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UCANE E-News
July 28, 2009
Submitted by Michael Galli
Legislative Liaison
Bill Mobilizing Economic Recovery Signed
On Thursday, July 02, 2009, Governor Patrick signed legislation to help the Commonwealth maximize its eligibility for federal recovery funding. The new law builds on the work and ideas of hundreds of people who participated in task forces to help establish a plan to make the most of federal stimulus dollars.
The bill includes several additional provisions intended to facilitate compliance with ARRA’s deadlines and the accomplishment of its objectives, including:
- Updating and expediting certain state procurement procedures to maximize the state’s ability to comply with ARRA’s deadlines and capture all available funding;
- Creating technical assistance and bond guarantee programs to ensure that all businesses can participate in and benefit from ARRA-funded opportunities, including small businesses and minority and women-owned businesses;
- Requiring that 20% of the labor hours on ARRA-funded construction projects costing $1 million or more be performed by apprentices to ensure the creation of jobs with middle-class earning capacity and skills;
- Requiring any entity located in the state that receives ARRA funds to provide information to the state regarding its use of the funds to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency.
- Requiring employers on all ARRA-funded projects to post notices of employment opportunities on the Commonwealth’s central job bank;
- Amending the state’s mini-COBRA law for small businesses to provide covered individuals with the same extended period to elect mini-COBRA benefits that ARRA makes available to individuals covered by COBRA; and
- Adopting an additional trigger for unemployment benefits, known as the total unemployment rate (TUR) trigger, that will provide eligible individuals with an additional 7 weeks of extended unemployment benefits.
- Preparing Massachusetts to maximize federal recovery funds is a critical component of Governor Patrick’s Massachusetts Recovery Plan, which combines state, federal and, where possible, private efforts to provide immediate and long-term relief and position the Commonwealth for recovery in the following ways:
- Deliver immediate relief by investing in the road, bridge and rail projects that put people to work today and providing safety net services that sustain people who are especially vulnerable during an economic crisis;
- Build a better tomorrow through education and infrastructure investments that strengthen our economic competitiveness, prepare workers for the jobs of the future, and support clean energy, broadband, and technology projects that cut costs while growing the economy; and
- Reform state government by eliminating the pension and ethics loopholes that discredit the work of government and revitalize the transportation networks that have suffered from decades of neglect and inaction.
Buy America Provisions: Waiver Request Checklist
As all projects listed on the MassDEP CY2009 CWSRF & CY2009 DWSRF IUP’s receive an 8.8% grant of Federal Stimulus money, they are subject to all ARRA regulations; including Buy America.
Under the Buy America Provisions, if a product is unavailable for distribution in America for an ARRA funded project, the following waiver checklist should be completed and submitted to the Awarding Authority, who will then forward it to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for review.
A waiver may be granted if EPA determines that (1) applying these requirements would be inconsistent with public interest ; (2) iron, steel and the relative manufactured goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonable available quantities and of a satisfactory quality; or (3) inclusion of iron, steel and manufactured goods produced in the United States will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25%. This requirement has been included as a grant condition in all EPA capitalization grants, and will be a condition in all loan and grant agreements provided by States to local recipients.
Please review the list of documentation an Awarding Authority needs in order to submit a waiver request to EPA.
Documentation Needed for an Availability Waiver Submittal
Waiver Request Submittal should include:
- Short description of the overall project
- Estimated/Projected cost of the overall project
- A description of the foreign made equipment
- Unit of measure
- Quantity
- Price
- Time of delivery when needed at construction / job site
- Name and address of the manufacturer
- Justification for the use of the foreign equipment
- Domestic alternatives and why they do not meet proposed project specifications
- Provide written documentation that you looked for US companies to buy from and either couldn’t find any or couldn’t find any that would be able to meet the project specifications
- Provide written documentation from domestic manufacturer(s) that its product cannot meet the applicant’s project specifications or written documentation detailing the level of effort conducted by applicant to seek a domestic supplier
- Provide specifications from domestic supplier(s) demonstrating exactly how it (they) do not meet project specifications
- Technical specifications and requirements involved with the foreign made equipment
- Detailed drawings
- The foreign made equipment (preferred for the project)
- The domestic alternatives (that don’t work)
- If there was any pre-bid selection committee or any other type of process that came up with a list of critical specifications or criteria for the product, you should detail that in the waiver request as well
- If the waiver is being request after construction has initiated you need to include a justification as to why it is being requested now and not earlier
- Provide written documentation that the Buy American provision was included in the bid documents and if it was not an explanation as to why
Hyannis Sewer Plan Back In The Pipeline
By Jake Berry, http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090718/NEWS/907180308
www.capecodonline.com
Part of the controversial sewer extension project in Hyannis may not be dead in the water after all.
Three weeks after shooting down a proposal to extend the town's sewer system to about 320 homes around Stewarts Creek in Hyannis, Barnstable Town Council voted Thursday to reintroduce the matter, scheduling a public hearing for the board's August meeting.
The council originally voted down the $3.3 million project, along with a $44.1-million proposal to extend sewers around Lake Wequaquet, due largely to concerns over costs. Even with a federal subsidy courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the project would cost area residents about $20,500 each in betterment charges, town officials have said.
