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On March 13, APGA submitted comments to the Made in America office at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on their proposed revisions to the Guidance for Grants and Agreements. The original guidance was issued on April 18, 2022 (See M-22-11). The guidance aims to support federal agencies with the implementation of the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) provisions within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety & Modernization (NGDISM) grants are subject to the requirements within (BABA).

APGA’s comments focused on three areas:

1. Sets the stage for PHMSA to pursue a program-wide public interest de minimis waiver for the NGDISM grant program. This type of waiver allows federal agencies “whether a public interest waiver should apply when necessary to ensure that recipients and Federal agencies make efficient use of limited resources, especially if the cost of processing the individualized waiver(s) would risk exceeding the value of the items waived.” The guidance suggests example thresholds of 5% of the project costs or $1,000,000.
2. Provides a list of manufactured and construction materials with known Made in America challenges.
3. Addresses specific OMB questions related to the cost of materials and the current exemption for aggregates from BABA preference requirements. 

The comments were submitted to OMB and were shared with PHMSA. APGA will continue to engage in federal activities that could ultimately impact the PHMSA NGDISM grant program. 

For questions on this article, please contact Erin Kurilla of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at ekurilla@apga.org.