Verifying Delivery of Sustainable Products and Services
Overview
This module is intended for the acquisition workforce (particularly procurement officials, requirement officials/specifiers, and other staff who affect acquisition decisions) to help verify contractor compliance with sustainability requirements specified in contracts. Both pre-award procurement actions for incorporating sustainability best practices into the contract and post-award procurement actions for verifying compliance with contract requirements are covered. For information on determining what sustainable requirements are applicable for your procurement, visit the Green Procurement Compilation.
Pre-Award Procurement Actions
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- To facilitate verification of sustainability standards after award, ensure a contractor is required to submit product documentation verifying compliance with sustainable requirements. Some sustainability standards (visit Resources for Verifying Sustainable Products) require the product to be third party certified and provide a database showing compliant products. As a general guideline, give preference for products with detailed information regarding their sustainable attributes (for example, environmental product declaration, multi-attribute sustainability label) or products providing independent verification of sustainable attributes. Preferable is third-party certified product documentation, but the manufacturer can also document which sustainability requirements the product meets. While material safety data sheets (MSDS) may contain information regarding sustainable attributes, these documents are usually not designed to capture specific sustainability requirements. Product documentation verifying compliance with sustainable requirements should only be required once from the contractor for new products submitted on the contract, but timely updates may be helpful and welcome.
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- If waste management is included in the statement of work (for example, janitorial contracts, construction or demolition contracts), ensure language is included requiring documentation showing compliance with all waste diversion requirements (for example, management hauling receipt, certificate of recycling). Consider requiring third party certified construction or demolition waste recyclers. Required waste management documentation should be identified in the contract, so contractors understand the documentation they will need to show waste management compliance. For accurate waste diversion measurement, require the waste hauler to provide weights (and not volumes) of materials disposed and recycled. See the Sample Janitorial Services Contract on the Green Procurement Compilation for sample statement of work language.
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- On construction projects, specify in the scope of work for construction administration/management services that the contractor must verify compliance with sustainable product requirements during the construction phase of the project. Including such language will reduce the verification burden on the government project team members during post-award phase of construction projects.
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- Project teams can establish a naming convention that specifies how project submittals (for example, product documentation) will identify if products are sustainable according to the contractual requirements. For example, project teams could require that contractors add the suffix “-sustainable” at the end of every sustainable product submittal.
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- When doing a best value source selection, consider incorporating criteria within a past performance or management plan evaluation factor that evaluates the contractor’s previous performance in complying with sustainable requirements or the contractor’s plan for providing sustainable products and services on the current procurement. Selecting a contractor that has implemented sustainability requirements well in the past or provides a good plan for providing sustainable products and services on the current procurement helps ensure sustainability requirements will be successfully implemented. For examples of sustainable product and other sustainability source selection criteria, visit the Green Procurement Compilation
Post-Award Procurement Actions
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- Verify that final deliverables (such as, design, study, etc.) have incorporated sustainability requirements.
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- Verify that product documentation or project submittals provided by contractors show compliance with all sustainable requirements. See the Resources for Verifying Sustainable Products page for further guidance. If there are too many product documents or project submittals to verify every one, random sampling can be used for verification.
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- Verify that waste management hauling receipts show compliance with all waste management requirements. If there are too many waste management hauling receipts to verify every one, random sampling can be used for verification.
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- Take reasonable steps to validate the completeness and accuracy of any contractor submitted sustainability reports (for example, biobased report required by Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.223-2, Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products Under Service and Construction Contracts). Reasonable steps can include comparing the data submitted in the sustainability report with the sustainability products that would be expected as part of contract’s performance requirements.
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- Take a look at the Responsible Business Conduct page for Post-Award Procurement Actions.
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- When the contractor has not complied with one or more of the sustainability requirements in the contract (for example, environmental requirements, social sustainability requirements), document this non-compliance as part of the performance evaluation.
Resources for Verifying Sustainable Products
Visit Resources for Verifying Sustainable Products for guidance on determining whether documentation provided by the contractor confirms the product or service meets the sustainable requirements included in the contract.
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