2025_Utilities_00_43_63 WIFIA Funding.docx

00 43 63 WIFIA Funding

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE AND INNOVATION ACT (WIFIA) REQUIREMENTS

A. The goods and services under this Contract are being completed with funding made available by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WIFIA program. The Contractor is required to comply with all applicable WIFIA statutes and regulations and any additional terms and conditions imposed by EPA in connection with WIFIA funding for the Project.

B. EPA provided compliance language “WIFIA Specification Package and Bid Contract Language” is included as Attachment and is part of the Contract Documents. Compliance with all provisions of the WIFIA requirements is required, some will be met by following requirements in the General Conditions, others are not applicable to the Project. The following information is supplemental to Attachment, these provisions are applicable to the Project and are not addressed elsewhere.

1. SAM.gov Registration – The Prime Contractor must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) at the time of bid submission. Contractors must provide proof of active registration in SAM.gov as part of their bid package. Additionally, all Subcontractors anticipated to perform work under this contract must either:

a. Provide proof of active registration in SAM.gov, or

b. Submit a signed letter on professional letterhead certifying that they are not debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from participation in federal work.

Failure to provide the required documentation for both the Contractor and its Subcontractors will result in the bid being deemed non-responsive and ineligible for selection.

2. Six Good-Faith Efforts - Pursuant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, all Contractors must demonstrate compliance with the six good faith efforts outlined in 40 CFR Part 33 when procuring Subcontractors under this solicitation. These efforts are required to encourage the participation of small, minority, and women-owned businesses in procurements funded by EPA assistance programs.

As a condition of contract award, Contractors must certify that they have undertaken the following six good faith efforts:

1. Outreach and Recruitment – Ensure DBEs are made aware of contracting opportunities to the fullest extent practicable, including placing DBEs on solicitation lists and directly soliciting them when they are potential sources.

1. Providing Information and Opportunity – Make information on forthcoming opportunities available to DBEs in a timely manner, arrange time frames for contracts, and establish delivery schedules in a way that facilitates DBE participation. Solicitations for bids or proposals must be posted for a minimum of 30 calendar days before the closing date whenever possible.

1. Encouraging DBE Subcontracting – Consider whether large contracts can be divided into smaller tasks or quantities to allow for maximum DBE participation when economically feasible.

1. Supporting DBE Collaboration – Encourage contracting with a consortium of DBEs when a contract is too large for a single DBE firm to manage individually.

1. Utilizing SBA and MBDA Resources – Seek the services and assistance of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) of the Department of Commerce to identify qualified DBEs.

1. Requiring Prime Contractor Compliance – If the prime Contractor awards subcontracts, they must ensure their Subcontractors also comply with the requirements outlined in items 1 through 5.

The selected Contractor must maintain documentation of compliance with these efforts and provide proof upon request. Failure to demonstrate good faith efforts in accordance with EPA regulations may result in disqualification from consideration.

3. American Iron and Steel (AIS) - This Project is subject to the AIS provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 and all products listed in the EPA American Iron and Steel Guidance Document dated March 20, 2014 must be produced in the United States.

a. The Guidance Document can be found on-line at the EPA website: https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf/american-iron-and-steel-requirement-guidance-and-questions-and-answers

b. Listed products include but are not limited to the following items, refer to the Guidance Document for more information.

1. Lined or unlined pipes or fittings

2. Manhole covers

3. Municipal castings

4. Hydrants

5. Tanks

6. Flanges

7. Pipe clamps and restraints

8. Valves

9. Structural steel

10. Reinforced precast concrete

11. Construction materials

c. Produced in the United States – Means melting (not reheating), refining, forming, rolling, drawing, finishing, fabrication and assembly occurs in the United States.

d. Exceptions – the following products do not have the be produced in the United States:

1. Raw materials such as iron ore, limestone and iron and steel scrap

2. Non-iron or non-steel components of a primarily iron or steel product

3. Products that do not fall under any of the listed products

4. Mechanical/electrical equipment (if not a listed product)

5. Appurtenances of assemblies where the primary component is a non-covered product

6. Non-construction materials such as pumps, motors, VFDs, valve actuators, flow meters, sensors and SCADA equipment.

e. Certification Letters

1. Product manufacturers shall provide an AIS Certification Letter for each AIS-compliant product asserting that all manufacturing processes for the purchased product occurred in the United States.

