What should your firm know? AGC of America has educational resources to help you understand the White House final guidance on the Build America, Buy America Act.

Federally assisted construction contractors must comply with the White House Office of Management and Budget final guidance on Build America, Buy America (BABAA requirements on contracts awarded on or after October 23.

To help AGC members understand the final guidance (both the certainties and uncertainties), please find the following AGC resources below:

• A frequently asked questions document, found here;
• A Federal Highway Administration BABAA one-pager, found here;
• A Federal Transit Administration BABAA one-pager, found here;
• An October 4 AGC webinar recording and powerpoint presentation explaining in detail the final guidance and then some.
• A September 28 presentation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to members of the AGC Utility Infrastructure Division on BABAA implementation on drinking water and wastewater state revolving loan fund projects.

Several state DOTs have provided perspective on what items may or may not be classified as construction materials or manufactured products or have issued vendor lists. Some examples include:

• Texas DOT (material classification sheet);
• Virginia DOT (material supplier list); and
• Washington State DOT (material classification sheet).

Contractors, especially performing work for public owners not used as examples above, should not rely on this information for bidding on work from another public owner. Even contractors working for these owners should confirm whether this information is updated for compliance with the new BABAA final guidance and to what degree they may rely on it. AGC provides these data points merely as educational examples of what some public owners are doing to provide better context for contractors. This information is not legal advice.

In addition, AGC is leading a coalition effort to ready an administrative action challenging OMB’s inept implementation of BABAA across the federal government and seeking more reasonable implementation and waiver processes. Nevertheless, AGC members should be prepared to comply with the final guidance and check with their owners on how they plan to implement the requirements.