Metro - File #: 2023-0773

• File #: 2023-0773
• Type: Informational Report
• Status: Agenda Ready
• File created: 12/21/2023
• In control: Finance, Budget and Audit Committee
• On agenda: 1/17/2024
• Title: RECEIVE AND FILE a report on the Build America, Buy America Act.
• Sponsors: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
• Indexes: 2028 Mobility Concept Plan, Agreements, American Public Transportation Association, Ara Najarian, Board approved a Motion, Budgeting, Capital Project, Capital Project Funds, Center for Transportation Excellence, Certification, City of Los Angeles, Construction, Federal Transit Administration, Full Funding Grant Agreement, Grant Aid, Housing, Informational Report, James Butts, Karen Bass, Katy Yaroslavsky, Lindsey Horvath, Metro Vision 2028 Plan, Motion / Motion Response, New Starts Program, Policy, Procurement, Program, Purchasing, Rolling stock, Senate Bill 2320, Steel, Suppliers, Testing, Zero Emission Bus (ZEB) Master Plan

Meeting_Body
FINANCE, BUDGET, AND AUDIT COMMITTEE
JANUARY 17, 2024


Subject
SUBJECT: BUILD AMERICA, BUY AMERICA ACT

Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE

Heading
RECOMMENDATION

Title
RECEIVE AND FILE a report on the Build America, Buy America Act.

Issue
ISSUE

At its October 2023 meeting, the Board approved Motion 10 by Directors Horvath, Bass, Butts, Yaroslavsky, and Najarian (Attachment A), instructing the Chief Executive Officer to report back with an evaluation of the applicable provisions of the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA), provisions contained in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and related federal guidance (49 U.S.C. ? 5323(j)), and any impact the Act may have on the feasibility of transit projects seeking a Full-Funding Grant Agreement with the FTA.

This report evaluates BABA's applicability to Metro's capital projects seeking Full Funding Grant Agreements with the Federal Transit Administration. These requirements may result in increasing schedule and cost tension on projects funded under the FTA's Capital Investment Grant ("CIG") program. While the specific impacts of these increased domestic preference requirements are yet to be quantified, manufacturers and suppliers are taking steps to ensure their full compliance with these policies.

Background
BACKGROUND

In 2021, Congress adopted, and President Biden subsequently signed into law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58), better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). One key policy initiative in the BIL is the BABA expands domestic preference requirements for projects that are federally funded.

As noted by the White House on the day the President signed the measure into law, the BIL was crafted to "rebuild America's roads, bridges, and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have too...