Temporary waiver for Buy America policy will benefit builders in Am Samoa

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Contractors for federally funded projects in American Samoa and other U.S. territories and freely associated states are now able to purchase construction materials from foreign countries after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) finalized a waiver of the Build America, Buy America Act requirement.

 The waiver, which applies to federal grants that are obligated between April 29, 2024 and March 1, 2025, covers Guam the Northern Marianas, Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia in addition to American Samoa.

The Buy America policy requires all construction materials used for federally funded infrastructure projects must be produced in the United States.

However, Christopher Coes, DOT’s acting undersecretary for policy, has said that imposing the domestic purchase preference on the Pacific jurisdictions located more than 5,000 miles from the mainland is not practical, resulting in higher shipping costs and construction delays, he said.

“DOT is concerned that complying with Buy America requirements may increase already elevated project time and costs — particularly in the short run,” Coe said in the final rule published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, April 29.

“Materials sourced from the United States lead to additional shipping fees and longer lead times, thus significantly extending construction activity schedules,” Coes said. “Ongoing gaps in supply chain availability impact lead times for materials, increasing project timelines.”

Washington is particularly concerned about the slow pace of military construction on Guam in the face of preparations for the relocation of 5,000 Marines from Okinawa and combat planning to address the growing tensions in the region.

“The challenge is the tyranny of distance in many instances. Guam is a very difficult place to get cement to and to get steel to. The challenges that we have in addition to just the tyranny of distance are the limiting factors of the port capacity,” Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of Defense told U.S. senators during a budget hearing held last month by the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

“This is problematic from a war-fighting perspective. It's also problematic from a construction perspective,” he added.

Given the restrictive factors, Coes said DOT has determined that “it is in the public interest” to exempt Pacific territories and states from the Buy America policy.

“The waiver will provide time for DOT to collect and analyze evidence to determine if a more targeted waiver of these requirements is in the public interest,” Coes said. “The waiver will be reviewed prior to its expiration.”