2. As construction activities get underway, the selected Contractor must obtain a certification letter from the manufacturer of a given AIS material and provide a copy of the letter to the City of Englewood prior to installation into the Project.

3. Letter can be a Step Certification if there are multiple parties involved in the manufacturing process. In this case each handler (Supplier, fabricator, manufacturer, processor, etc.) certifies their individual step(s) in the process occurred in the United States.

4. Key Elements – at minimum certification letters shall include the following:

a. List of the product or materials produced and the manufacturing process involved (rolling, forming, melting, etc.)

b. The location (City and State) of the foundry/mill/factory where the product was manufactured

c. The name of the Project and jurisdiction where the product was delivered

d. Signature of a company representative

e. Reference to AIS compliance

5. The selected Contractor must review each certification letter to ensure it contains these five points prior to submitting it to the City of Englewood. As necessary, the selected Contractor shall obtain multiple versions of a certification letter from the manufacturer until it is considered compliant.

f. AIS Log & Waivers

1. Prior to the start of construction activities, the selected Contractor must coordinate with the City of Englewood to develop a log of all materials that must comply with AIS using a Microsoft Excel-based template.

2. Once the selected Contractor develops the AIS Log using the template, the selected Contractor and the City of Englewood shall review the AIS Log to identify materials that would benefit from a waiver or allocation to the De Minimis log.

3. Note that the EPA has made available four AIS waivers:

a. Cost (if the cost of AIS compliance raises Project cost by at least 25%),

b. Public interest (if it is not in the public interest to enforce AIS),

c. Availability (if a specific AIS product is not available in sufficient or satisfactory quantity).

d. An additional waiver, De Minimis, allows for the non-domestic procurement of iron or steel materials only if the material is considered incidental to the Project and only if all items procured using the De Minimis waiver do not exceed 5% of total material costs and no single item procured under De Minimis waiver does not exceed 1% of total material costs.

4. The City of Englewood must submit a request to the EPA if it anticipates needing any of these waiver categories.

5. Throughout the Project, the City of Englewood shall hold routine meetings with the selected Contractor to review the AIS requirement and ensure the AIS Log remains current and that all listed items will either have or will have a certification letter or a waiver.

4. Davis-Bacon Act Prevailing Wage Rates – The Contractor shall comply with the state prevailing wage rates and the federal prevailing wage rates under the Davis Bacon Act. Each worker in each trade or occupation employed in the performance of the work under these Contract Documents, either by Contractor, Subcontractor, or other person doing or contracting to do the whole or any part of the work, shall be paid not less than the applicable prevailing wage rates for state or federal wages, whichever is higher, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor.

a. Wage Determinations

1. One or more wage determination categories may be applicable depending on the scope of the work.

2. It is the Contractor’s responsibility to select which labor category is applicable to their employees on an individual basis from the wage determination included in the contract.

3. If no applicable category can be determined from the options available, a Davis-Bacon Conformance Request can be issued to the U.S. Department of Labor to add a new category. This process will require justification information from the Contractor and will include lead time for the agency review.

b. LCPTracker

1. Contractors are required to submit weekly certified payroll records to the City of Englewood via LCPTracker and ensure that all workers are compensated fairly according to the established wage determinations.

2. Contractor access and ability to use LCPTracker must be established prior to start of construction activities.

c. Backpay

1. If it is identified that a contractor employee has not been paid the prevailing wage, it is possible that backpay taken as the difference between the wage paid and the applicable prevailing wage will be requested to be paid out to the employee to ensure Davis-Bacon Act compliance.

d. Compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act involves posting the applicable wage determinations and the Davis-Bacon poster at the work site, maintaining accurate payroll records, conducting periodic personnel interviews in accordance with Standard Form (SF) 1445, providing documentation of any apprenticeship programs and/or fringe benefit statements and allowing for periodic audits by the contracting agency. Contractors must also ensure that any Subcontractors comply with these requirements.

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