Upon a proper showing by any State that, either all needed improvements on extensions of the Federal-aid highway system into and through municipalities can be completed with an expenditure less than 25 percent of the State's apportionment, or that municipal authorities are unable or unwilling to obtain the necessary rights-of-way for needed improvement, or for other reasons satisfactory to him, the Secretary may revise the above percentage for use within municipalities with reference to such State.

(c) The reconstruction of existing facilities which, in the opinion of the Secretary, are adequate for traffic shall not be considered needed improvements. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF PROPOSED ASSIGNMENT OF APPORTIONMENT

SEC. 4. Each State highway department shall submit for approval to the Secretary, and through him to the Special Board for Public Works, a preliminary statement showing the proposed assignment of the State's apportionment not covered by preliminary statements heretofore approved to: (1) The Federal-aid highway system outside of municipalities; (2) extensions of the Federal-aid highway system into and through municipalities; and (3) secondary or feeder roads. This statement shall list the counties or political subdivisions in which projects to be submitted will be located. A project or projects of one or more of the defined classifications shall be provided from funds apportioned under said act of June 16, 1933, in at least 75 percent of all counties of the State and from funds apportioned under said act of June 18, 1934, in at least 50 percent of all counties of the State, unless it be shown in either case (1) that the number of counties in which need of employment exists constitutes a smaller percentage of the total, or (2) that needed and suitable road-construction projects cannot be found in that percentage of the total number of counties. In selecting counties in which projects are to be located, consideration shall be given to the relative need for employment in such counties.

DETAILED PROGRAMS OF PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION-PRIORITY OF PROJECTS

SEC. 5. Concurrently with the submission of the preliminary statement, in whole or in part, each State highway department shall submit in tabular form detailed programs of proposed construction of each of the three classes of projects enumerated in the foregoing section, indicating the county, termini, the proposed character of the work, the estimated cost, and the amount of Federal funds desired. The program of secondary or feeder roads shall be subdivided to show separately the proposed projects which are located on the designated State highway system and those which are not. These programs shall be accompanied by Federal-aid progress maps, indicating in diagrammatic form the location of projects covered by the program, their classification, and estimated cost. The three programs may be submitted independently and may be so approved in whole or in part. Excepting minor additions to programs made possible by contract costs being less than estimated costs, or by small balances otherwise available, no program will be considered for projects involving less than 25 percent of a State's apportionment.

To provide a program of projects which may be put under way at once, the initial program submitted may be for approximately 25 percent of the apportionment of June 19, 1934, and be made up of projects in one or more of the above categories.

In the selection of projects to be included in these programs priority shall be given in the following order to: (a) The closing of gaps in the Federal-aid highway system; (b) the elimination of hazards to highway traffic, such as the separation of grades at crossings, the reconstruction of existing railroad gradecrossings structures, the relocation of highways to eliminate railroad crossings, the widening of narrow bridges and roadways, the building of footpaths, the replacement of unsafe bridges, the construction of routes to avoid congested areas, and the construction of facilities to improve accessibility and the free flow of traffic: (c) the construction or reconstruction of projects of particular benefit or service to other agencies of the Government; (d) the correlating and supplementing of existing transportation facilities by road, rail, air, and water, and providing of service to freight-receiving stations, airports, and emergency landing fields; (e) the appropriate landscaping of parkways or roadsides on a reasonably extensive mileage involving not less than 1 percent of the total appor

tionment to each State; (f) reconstruction designed to reduce maintenance cost and decrease future State and local highway expenditures; (g) providing a large number of small projects designed to employ the maximum of human labor. A substantial program of railroad grade-crossing eliminations and/or railroad grade-crossing protection will be required.

Any proposed undertaking of surveys, plans, and engineering investigations of projects for future construction will be programmed under the general category of "highway planning projects," and an allotment not exceeding 11⁄2 percent of the amount apportioned to any State by the Secretary's certificate of June 19, 1934, may be authorized for such projects.

