What is the small purchase waiver?
Purchases under $100,000 (including options) are not subject to the Buy America requirements, as provided in paragraph (e) of Appendix A to 49 C.F.R. 661.7; therefore, no Buy America certificate is necessary. In such cases, the grantee need not enclose a certification in the bid package nor must the potential manufacturer submit one in order for the bid to be responsive. This waiver does not apply to small contracts between prime contractors and subcontractors. Only FTA recipients can invoke this waiver. Finally, grantees are not permitted to break up procurements in order to stay under this threshold amount. For those procurements that may result in bids right around $100,000, grantees should put the Buy America certifications in the solicitation, with a note at the top which says that if the bid is $100,000 or above, the bidder must certify per the Buy America requirements, but if the bid is under $100,000 no certification is necessary. However, a bidder may also certify compliance,
