Altoona Housing Authority officials have no problem with the idea behind a 2021 law requiring infrastructure projects dependent on federal funding to use materials made in the United States.

They’re not thrilled, however, with how that idea in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is likely to play out — or with guidance they’ve been given from the Department of Housing and Urban Development on how to comply.

“It’s a great concept,” said maintenance supervisor Gregg Stiteler at an authority meeting Wednesday. “But it will be difficult to follow through.”

It will be difficult because so many materials that would come under the law’s purview are made mostly in other countries and those materials are generally more expensive when they’re made here, authority officials said. The extra research and documentation required for compliance also will add further costs to infrastructure projects and the current instructions are inadequate, according to authority officials.

“We want to comply,” said authority solicitor Dave Andrews. “But how to comply, how to enforce it — there are a lot of unanswered questions.”

The 17-page HUD “implementation guidance” for the Build America, Buy America provisions of the law has Executive Director Cheryl Johns “thoroughly confused,” Johns said.

The guidance is contradictory in places, according to both Johns and Andrews.

Other housing authority solicitors are also struggling with the guidance, Andrews said.

“HUD’s going to have to make this a lot more clear,” he said.

Based on the guidance, as far as she can understand, the authority will need to “track every nut, screw, bolt and tack,” Johns said.

The additional work could require the authority to hire another employee, she said.

She questioned whether the new expectations are realistic.

Alternatively, the authority could require the architects that design its renovation and maintenance projects to take the responsibility, Stiteler said.

That would add to design costs, just as the additional cost for American-made materials would raise construction costs, according to officials.

Fortunately, the Build America, Buy America provisions aren’t enforceable until HUD has received and reviewed comments, Andrews said.

The authority is likely to contribute to those comments, which will need to be in written form, although she was planning to contribute verbally during a regional HUD phone conference Wednesday, Johns said.

Materials covered by the law include all iron and steel, all manufactured products and all construction materials, according to the guidance.

Manufactured products are considered American if more than 55% of their total cost is bound up in components that are “mined, produced or manufactured” here, according to the guidance.

Housing authorities can obtain waivers of the buy American requirement for projects costing less than $250,000, although they can lose those waivers if cost overruns push the price past the maximum.

It’s not permissible to split projects to obtain a waiver that would otherwise be unavailable.

Authorities can also obtain waivers of the buy American requirement for up to 5% of the cost of larger projects, as long as that 5% doesn’t total more than $1 million.

Authorities can obtain waivers when American products are not available, but they need to expend a certain level of effort defined in the guidance before giving up.

They can also obtain waivers for emergency projects that are undertaken in the aftermath of disasters.

Authorities are responsible to ensure compliance on projects all the way down through contractors, subcontractors and sub-subcontractors, according to the guidance, and documentation of compliance at all levels is required.

Costly components require a certificate from the manufacturer or distributor that the component is U.S.-made, while less expensive components require only a label or a copy of a product specification, the guidelines state.

HUD may grant waivers when it’s required to support the public interest, when the components are not made in the U.S. in sufficient quantity or when the quality of the U.S. version isn’t good enough or when the U.S. version would increase overall projects cost by more than 25%.

“We’ll continue to work it out,” Andrews said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.