Policies and Regulations - Information Letter 90-01-1

90-01-1 Greening the Federal Government Executive Orders Implemented in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Department of Veterans Affairs
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Materiel Management
Washington DC 20420

IL 90-01-1
November 8, 2000

Office of Acquisition and Materiel Management Information Letter

1. This letter emphasizes VA's commitment to comply with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the goals of Executive Order 13101, Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition; Executive Order 13123, Greening the Government Through Efficient Energy Management; and Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 23, which provides guidance on acquiring Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), designated products.   Executive Orders may be accessed at http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/WH/Publications/html/Publications.html.
2. The RCRA requires all Federal agencies to revise their procurement programs to purchase designated Environmentally Preferred Products.   Environmentally Preferable Products (EPP) items are products that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared to other products and services that serve the same purpose.   Multiple attributes may be considered when purchasing environmentally preferable products, including energy use, conservation of resources, and others.   VA is also required to purchase of Comprehensive Procurement Guideline (CPG) items, which incorporate waste prevention and recycling in daily operations while working to increase and expand markets for recovered materials.
3. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designates products that are or can be made with recovered materials, and recommends practices for buying these products.   Once a product is designated, procuring agencies are required to purchase it with the highest recovered material content level practicable.   EPP and CPG items may be found at www.epa.gov/cpg. Within 1 year after EPA designates an item in the CPG, RCRA Section 6002(i) requires each procuring agency purchasing more than $10,000 of that item, or functionally equivalent items, in a fiscal year, to establish an affirmative procurement program for that item. These laws also apply to items purchased at or below the micro-purchase threshold.
4. The FAR directs agencies to implement cost-effective contracting preference programs favoring the acquisition of energy efficient products that are in the upper 25 percent of energy-efficiency.   Executive Order 13123 was issued to improve energy management in order to save taxpayer dollars and reduce emissions that contribute to air pollution and global climate change.   Through life cycle cost-effective measures, each agency shall reduce energy consumption per gross square foot of its facilities, excluding facilities covered in section 203 of the order, by 30 percent by 2005 and 35 percent by 2010.   No facility will be exempt from these goals unless they meet the new criteria for exemptions as issued by DOE.   Therefore, VA shall select life cycle cost-effective, ENERGY STAR and other energy-efficient products when acquiring energy using products. For product groups where ENERGY STAR labels are not yet available, VA shall select products that are in the upper 25 percent of energy efficiency as designated by Federal Energy Management Programs (FEMP).
5. VA must incorporate energy-efficient criteria consistent with ENERGY STAR and other FEMP-designated energy efficiency levels into all guide specifications and project specifications developed for new construction and renovation (including Energy Savings Performance Contracts), as well as into product specification language developed for Basic Ordering Agreements, Blanket Purchasing Agreements, Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts, and all other purchasing procedures.   In addition, when developing plans, drawings, work statements, specifications, or other product descriptions, agencies are required to consider, as appropriate, a broad range of factors including elimination of virgin material requirements; use of biobased products; use of recovered materials; reuse of product; life cycle cost; recyclability; use of environmentally preferable products; waste prevention (including toxicity reduction or elimination); and ultimate disposal.   These factors should be considered in acquisition planning for all procurements and in the evaluation and award of contracts, as appropriate.   Program and acquisition managers should take an active role in these activities and it is the responsibility of contracting officers, credit card holders, requesting end users, facility recycling coordinators, environmental management staff and materiel management staff to ensure that VA complies with required laws and Executive Orders.
6. The Office of Acquisition and Materiel Management recognizes the importance of effective energy management, environmentally preferable purchasing and the importance of contributing to the health of the environment by doing everything we can to reduce waste, recycle, and buy products that are favorable to the environment.   If you have any questions relative to the environmental policy please contact Sabina Khadka, Environmental Program Specialist (92A) (202) 273-6088.   Questions relative to contracting may be directed to Patricia Ellis, Procurement Analyst (95A) (202) 273-8815.

/s/David S. Derr
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Acquisitions

Distribution:   RPC 7029