The Secretary and the Board reserve the right to require the construction of roads desired by the Federal Coordinator of Transportation and the Interstate Commerce Commission to provide adequate year-round highway service in replacement of branch-line railroad service abandoned or proposed to be abandoned and such other projects as in the judgment of the Secretary are necessary to serve Federal establishments or activities.

SURVEYS, PLANS, AND SPECIFICATIONS-PAYMENT OF ENGINEERING COSTS SEC. 6. Surveys and plans, specifications, and estimates for all projects in each State shall be prepared under the immediate direction of the State highway department, and the construction involved shall be under the immediate supervision of the State highway department. Funds apportioned shall not be available for the payment of any portion of the cost of surveys and plans undertaken prior to the approval of the act of June 16, 1933. Payment will be made of the actual expenditures for surveys and plans on Public Works highway projects and Public Works municipal highway projects only upon a showing by the State that the revenues available to the State for such purposes are insufficient to pay such costs. Payment may be made of the actual cost of surveys and plans for Public Works secondary highway projects. Payment may be made of the actual cost of construction and engineering and inspection on all projects. Payment for engineering services will not be made on a percentage basis.

Each State shall maintain at its own expense a State highway department having adequate powers and suitably equipped and organized to discharge to the satisfaction of the Secretary the duties required by these rules and regulations. No part of the cost of surveys, plans, and engineering supervision of construction will be paid to any State which restricts employment of engineers on such work to residents of the State.

HIGHWAY PLANNING PROJECTS

SEC. 7. Proposed surveys, plans, and engineering investigations of projects for future construction, pursuant to section 11 of the act approved June 18, 1934 (H. R. 8781), shall be initiated by the State highway departments in the same manner as other projects by the submission of a project statement and, if approved by the Secretary, the work may be prosecuted under a project agreement. Such project agreement may be modified or reopened to provide for constructing any such project. This section does not apply to surveys, plans, or engineering investigations of projects included in the program of projects to be financed from Public Works highway funds, but only to projects included in future programs for which Federal funds have not yet been apportioned to the States.

ADVERTISEMENT AND AWARD OF CONTRACTS

SEC. 8. Before contract is awarded for any project bids shall be requested by advertisement inserted once a week for 2 weeks in such newspapers and/or other publications as will insure adequate publicity, the second insertions of such advertisement to follow 1 week after the date of the first publication thereof. The advertisement shall require the bids to be submitted and opened 2 weeks after the date of the first publication of the advertisement, and award to the lowest and best bidder shall be made within a reasonable time after the opening of the bids.

The procedure outlined in this section is designed to expedite placing projects under construction, and shall be optional with the State highway departments,

CONTRACTS AND CONSTRUCTION

SEC. 9. All contracts for the construction of highways under this act shall require the contractor to furnish all materials entering into the work, and no requirement shall be contained in any contract in any State providing price differentials for, or restricting the use of materials to, those produced within the State. No bid will be accepted from any contractor who is not complying with the applicable approved code of fair competition adopted under title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act for the trade or industry or subdivision thereof concerned or, if there be no such approved code of fair competition, who has not signed or is not complying with the provisions of the President's Reemployment Agreement. In case of conflict between such codes and these regulations or special provisions issued under the authority thereof, the regulations and special provisions shall govern. Materials purchased from commercial sources and incorporated in the work shall be produced under codes of fair competition approved under title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act, or under the President's Reemployment Agreement.

The invitation for bids, the award of contracts, and all contract or special provisions shall comply strictly with all of the requirements of the President's Executive Order (No. 6646) of March 14, 1934.

CONVICT LABOR

SEC. 10. No convict labor shall be employed and no materials manufactured or produced by convict labor shall be used on any project constructed under these rules and regulations.

