1. Buy America Good morning All:
We have a short 7 slide presentation today with an opportunity to ask questions at the end
This is informal and non-contractual, so if you have a question as we conduct the presentation please feel free to interrupt
Some short introductions…

2. NMDOT Specifications
Preference for Domestic MaterialS The Contractor shall provide Materials in accordance with the Buy America Requirements (23 CFR § ) on federal-aid Projects. The Contractor shall bear the burden of proof and the cost to prove the origin and place of manufacture of iron and steel products and Materials.
This is an excerpt from the NMDOT 2014 Standard Specifications for Highway and Bridge Construction
Please note:
The Contractor shall provide Materials that comply with the Buy America requirement, Buy America not Buy American, this is for all federal-aid Projects, this will be available in the Advertisement
The burden of proving to the NMDOT that the “steel and or iron” complies with Buy America is the Contractors
Nothing new here, it’s been like this for a long time now

3.
Here is the change
On December 21, 2012 FHWA provided a memo allowing:
90% steel or iron content
miscellaneous steel or iron components, subcomponents and hardware
On December 22, 2015 FHWA CANCELED the memo allowing the same

4. Expired Exclusions 90% steel or iron content
miscellaneous steel or iron components, subcomponents and hardware
These two exclusions that were allowed from December 2012 to December 2015 are now gone.
This is important because the NMDOT must receive certifications for “steel and or iron” from the Contractor and now that the exclusions are gone we’re having this training and issued an Addendum and a Notice to Contractors (NTC) to provide clarity to the contracting community

5. Addendum - NTC
This is the NTC that was provided via Addendum for the April Letting
This NTC will become standard in the NMDOT Lettings for the foreseeable future
Paragraphs 3 and 4 simply state the following:
Contractor, provide a certification for all “steel and or iron” OR
Contractor, provide proof that the value of the foreign “steel and or iron” is less than $ or less than 0.1% * Total Bid Amount

6. 23 CFR § (4)
(4) When steel and iron materials are used in a project, the requirements of this section do not prevent a minimal use of foreign steel and iron materials, if the cost of such materials used does not exceed one-tenth of one percent (0.1 percent) of the total contract cost or $2,500, whichever is greater. For purposes of this paragraph, the cost is that shown to be the value of the steel and iron products as they are delivered to the project.
This is and excerpt form the CFR that discusses the option DOT mentions in the NTC
Please note the language “total contact cost” is the CFR and the NMDOT NTC uses “Total Bid Amount”
This is the same number, we’re just clarifying this for our specific contract language
FINALLY,
There are other exemptions in the Buy America Requirement but the NMDOT chose not to address each individually.
If a Contractor feels that they qualify for one or more, I’ll refer back to the first slide:
“The Contractor shall bear the burden of proof”

7. Questions