If the experience of the Steamship Authority is any guide, perhaps the slogan for the federal government’s stimulus program should be “hurry up and wait.”

For the money intended to speed up new infrastructure projects now threatens to delay three SSA projects by as much as a year.

The boat line is in line for $5 million in funding for three projects: the first phase of work on its Hyannis slip, the continuation of phase two of its Oak Bluffs terminal reconstruction project, and some work on its Woods Hole terminal.

That is the good news. The less good news, as the SSA’s general manager, Wayne Lamson explained at the boat line’s last board meeting, is that the boat line is having difficulty meeting all bureaucratic requirements of getting the money.

There are a couple of problems. For one, there is a Buy American provision which relates to all projects receiving stimulus money.

This comes into play with the Hyannis project. There was one product the SSA’s contractors planned to bring in from China — the rubber fenders the boats bump into.

Those fenders fit steel frames, and for the sake of cost and efficiency, the idea was to have the fenders manufactured with the steel frames, in China.

Now that cannot happen. The contractor will still be able to buy the rubber in China, but will have to ship it here to have it assembled with more expensive steel frames in the U.S., because the steel has be bought here.

And, so, as Mr. Lamson told his board: “We have started the process for rebidding the Hyannis slip improvements project...”

He said one bidder had suggested the buy American provision would add about $400,000 to the cost of the work.

But that is only the half of it. The other problem is that the Hyannis project includes a new transfer bridge. Well, it’s just a ramp really, that moveable ramp over which cars and trucks drive to get onto the ferries.

But presumably because the specifications call it a bridge and not a ramp, federal highways bureaucrats have got involved.

And so, as Mr. Lamson reported: “Our engineers for the project, Fay, Spofford and Thorndike, are also re-analyzing their calculations to determine whether the design of the transfer bridge meets federal highway load resistance factor design criteria for bridges.”

If the transfer bridge does pass muster, he said, the SSA hopes to open bids for the project on July 29.

“Which,” Mr. Lamson said, “will hopefully be soon enough for the contractor to place its order for the steel pipe piles that are needed for the project.”

But that is not certain. Apparently, those steel piles are not available just anytime. They are made only a few times each year, the next rolling is in August, and they are apportioned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Said Mr. Lamson: “If the contractor cannot obtain the pipe piles within the next few months . . . we will have to postpone the entire project a year.

“Further, because all three projects are tied together for federal funding purposes, a delay of the Hyannis project may also result in postponing the Oak Bluffs and Woods Hole projects.”

Bids for those projects are due to be opened on July 23.

Now, it may come to pass that the wheels of federal bureaucracy move quickly, and the projects can still go ahead on schedule. But members of the management and board of the SSA are not allowing themselves a lot of optimism.

As one noted: “This is only a $5 million project among hundreds and hundreds of projects.”

“And we’ve been told only about six per cent of the stimulus money has been disbursed so far.”