Award term—Required Use of American Iron, Steel, and Manufactured Goods (covered under International Agreements)—Section 1605 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
2 C.F.R. § 176.160
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01When awarding Recovery Act funds for construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work that involves iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods materials covered under international agreements, the agency shall use the award term described in the following paragraphs:
(a) Definitions. As used in this award term and condition—
Designated country—(1) A World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement country (Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea (Republic of), Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom;
(2) A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) country (Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, or Singapore);
(3) A United States-European Communities Exchange of Letters (May 15, 1995) country: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom; or
(4) An Agreement between Canada and the United States of America on Government Procurement country (Canada).
Designated country iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods—(1) Is wholly the growth, product, or manufacture of a designated country; or
(2) In the case of a manufactured good that consist in whole or in part of materials from another country, has been substantially transformed in a designated country into a new and different manufactured good distinct from the materials from which it was transformed.
Domestic iron, steel, and/or manufactured good—(1) Is wholly the growth, product, or manufacture of the United States; or
(2) In the case of a manufactured good that consists in whole or in part of materials from another country, has been substantially transformed in the United States into a new and different manufactured good distinct from the materials from which it was transformed. There is no requirement with regard to the origin of components or subcomponents in manufactured goods or products, as long as the manufacture of the goods occurs in the United States.
Foreign iron, steel, and/or manufactured good means iron, steel and/or manufactured good that is not domestic or designated country iron, steel, and/or manufactured good.
Manufactured good means a good brought to the construction site for incorporation into the building or work that has been—
(1) Processed into a specific form and shape; or
(2) Combined with other raw material to create a material that has different properties than the properties of the individual raw materials.
Public building and public work means a public building of, and a public work of, a governmental entity (the United States; the District of Columbia; commonwealths, territories, and minor outlying islands of the United States; State and local governments; and multi-State, regional, or interstate entities which have governmental functions). These buildings and works may include, without limitation, bridges, dams, plants, highways, parkways, streets, subways, tunnels, sewers, mains, power lines, pumping stations, heavy generators, railways, airports, terminals, docks, piers, wharves, ways, lighthouses, buoys, jetties, breakwaters, levees, and canals, and the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of such buildings and works.
Steel means an alloy that includes at least 50 percent iron, between .02 and 2 percent carbon, and may include other elements.
(b) Iron, steel, and manufactured goods. (1) The award term and condition described in this section implements—
(i) Section 1605(a) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111-5) (Recovery Act), by requiring that all iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States; and
(ii) Section 1605(d), which requires application of the Buy American requirement in a manner consistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements. The restrictions of section 1605 of the Recovery Act do not apply to designated country iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods. The Buy American requirement in section 1605 shall not be applied where the iron, steel or manufactured goods used in the project are from a Party to an international agreement that obligates the recipient to treat the goods and services of that Party the same as domestic goods and services. As of January 1, 2010, this obligation shall only apply to projects with an estimated value of $7,804,000 or more.
(2) The recipient shall use only domestic or designated country iron, steel, and manufactured goods in performing the work funded in whole or part with this award, except as provided in paragraphs (b)(3) and (b)(4) of this section.
(3) The requirement in paragraph (b)(2) of this section does not apply to the iron, steel, and manufactured goods listed by the Federal Government as follows:
(4) The award official may add other iron, steel, and manufactured goods to the list in paragraph (b)(3) of this section if the Federal Government determines that—
(i) The cost of domestic iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods would be unreasonable. The cost of domestic iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods used in the project is unreasonable when the cumulative cost of such material will increase the overall cost of the project by more than 25 percent;
(ii) The iron, steel, and/or manufactured good is not produced, or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality; or
(iii) The application of the restriction of section 1605 of the Recovery Act would be inconsistent with the public interest.
(c) Request for determination of inapplicability of section 1605 of the Recovery Act or the Buy American Act. (1)(i) Any recipient request to use foreign iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods in accordance with paragraph (b)(4) of this section shall include adequate information for Federal Government evaluation of the request, including—
(A) A description of the foreign and domestic iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods;
(B) Unit of measure;
(C) Quantity;
(D) Cost;
(E) Time of delivery or availability;
(F) Location of the project;
(G) Name and address of the proposed supplier; and
(H) A detailed justification of the reason for use of foreign iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods cited in accordance with paragraph (b)(4) of this section.
(ii) A request based on unreasonable cost shall include a reasonable survey of the market and a completed cost comparison table in the format in paragraph (d) of this section.
(iii) The cost of iron, steel, or manufactured goods shall include all delivery costs to the construction site and any applicable duty.
(iv) Any recipient request for a determination submitted after Recovery Act funds have been obligated for a project for construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair shall explain why the recipient could not reasonably foresee the need for such determination and could not have requested the determination before the funds were obligated. If the recipient does not submit a satisfactory explanation, the award official need not make a determination.
(2) If the Federal Government determines after funds have been obligated for a project for construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair that an exception to section 1605 of the Recovery Act applies, the award official will amend the award to allow use of the foreign iron, steel, and/or relevant manufactured goods. When the basis for the exception is nonavailability or public interest, the amended award shall reflect adjustment of the award amount, redistribution of budgeted funds, and/or other appropriate actions taken to cover costs associated with acquiring or using the foreign iron, steel, and/or relevant manufactured goods.. When the basis for the exception is the unreasonable cost of the domestic iron, steel, or manufactured goods, the award official shall adjust the award amount or redistribute budgeted funds, as appropriate, by at least the differential established in 2 CFR 176.110(a).
(3) Unless the Federal Government determines that an exception to section 1605 of the Recovery Act applies, use of foreign iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods other than designated country iron, steel, and/or manufactured goods is noncompliant with the applicable Act.
(d) Data. To permit evaluation of requests under paragraph (b) of this section based on unreasonable cost, the applicant shall include the following information and any applicable supporting data based on the survey of suppliers:
[Award official to list applicable excepted materials or indicate “none”]
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-2.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026