Federal Transit Administration Grants Buy America Waiver for San Diego Sprinter Parts

The Federal Transit Administration has granted North County Transit District a waiver of Buy America domestic preferences so the California agency can procure 15 replacement parts that are not produced in the United States for its 12 Siemens Desiro series diesel multiple units. The waiver is applicable on 5 October 2026 and is published as a notice in the Federal Register under Docket No. FTA-2026-0133. The decision keeps the Sprinter light rail service between Oceanside and Escondido in San Diego County running.

Buy America generally prohibits the FTA from obligating funds for a project unless the steel, iron, manufactured goods and construction materials used in it are produced in the United States, under 49 U.S.C. 5323(j) and section 70914 of Public Law 117-58. The agency may waive those requirements when a compliant version of an item is not produced in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or is not of satisfactory quality, as provided in 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(2)(B). FTA cannot deny a waiver request unless it can give the requester a written certification that the item is made domestically in sufficient quantity, is of satisfactory quality, and is available from a listed U.S. manufacturer, per 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(6)(A).

The Sprinter fleet and the parts shortfall

North County Transit District owns and operates the Sprinter light rail service, a 22-mile line from Oceanside to Escondido in San Diego County, California, with 15 passenger stations. Its fleet consists of 12 Siemens Desiro series DMUs procured in 2003 under a previous Buy America waiver. On 10 April 2025, NCTD issued a solicitation for 27 kinds of replacement parts for those vehicles; a single bidder responded, representing that it could comply with Buy America for 12 of the specified parts and could not comply for the other 15.

The key figures in the case are:

• Fleet: 12 Siemens Desiro DMUs, procured in 2003.
• Line: 22 miles, Oceanside to Escondido, 15 passenger stations.
• Solicitation: 27 part types, of which 12 were Buy America compliant and 15 were not.
• Supplier scouting opportunity number: 2025-368.

Scouting found no domestic manufacturers

After the solicitation, NCTD submitted a supplier scouting opportunity through the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership, in compliance with section 70916(c) of the Build America, Buy America Act (Public Law 117-58, 15 November 2021). The partnership identified no manufacturer matches for the opportunity. FTA had previously waived the Buy America requirements for certain replacement parts for the same DMU vehicles in 2016 (81 FR 89570, 12 December 2016).

Comment period and finding

On 30 June 2026, FTA published in the Federal Register a request for comments on a proposal to waive Buy America for the specific replacement parts not produced in the United States (91 FR 39665). FTA received no comments during the 15-day comment period. The agency found that the replacement parts identified in its June 2026 notice are not produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality, and granted the waiver as proposed. The notice is signed by Matthew B. Cahill, Acting Deputy Administrator; Jaamal Jennings, FTA Attorney-Advisor, is listed as the contact for further information.

The waiver matters because without it NCTD could not use federal transit funds to buy the 15 parts, leaving the maintenance of a 12-vehicle fleet that serves 15 stations exposed. It also shows how the waiver mechanism works in practice: a documented domestic-supply search through the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership is what allows a transit agency to source abroad when no American maker steps forward.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 191, 5 October 2026, Notices, p. 63383 (official reference: FR Doc. 2026-20358; Docket No. FTA-2026-0133).