EPA Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)

Registered Lobbyist Contact Disclosures

On March 20, 2009, the President issued a memorandum entitled "Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds". Section 3 of the memorandum outlines specific requirements which executive department or agency employees must follow regarding communications with federally registered lobbyists about Recovery Act funds.

OMB guidance (PDF) (14 pp., 110K, about PDF) to implement these requirements requires in part that any EPA employee contacted orally or in writing regarding Recovery Act matters by any registered lobbyist (including persons associated with for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, and state and local governments) must document the communication using the Registered Lobbyist Contact Disclosure Form included in the OMB guidance. The table below presents the content of all Registered Lobbyist Contact Disclosure Forms that document these communications.

Information for Each Registered Lobbyist Contacting EPA

Lobbyist Name

Skinner, Chris

Skinner, Christopher H.

O’Toole Morgan, Cortney

Newman, Jr., William B.

Sapirstein, Eric

Robertson, Peter

Title

Attorney

Associate

Member

President

Partner

Firm Name

Squire, Sanders and Dempsey

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey

Barnes/Richardson

Smith Dawson & Andrews

ENS Resources

Crowell & Moring

Client’s Name

Singham, Shanker

Unknown

unknown

N/A

unknown

Client’s Address

Unknown

unknown

N/A

unknown

Contact Date and Time

04/14/2009 10:20 AM

05/20/2009 02:30 PM

06/02/2009 10:00 AM

06/02/2009 10:30 AM

06/11/2009 01:15 PM

06/18/2009 05:00 PM

EPA Employee Contacted

Kenneth Redden

John Gherardini

Philip Metzger

Subject

Needed Point of Contact for Buy American Act Implementation Questions.

Buy American Act

Buy American Act - de minimus waiver

Buy American Act - bidded projects waiver

Buy American Act - de minimus waiver

Buy American Act - national waivers

Other Details

Wanted point of contact for Buy American Act implementation questions under the Recovery Act for EPA contracts. Referred caller to John Gherardini, Acting Director of OAM.

To discuss the Buy American Act as it relates to water projects using ARRA funds. The meeting lasted 10 minutes. The meeting was brief once I explained to them that my office does not deal with the issue they are interested in discussing.

Q by Morgan: Why was the de minimis waiver necessary if OMB excluded components and subcomponents of manufactured goods from the definition of manufactured goods? A by Metzger: This waiver was intended to cover the types of items that would be “brought to the [construction] site as separate items from the manufactured goods and/or iron and steel that these incidental items would be used to install. These would generally be manufactured goods themselves rather than having been incorporated into a good that had been manufactured elsewhere.

Q by Newman: Bidded projects waiver – is date by which to determine whether a project falls within the Oct. 1, 2008 – February 17, 2009 waiver window the date of bid announcement or of bid opening? A by Metzger: Term used in waiver is “bid solicitation”, which is bid announcement, that is, date on which the prospective SRF assistance recipient publicly provided the specifications for the project and requested bids. Q by Newman: Will EPA give public notice of waiver requests, or only of waivers granted? A by Metzger: EPA will be providing the public information specified in section 1605(c), which is that waivers granted must be published in the Federal Register and must include a detailed written justification for each waiver.

Q by Sapirstein: How do you define components covered in the de minimis waiver that EPA issued under the ARRA Buy American provision? A by Metzger: The text of the de minimis waiver itself identifies the characteristics of “incidental components” that may be included under the waiver. “Country of manufacture and the availability of alternatives are not readily or reasonably identifiable prior to procurement” “Use of literally thousands of miscellaneous …components” (different items of miscellaneous character) “Generally low cost” The key test is identifiability of national origin: “EPA has found that it would be inconsistent with the public interest … to require that the national origins of these components be identified.”

Q by Robertson: EPA’s April 28, 2009, memorandum regarding the implementation of the Buy America provisions of the stimulus bill is detailed about the regional waiver process. It mentions national waivers, but does not give any information about how to apply for a national waiver. Could you describe that process? A by Metzger: We recognize that other Federal agencies have processes developed through necessary notice and comment, whereby manufacturers can apply for confirmation/certification of US manufacture of a good, or for a national availability waiver for a specific foreign-made product. However, EPA does not have established institutional expertise on Buy American issues, and ARRA's deadlines, particularly for the SRFs to have all funds under “contract or construction” by February 2010, do not allow EPA to develop such processes through the requisite notice-and-comment process. We believe the waiver program defined in ARRA section 1605, and assistance recipients’ responsibility to comply in their “projects,” provides an appropriate means under the circumstances to address these issues. Manufacturers should work with assistance recipients on these questions. Webcast slides on our web site at www.epa.gov/water/eparecovery will give important information on the US manufacturing issue, and how to apply the "substantial transformation" standard set forth in the OMB Guidance. These slides also provide information on what must be presented in some of the common types of waiver requests to receive consideration.

Registered Lobbyist Contact Disclosures

Local Navigation