General Applicability Public Interest Waiver to Indian Tribes Proposed Extension of Manufactured Products Waiver

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The Department of the Interior (DOI); Department of Agriculture (USDA); Department of Education (ED); Department of Energy (DOE); Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and Department of Commerce (DOC); (hereafter "the Agencies"), are proposing to issue an extension of the manufactured products element of the general applicability joint public interest waiver to Indian Tribes (issued on January 10, 2025).

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 204 (Friday, October 23, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 204 (Friday, October 23, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66871-66872]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21634]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DOI-2026-0232; 267D0102DM, DS6CS00000, DLSN00000.000000, 
DX6CS25]


General Applicability Public Interest Waiver to Indian Tribes 
Proposed Extension of Manufactured Products Waiver

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of proposed extension of waiver; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior (DOI); Department of 
Agriculture (USDA); Department of Education (ED); Department of Energy 
(DOE); Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA); Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); 
and Department of Commerce (DOC); (hereafter ``the Agencies''), are 
proposing to issue an extension of the manufactured products element of 
the general applicability joint public interest waiver to Indian Tribes 
(issued on January 10, 2025).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted online or by mail no later 
than November 23, 2026. For more information, see SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to this notice by any of the 
following methods:
    <bullet> Electronically: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. In the 
``Search''

[[Page 66872]]

box, enter ``DOI-2026-0232''. Follow the instructions to submit public 
comments. We post all comments.
    <bullet> Hand-deliver or by U.S. mail: U.S. Department of the 
Interior, Office of Grants Management, Made in America/Special 
Projects, ATTN: Kayla Blades, 1387 S Vinnell Way, Boise, ID 83709.
    <bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#74303b3d2b3306151a00072b36010d351911061d17152b23151d021106341d1b075a101b1d5a131b02"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7a3e3533253d081b140e0925380f033b171f0813191b252d1b130c1f083a131509541e1513541d150c">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Please 
reference ``Indian Tribes'' in the subject line of the email. Comments 
received prior to the public comment closing date will be reviewed and 
considered by the Agencies.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kayla Blades, Grants Management 
Officer, Office of Grants Management, (208) 266-7159; email: 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6209031b0e033d000e03060711220b0d114c060d0b4c050d14"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="573c362e3b3608353b36333224173e38247933383e79303821">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United States who are 
deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 
711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay 
services for contacting Kayla Blades. Individuals outside of the United 
States should use the relay services offered within their country to 
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposed extension of waiver would 
continue to waive the manufactured products requirement of section 
70914 of the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) included in the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58) (Buy America 
Preference) for Federal Financial Assistance agreements awarded to 
Indian Tribes through December 31, 2026. Recipients will be permitted 
to purchase non-compliant manufactured products, regardless of the 
Federal financial assistance amount. For Federal financial assistance 
issued prior to the effective date of the final waiver, the waiver 
would apply to funds not yet expended. The Waiver Type is Public 
Interest, the Waiver Level is General Applicability, All Regions. The 
waiver is applicable to Federal financial assistance obligated on or 
after the effective date of the final waiver, and before its 
expiration. This extension would expire on December 31, 2026.
    The proposed waiver will be posted on each agency's public facing 
web page, and a notice of the proposed waiver will be posted to the 
Made in America website to satisfy the requirement to publish any BABA 
Project Waiver and provide the public with thirty (30) days to submit 
comments. The Agencies seek public and industry comments from all 
interested parties, particularly regarding common, critical 
manufactured products in infrastructure projects; the availability of 
BABA-compliant vendors, including those that are Native enterprises; 
current and anticipated availability of domestic products; and current 
and future states of domestic production and supply chains. Relevant 
information and comments will help the Agencies understand the facts 
and impacts surrounding this waiver request.

Justification for Waiver Extension

    Compliance with the BABA manufactured products requirements 
continues to pose implementation challenges in Tribal communities. This 
extension of the manufactured products portion of the waiver is 
intended to allow infrastructure projects in Tribal communities to 
proceed while allowing Agencies time to examine further modifications 
to the waiver consistent with the President's mandate for strengthening 
Made in America implementation. This extension is also intended to 
allow agencies additional time to move toward efforts to bring Tribal 
recipients into fuller alignment with BABA requirements, including 
through strengthening and coordinating Agency guidance to tribes and 
refining compliance support, training, and technical assistance.

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address or other 
personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 
that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.
    Authority: Section 70914 of the Build America, Buy America Act 
(BABA); Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58) (Buy 
America Preference)

Troy W. Finnegan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Exercising the Delegated Authority of the 
Assistant Secretary--Policy, Management and Budget.
[FR Doc. 2026-21634 Filed 10-22-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4334-CC-P


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