WAGES OF LABOR

SEC. 11. (a) All contracts for the construction of highways under this act shall prescribe the minimum rates of wages, as predetermined by the State highway department, which contractors shall pay to the different classes of labor, and such minimum rates shall be stated also in the advertisement for bids and in proposals or bids which may be submitted. The wage rates so determined shall be a minimum rate for unskilled labor, a minimum rate for labor, intermediate grade, and a minimum rate for skilled labor. The classification of labor employed on highway work into the three classes mentioned shall be in accordance with instructions issued by the Bureau of Public Roads. Such wages shall be just and reasonable compensation sufficient to provide, for the hours of labor as limited, a standard of living in decency and comfort. (b) All contracts for the construction of projects under this act shall require that the wages of all labor shall be paid in legal tender of the United States. This condition will be considered satisfied if payment is made by a negotiable check, on a solvent bank, which may be readily cashed by the employee in the immediate community for the full amount, without discount or collection charges of any kind. All contracts for the construction of projects under this act shall contain a provision that no deduction from the wages of any laborer shall be allowed on account of goods purchased or obligations incurred in any commissary or store owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the contractor. Obligations so incurred shall be subject to collection only in the same manner in which obligations incurred in the ordinary course of business are collectible.

PREFERENCE IN EMPLOYMENT OF LABOR

SEC. 12. Contracts for all projects under this act shall contain stipulations that in the employment of labor preference shall be given, (1) to ex-service men with dependents, who are bona fide residents of the political subdivision and/or county in which the work is to be performed; (2) to citizens of the United States and aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens, who are bona fide residents of the political subdivision and/or county in which the work is to be performed; (3) to other ex-service men with dependents, who are bona fide residents of the State in which the work is to be performed; and (4) to citizens of the United States and aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens, who are bona fide residents of the State in which the work is to be performed: Provided, That these preferences shall apply only where such labor is available and qualified to perform the work to which the employment relates.

HOURS OF LABOR

SEC. 13. Contracts for all projects under this act shall contain a stipulation that (except in executive, administrative, and supervisory positions), so far as practicable and feasible, no individual shall be permitted to work more than 30 hours in any one week. This requirement shall be construed, (a) to permit working time lost because of inclement weather or unavoidable delays during the period of employment in any one week, to be made up in the succeeding week or weeks of the same calendar month; and (b) to permit a limitation of not more than 130 hours' work in any one calendar month to be substituted in the contract for the requirement of not more than 30 hours' work in any one week on projects in localities where a sufficient amount of labor is not available in the immediate vicinity of the work and unemployment has been absorbed in the area of the work. It shall not be considered practicable and feasible to apply either of these limitations to work located at points so remote and so inaccessible that camps are necessary for the housing and boarding of all of the labor employed on the work, as determined by the State highway department with the approval of the district engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads and the Director of the United States Employment Service prior to advertisement: Provided, however, That on all such isolated projects no individual shall be permitted to work more than 8 hours in any one day or more than 40 hours in any one week.

HUMAN LABOR IN LIEU OF MACHINERY

SEC. 14. In order to give effect to the provisions of this act it will be required that the maximum of human labor be used in lieu of machinery wherever practicable and consistent with sound economy and public advantage.

CERTIFIED PAY ROLLS TO BE FURNISHED

SEC. 15. The specifications for each project shall contain special provisions which shall be in conformity with instructions issued by the Bureau of Public Roads for carrying into effect the stipulations required by these rules and regulations, which provisions shall include a requirement that the contractor shall promptly furnish to the State highway department copies of each pay roll certified under oath by the contractor or his authorized representative. Such copies shall be available for inspection by the Secretary and the Special Board for Public Works, or their authorized representatives.

FUNDS MAY BE USED TO MATCH FEDERAL-AID FUNDS

SEC. 16. Public Works highway funds apportioned to the State highway departments under the act of June 18, 1934, for the emergency construction of highways may be used in lieu of State funds to match unobligated balances of apportionments heretofore made of regular Federal-aid authorizations, and such regular Federal aid, so matched, may be used to the maximum extent legally permissible in the construction and reconstruction of projects on the Federal-aid highway system.

