Non-
Entitlement Grants in Hawaii
 Emergency Solutions Grant Program
 Home Investment Partnerships Program
 Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
 Housing Trust Fund

Office of Public and Indian Housing

 Tribal HUD-VASH Program
 Indian Housing Block Grants
 Public Housing Capital Fund

George Tomchick,
Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-01071 Filed 1-14-22; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P