Thursday, June 3, 2010

Buy American Waivers Issued

The US Department of Energy has provided two Memorandum of Decision that establish blanket waivers of the Buy American Provision of the EE&CBG Program. The first provides a waiver for incidental items used in a project up to an aggregated limit of no more than 5 percent of the total cost of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in a project. This waiver should simplify record keeping and tracking without substantially impacting the intent of the Buy American Provision. The second Memorandum establishes a blanket waiver for seven categories of manufactured items that US DOE has made a determination of inapplicability because the item is not manufactured in sufficient and reasonably available quantities or of a satisfactory quality. The items covered by the blanket waivers include non-residential programmable thermostats and variable refrigerant flow zoning and inverter-driven ductless mini-split HVAC systems. You may obtain a copy of the waivers by contacting Ken Dyche at (304)257-1221 or (304)813-7619 or kdyche@regioneight.org