Perhaps just a wee bit late, Metro has sent out a letter to its suplliers making clear that they need to follow “Buy American” guidelines.
“All steel, iron and other manufactured products bought for Metro’s light rail expansion project must be produced in the United States”, notes Senior V-P David Couch, who heads the rail build-out for METRO.
It was not imediately clear if former Metro CEO Frank Wilson was on the mailing list.
Wilson got Metro in a ton of trouble for trying to find a loophole in the Buy American rules, causing the agency to lose crucial federal funding for rail projects.
Metro says the letter “asks providers to comply with all requirements as they go about supplying contractors with goods to carry out construction of the East, North, and Southeast rail extensions of the Red (Main St.) Line.”
Metro’s announcement says the three new lines “are expected to be complete by the end of 2014.”
Is there anyone who doesn’t want to take the over on that?
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2010.