New White House Guidance Details Infrastructure Spending Priorities 

Stay up to date by subscribing to our blog. Add your e-mail address to the Subscribe box on the right (below the post on mobile) to get our timely posts delivered directly to your inbox.

Brian S. Gocial

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), America is preparing for a flood of infrastructure spending not seen since the New Deal. Indeed, the IIJA allocates funding to over 350 distinct programs across more than a dozen federal departments and agencies. Attention now turns to the federal agencies, and state and local officials who are responsible for implementing these new programs. To that end, the Biden administration recently released A Guidebook to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments, and Other Partners to assist state, local, and tribal leaders to “know what to apply for, who to contact, and how to get ready to rebuild.”

Notably this is only the first version of this guidance and interested parties should continue to monitor the guidance in the coming weeks to stay up to date on the latest deadlines and details. In addition, the Biden administration released an accompanying data file on Build.gov that allows users to quickly sort programs funded under the law by fields like agency, amount, eligible recipient, or program name.

Interested subrecipients, contractors, and suppliers should closely review the government’s guidance and online data in order to understand the government’s priorities and position themselves to take maximum advantage of the influx of new federal funding.

The initial version of the guidance can be accessed at BUILDING-A-BETTER-AMERICA_FINAL.pdf (whitehouse.gov) and is divided into thirteen subject matter areas:

• • • TRANSPORTATION
      • Roads, Bridges, and Major Projects
      • Passenger and Freight Rail
      • Public Transportation
      • Airports and Federal Aviation Administration Facilities
      • Ports and Waterways
      • Safety
      • Electric Vehicles, Buses, and Ferries
    • CLIMATE, ENERGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
      • Clean Energy and Power
      • Water
      • Resilience
      • Environmental Remediation
    • BROADBAND
    • OTHER PROGRAMS
      • Regional Commission Programs
      • Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, and Energy Programs
      • Departments of Health & Human Services and Interior Programs
      • Department of Transportation Programs
      • Environmental Protection Agency Programs
      • Solid Waste Management and Recycling

The White House’s searchable database of IIJA opportunities can be accessed at Building a Better America | The White House.

Blank Rome’s attorneys stand ready to discuss with you how your company can take advantage of potential IIJA opportunities while ensuring compliance with contractual and grant obligations.