DESIGNATION OF EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

SEC. 17. All contracts for work to be done under these regulations shall provide that labor required for such projects and appropriately to be secured through local employment services shall be selected from qualified workers referred by employment agencies designated by the United States Employment Service and in accordance with instructions issued.

SUBLETTING OR SUBCONTRACTING

SEC. 18. All contracts for projects under this act shall contain suitable stipulations designed to insure that not less than 80 percent of the work embraced in the contract, exclusive of items not commonly found in contracts for similar work, or which require highly specialized knowledge, craftsmanship, and/or equipment not ordinarily available in contracting organizations which perform work of the character embraced in the contract, shall be performed by the contractor with his own organization: Provided, That a procedure may be approved whereby a contractor who states in his proposal a particular Item or items which he proposes to sublet, and names the subcontractor to

whom he proposes to sublet such work, may, if such item or items do not constitute the major item or items of the contract, have such work performed by the subcontractor named notwithstanding the above limitation.

USE OF DOMESTIC MATERIALS

SEC. 19. All contracts for projects under this act shall provide that in the performance of the work the contractor, subcontractors, material producers, or suppliers shall use only such unmanufactured articles, materials, and supplies as have been mined or produced in the United States, and only such manufactured articles, materials, and supplies as have been manufactured in the United States substantially all from articles, materials, or supplies mined, produced, or manufactured, as the case may be, in the United States, unless articles, materials, or supplies of the class or kind to be used, or the articles, materials, or supplies from which they are manufactured are not mined, produced, or manufactured, as the case may be, in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality: Provided, however, That if a State highway department shall find that in respect to some particular articles, materials, or supplies it is impracticable to make such requirement, or that it would unreasonably increase the cost, an exception, with the approval of the Bureau of Public Roads, shall be noted in the specifications as to those particular articles, materials, or supplies, and a public record shall be made of the findings which justified the exception.

DIRECT LABOR OR FORCE ACCOUNT PROJECTS

SEC. 20. Any work done by direct labor or force account under this act shall be subject to these rules and regulations. All materials used on such work must comply with approved specifications and be purchased under competitive bids, except that for minor quantities of materials, which may be obtained locally from a number of independent sources, the receipt by the State of letter quotations from not less than three local dealers will be considered as sufficient means to insure economy and efficiency in the corresponding expenditure of funds. Published advertisements shall be employed in the purchase of any large quantities of materials.

APPROVAL OF PLANS BY DISTRICT ENGINEER

SEC. 21. When in the opinion of the district engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads, a State shall have filed a complete project statement for a project and complete plans, specifications, and estimates therefor, or for any part thereof, the district engineer may authorize advertisement of such project, or of such part thereof, and/or may recommend approval of such plans, specifications, and estimates, but shall not concur in the award of any contract until after the project statement has been approved. No contract for any such project, or part thereof, shall be entered into or award therefor made by any State without prior concurrence in such action by the district engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads. Approval will not be given to any procedure or requirement designed to prevent the award of contracts to qualified contractors nonresident of the State in which the work is located.

MAINTENANCE OF SECONDARY OR FEEDER ROAD PROJECTS

SEC. 22. Project agreements for secondary- or feeder-road projects shall provide for the maintenance of such projects by the State where the law permits the State to undertake such maintenance; otherwise the State shall submit, in the form prescribed by the Secretary, an agreement with the county or other political subdivision for such maintenance.

MAINTENANCE OF EXTENSIONS THROUGH MUNICIPALITIES

SEC. 23. Project agreements for projects on extensions of the Federal-aid highway system into and through municipalities shall provide for the maintenance of such projects by the State where the law permits the State to undertake such maintenance; otherwise the State shall submit in the form prescribed by the Secretary, an agreement with the municipality or other political subdivision for such maintenance.