9/2/2009
HEADLINES
Imported Fasteners OK for Stimulus Projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waived of Buy American requirements for fasteners and other small-quantity imported parts in the $6 billion worth of water projects paid for by federal stimulus funds. The “de minimis” foreign goods cannot make up more than 5% of the total material costs in the project.

A shortage of U.S.-made small parts or difficulty in determining where they are made has slowed approval of state and municipal drinking water and wastewater treatment and distribution projects that rely on stimulus funds, WaterWebster.org reports.

“For many of these incidental components, the country of manufacture and the availability of alternatives is not always readily or reasonably identifiable prior to procurement in the normal course of business; for other incidental components, the country of manufacture may be known but the miscellaneous character in conjunction with the low cost, individually and (in total) as typically procured in bulk, mark them as properly incidental,” the according to the EPA.

The EPA called it “inconsistent with the public interest” to apply the Buy American regulations to fasteners and other low-cost items. ©2009 GlobalFastenerNews.com