Build America, Buy America Resources and Impact on Domestic Preference

President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on November 15, 2021, including the BABA Act. The effective date of BABA was May 14, 2022, 180 days after enactment. BABA encouraged strong domestic preference and sourcing requirements across all federal financial programs. The EPA is implementing the BABA Act sourcing requirements due to their experience implementing American Iron and Steel (AIS) requirements in SRF and WIFIA programs over the last decade.

BABA applies to items consumed, incorporated into, or affixed to infrastructure projects. BABA expands existing AIS domestic preference requirements, which means that most purchased items for SRF and WIFIA projects will now be covered, even if they were not under current guidelines. The fundamental changes under BABA include:

• More America-made requirements on iron and steel, including manufactured items that are predominately iron/steel; all manufacturing processes, from melting through the coating, must occur in the US.
• Manufactured products must demonstrate that 55% of the total component cost was mined, produced, or manufactured in the US.
• Additional requirements that construction materials, including non-ferrous metals, plastic products, and glass, be manufactured in the US.

For updates on the BABA Act requirements and updates, see the EPA’s website here.

And here is a direct link to a helpful and concise slide deck from the EPA’s BABA Act implementation webinar in April 2022:

You can review existing guidelines on SRF American Iron and Steel Requirements on the EPA’s website here.