Federal procurement: better guidance and monitoring needed to assess purchases of environmentally friendly products
| Published date | 01 March 2003 |
| Pages | 390-415 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-03-03-2003-B004 |
| Date | 01 March 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3, 390-415 2003
SELECTED REPRINT
FEDERAL PROCUREMENT: BETTER GUIDANCE AND
MONITORING NEEDED TO ASSESS PURCHASES OF
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRODUCTS
U. S. General Accounting Office*
ABSTRACT. The federal government buys about $200 million worth of goods
and services each year. Through its purchasing decisions, the federal
government can signal its commitment to preventing pollution, reducing solid
waste, increasing recycling, and stimulating markets for environmentally
friendly products. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
(RCRA) directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify
products made with recycled waste materials or solid waste by-products and to
develop guidance for purchasing these products. The act also requires procuring
agencies to establish programs for purchasing them. This report examines efforts
by federal agencies to (1) implementation of RCRA requirements for procuring
products with recycled content and (2) the purchase of environmentally
preferable and bio-based products. EPA accelerated its efforts in the 1990s to
identify recycled-content products, but the status of agencies' efforts to
implement the RCRA purchasing requirements for these products is uncertain.
The four major procuring agencies report that, for many reasons, their
procurement practices have not changed to increase their purchases of
environmentally preferable and bio-based products. One reason for the lack of
change is that EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been slow to
develop and implement the programs.
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* Reprinted from a June 2001, U.S. General Accounting Office Report (GAO-
01-430). Several modifications are made, including endnotes, references, and
moving “Scope and Methodology” to the text. Moreover, several sections were
left out, including its transmittal letter.
Copyright © 2003 by PrAcademics Press
PURCHASES OF ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRODUCTS 391
BACKGROUND
The use of federal procurement to promote environmental goals has
gained increasing emphasis since the 1976 RCRA legislation. Under
RCRA section 6002, each procuring agency1 purchasing more than
$10,000 of an item (in a fiscal year) that EPA has designated as available
with recycled content must have an affirmative procurement program in
place. This program is to ensure that the agency purchases recycled-
content products to the maximum extent practicable. This requirement
applies both to purchases made directly by the agency and to purchases
made indirectly by their contractors and grantees.
To comply with RCRA and the executive order, an agency's
affirmative procurement program must consist of four elements:
- A preference program that requires the agency to institute practices
and procedures favoring the specification and procurement of
recycled-content products;
- Internal and external programs to actively promote the purchase
program for recycled-content products;
- Procedures for obtaining pre-award estimates and post-award
certifications of recovered materials content in the products to be
supplied under any contracts over $100,000 and, where appropriate,
reasonably verifying those estimates and certifications; and
- Procedures for monitoring and annually reviewing the effectiveness
of the affirmative procurement program to ensure the use of the
highest practicable percentage of recycled--content materials
available.
The 1998 executive order strengthened the RCRA requirements for
an effective affirmative procurement program for recycled-content
products and added two new product types--environmentally preferable
products and biobased products. The 1998 executive order further
clarified some previous requirements and defined more clearly the duties
of the Federal Environmental Executive and the responsibilities of
agency environmental executives in implementing certain initiatives and
actions to further encourage the "greening" of the government through
federal procurement. The order did not require agencies to purchase
environmentally preferable and biobased products, but
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