Waiver category
De Minimis Waiver
A general applicability public interest waiver that agencies may adopt for infrastructure purchases below a de minimis threshold. OMB gives the example of five percent of applicable project costs up to a maximum of $1,000,000, where applicable project costs are the material costs subject to the Buy America preference.
The objective test
Cumulative cost of non-domestic components is 5% or less of total material cost.
What the applicant must show
Non-domestic content cumulatively falls at or below the de minimis threshold (example: 5 percent of applicable project costs, capped at $1,000,000).
A waiver is not compliance
An item that fails its standard but matches this category is marked waiver-eligible in a determination. That is a prompt to assemble the evidence and file the request with the funding agency, not a green light to use the item. Treating waiver-eligible as a pass is exactly what shows up in an audit.
Run a determinationOther waiver categories