Action
Notice of Buy America waiver request and request for comment.
Summary
FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public that the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) is seeking a waiver from FRA's Buy America requirement--49 U.S.C. 24405(a). NNEPRA was awarded $35 million in an America Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("Recovery Act") grant to extend Amtrak's Downeaster passenger service from its existing route of Boston, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine further north to Brunswick, Maine with a stop in Freeport, Maine. The project requires the purchase and use of 3,340 AREMA specified carbon steel standard 1\1/8\ nominal diameter nuts. NNEPRA seeks the waiver under 49 U.S.C. 24405(a)(2)(B) in that it asserts that the specific nuts it needs are not produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or are not of a satisfactory quality.