Strengthening Buy-American Preferences for Infrastructure Projects

Executive Order 13858 of January 31, 2019

Strengthening Buy-American Preferences for
Infrastructure Projects

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, and to strengthen Buy-American principles in
Federal financial assistance programs, it is hereby
ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. As expressed in Executive Order
13788 of April 18, 2017 (Buy American and Hire
American), it is the policy of the executive branch to
maximize, consistent with law, the use of goods,
products, and materials produced in the United States,
in Federal procurements and through the terms and
conditions of Federal financial assistance awards.

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this order:

    (a) “Produced in the United States” means, for
iron and steel products, that all manufacturing
processes, from the initial melting stage through the
application of coatings, occurred in the United States.
    (b) “Federal financial assistance” shall have the
meaning and shall be interpreted consistent with the
definition provided by the Office of Management and
Budget's Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost
Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards,
found at section 200.40 of title 2, Code of Federal
Regulations.
    (c) “Manufactured products” means items and
construction materials composed in whole or in part of
non-ferrous metals such as aluminum; plastics and
polymer-based products such as polyvinyl chloride pipe;
aggregates such as concrete; glass, including optical
fiber; and lumber.
    (d) “Infrastructure project” means a project to
develop public or private physical assets that are
designed to provide or support services to the general
public in the following sectors: surface
transportation, including roadways, bridges, railroads,
and transit; aviation; ports, including navigational
channels; water resources projects; energy production,
generation, and storage, including from fossil-fuels,
renewable, nuclear, and hydroelectric sources;
electricity transmission; gas, oil, and propane storage
and transmission; electric, oil, natural gas, and
propane distribution systems; broadband internet;
pipelines; stormwater and sewer infrastructure;
drinking water infrastructure; cybersecurity; and any
other sector designated through a notice published in
the Federal Register by the Federal Permitting
Improvement Steering Council.
    (e) “Covered program” means any program for which
a focus of the statutory authorities under which it is
administered is the award of Federal financial
assistance for the alteration, construction,
conversion, demolition, extension, improvement,
maintenance, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or repair
of an infrastructure project in the United States,
except that this term shall not include:

(i) programs for which providing a domestic preference is inconsistent with
law; or

(ii) programs providing Federal financial assistance that are subject to
comparable domestic preferences.

    (f) “Domestic Preference” means a preference for
the purchase, acquisition, or use of goods, products,
or materials produced in the United States,

including iron and aluminum as well as steel, cement,
and other manufactured products.

Sec. 3. Application of Buy-American Principles to
Covered Programs. (a) Within 90 days of the date of
this order, the head of each executive department and
agency (agency) administering a covered program shall,
as appropriate and to the extent consistent with law,
encourage recipients of new Federal financial
assistance awards pursuant to a covered program to use,
to the greatest extent practicable, iron and aluminum
as well as steel, cement, and other manufactured
products produced in the United States in every
contract, subcontract, purchase order, or sub-award
that is chargeable against such Federal financial
assistance award.

    (b) The head of each agency administering a covered
program shall include in the report required by section
4 of this order a detailed explanation of the strategy,
plan, or program developed to satisfy the requirement
of subsection (a) of this section.

Sec. 4. Identification of Opportunities to Maximize the
Use of Buy-American Principles. Within 120 days of the
date of this order, the head of each agency
administering a covered program shall identify in a
report to the President, through the Assistant to the
President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy, any
tools, techniques, terms, or conditions that have been
used or could be used, consistent with law and in
furtherance of the policy set forth in section 1 of
this order, to maximize the use of iron and aluminum as
well as steel, cement, and other manufactured products
produced in the United States in contracts, sub-
contracts, purchase orders, or sub-awards that are
chargeable against Federal financial assistance awards
for infrastructure projects. In preparing this report,
the agency head shall take care to analyze whether
covered programs within the agency head's jurisdiction
would support, through terms and conditions on new
Federal financial assistance awards under such covered
programs, the imposition of a requirement to use iron
and aluminum as well as steel, cement, and other
manufactured products produced in the United States in
contracts, sub-contracts, purchase orders, or sub-
awards that are chargeable against such Federal
financial assistance awards.

Sec. 5. Amendment to Executive Order 13788. Subsection
1(a) of Executive Order 13788 is hereby amended by
substituting “Federal financial assistance” for
“Federal grants”.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof;

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals; or

(iii) existing rights or obligations under international agreements.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 31, 2019.