But several area residents on Thursday spoke in favor of the project and asked the council to reconsider the matter. The council's June 25 vote was influenced by opposition to the Lake Wequaquet proposal, speakers said, though the two proposals are separate in nature.
Town council approved about $4 million for a portion of the project in April, but town officials aren't clear how to proceed without the full amount.
"We believe the vote ... was prejudiced by opposition of Wequaquet Lake residents and therefore rational consideration was not taken for Stewarts Creek as a separate matter," resident Milton Berglund told the council. "We implore you, doing nothing at this time is not an option."
In submitting the revisited proposal, councilors altered the project funding formula in order to qualify it for reconsideration under town regulations.
This time, they made no specific reference to the federal stimulus funds or other grants. Because of a June 30 federal deadline, the project may no longer qualify for the federal money, town officials said.
Councilors did not indicate how they would vote on the project in a second vote. It failed in June to get the two-thirds majority necessary for approval. But they did say they were glad to see it get a second chance.
"(Stewarts Creek) really is a separate project, and it deserves to be considered as such," said Councilor Ann Canedy. "We'll have to see what happens."
The council will meet on the matter Aug. 6.
$65M Somerville Assembly Square Project Funding Announced
As part of his Massachusetts Recovery Plan to secure the state’s economic future, Governor Patrick announced a state-federal partnership to move the Assembly Square Project in Somerville forward. Joined by Senator John Kerry and Congressman Mike Capuano, the Governor said more than $65 million in state bond and federal stimulus funding commitments will support the public infrastructure improvements needed to accelerate a development project that stands to create thousands of permanent jobs and long-term regional economic growth.
“This project will put people to work now and in the future, and deliver a host of economic, housing and community benefits to Somerville and the region,” said Governor Patrick. "This is what recovery spending is all about."
The Governor has committed $50 million to the project through the state’s Infrastructure Investment Incentive Program (I-Cubed) program, making Assembly Square the Commonwealth’s first I-Cubed project. An innovative bond-funded program designed to generate private investment and economic growth, I-Cubed creates a partnership between a developer, a host community and the state, helping municipalities and developers fund street, sidewalk, water and sewer and other infrastructure projects that ignite private development and stimulate the state’s economy. These funds will go towards public infrastructure improvements at the project, as will a $2 million Growth District award from the state.
The Congressional delegation and the Governor have also committed to using $15 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Highway Transportation funding to complete the necessary infrastructure improvements for the mixed-use project.
EPA Awards $502K To MassDEP To Reduce Diesel Emissions
EPA has awarded $502,500 to the MassDEP for a project that will retrofit state-owned diesel vehicles with advanced pollution control technologies. This clean diesel project will create jobs while protecting air quality in Massachusetts.
The funds are provided under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. Under this funding competition, EPA Region 1 alone received over 30 grant applications requesting $35.8 million to help fund clean diesel emissions projects. The Recovery Act allotted the National Clean Diesel Campaign (NCDC) a total of $300 million, of which the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program received $156 million to fund competitive grants across the nation. The Recovery Act also included $20 million for the National Clean Diesel Emerging Technology Program grants and $30 million for the SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program grants.
This project will achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions through the installation of verified emissions control technologies on state-owned diesel vehicles, including dump trucks, rack trucks, aerial bucket trucks, plow trucks, and plow/sander trucks, reducing per vehicle emissions between 20 and 90 percent.
Public Construction Projects Prevailing Wage Rate Schedule Now Available Online
Under Massachusetts Law, contractors on public construction projects must pay their workers the rates determined by the DOS based upon applicable collective bargaining agreements. Until now, those rates were obtained directly by the agency, or city or town that was contracting for the rates, and incorporated into the contract for construction.
“We are constantly striving to increase efficiencies and transparency across the administration,” said Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Suzanne M. Bump. “This application will help make processes move more readily around American Recovery and Reinvestment Act related projects. In general, we also sought to make it easy for both employers and workers to easily learn about prevailing wages in public construction, “said Secretary Bump.
DOS Commissioner, Laura Marlin, concurs: “This new application will make it much easier for members of the public to learn of the proper wages on a public construction project and increase efficiency in Labor and Workforce Development’s Division of Occupational Safety.” Commissioner Marlin added that: “This newly automated system will allow DOS staff to focus more of their time responding to questions about the law and helping cities and towns, contractors and workers understand their rights and obligations under the prevailing wage law, as well as the minimum wage and overtime laws.”
Under the new prevailing wage system, state agencies and cities and towns that are awarding public construction projects will still need to request official prevailing wage rate sheets to incorporate into their contracts. Contractors considering bidding on a project can log on even before the bid packages go out to see what wages will be required, and workers who aren’t sure whether they are being paid properly can check that as well. The prevailing wage application can be accessed by clicking Prevailing Wage Program from the online services section of the Division’s website at www.mass.gov/dos
Tel: (617) 471-9955 • Fax: (617) 471-8939 • 300 Congress Street, Suite 101 • Quincy, MA 02169