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12-02

Procurement Information Circular

 

February 22, 2012

 

SUSTAINABLE ACQUISITION REPORTING

 

PURPOSE:  To provide policy guidance on reporting sustainable acquisition procurements in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) and collecting data for semiannual reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on NASA’s sustainable acquisition performance. 

 

BACKGROUND:  FAR 23.1 requires 95 percent of all applicable new contract actions include sustainability requirements, such as procuring products which are: (1) biobased; (2) energy and water-efficient; (3) made with recovered/recycled materials; and/or (4) environmentally preferable.  Applicable contract actions include awards of contracts, purchase orders, delivery and task orders as well as contract modifications which add new work.

 

As stated in FAR 23.103(b), the 95 percent goal applies to--

   1.  Direct purchases, e.g., the purchase of office furniture, or when products are separately identified line items in a solicitation or contract;

 

   2.  Purchases made by the contractor under a service or construction contract for products used in performing services at a federally-controlled facility, e.g., biobased cleaning products for use on a janitorial contract or recycled building insulation for use on a construction contract.  In cases  where the contractor is acquiring the product to be used on the contract, even though it is not a direct procurement of a product, contractors may still be required to purchase sustainable products by explicit requirement contained in specifications, standards, or statements of work;

 

   3.  Products that are furnished by the contractor for use by the Government, e.g., computers supplied for the use under NASA’s desktop support contract.  To assist agencies in collecting data measuring progress towards the sustainable acquisition goal, an existing field in FPDS was revised to add additional choices in the drop down menu.  The revised field was renamed from “Recovered Materials Clauses” to “Recovered Materials/Sustainability.”  The FPDS data will be used by NASA for required reporting to OMB, specifically for the Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan (SSPP) and the OMB Scorecard.  

 

GUIDANCE:

 

1.  Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) Reporting

 

NASA Form (NF) 1707, Special Approvals and Affirmations for Requisitions, Section 2, requires request originators to review the Federal environmental programs and document if they apply to the procurement, if they will be met, or if a waiver is provided.  As specified in NPR 8530.1, the center environmental organization is also available to provide support to both the CO and request originator on the applicability of environmental program.

Using the NF 1707 as a guide, COs shall screen procurement requirements to determine if any of the environmental programs apply, place the appropriate FAR provisions and clauses in solicitations and contracts, and accurately record sustainable acquisition activity in FPDS.  These actions are crucial for NASA to meet the 95 percent sustainable acquisition goal.  As part of their responsibilities, COs must be familiar with the FAR Part 23.1 Sustainable Acquisition Policy and the various Federal environmental programs, such as energy-efficient, use of recovered materials and biobased products, and environmentally preferable products.  COs must have sufficient knowledge of Federal environmental programs to provide guidance to the request originators regarding the acquisition of these products and to ensure sustainable acquisition is properly coded in FPDS. 

Effective in October 2011, the General Services Administration/ Integrated Acquisition Environment (GSA/IAE) revised FPDS to collect additional data related to sustainable acquisition.  Section 2 below lists the FPDS Recovered Materials/Sustainability FPDS Data Element Choices and provides a description of the related Federal sustainable acquisition programs.  Working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), GSA/IAE is developing a standard report which center environmental and procurement organizations will be able to use to obtain data on their center’s sustainable acquisition performance.  When it becomes available, centers are encouraged to use this report to measure their progress on a regular basis as part of their self-assessments, and to make any corrections necessary to improve performance prior to the semiannual OMB reporting.

2.  Guidance on Inputting Sustainable Acquisition Data into FPDS

 

There are four Federal sustainable acquisition programs in FAR Part 23 that cover different categories of products.  Below is a chart showing the Recovered Materials/Sustainability FPDS Data Element Choices, followed by general guidance on what the programs cover so that the buyer can match the program with the titles used in the chart above.  It should be noted the environmentally preferable program does not have a unique FAR clause.

 

Code

Short Description

Long Description

A

 FAR 52.223-4 Recovered Material Certification

 

The solicitation included the provision at

FAR 52.223-4, Recovered Material

Certification.

B

FAR 52.223-4, Recovered Material1 Certification and

52.223-9, Estimate of Percentage of Recovered Material Content

for EPA-Designated Products

FAR 52.223-4, Recovered Material

Certification and the contract includes the

clause at FAR 52.223-9, Estimate of

Percentage of Recovered Material Content

for EPA-Designated Products.

C

No Clauses Included and No

Sustainability Included

Neither clause is included in the contract.

D

Energy efficient 2

Energy efficient.

E

Bio-based3

Bio-based

F

Environmentally preferable 4

Environmentally preferable

G

FAR 52.223-4 & energy efficient

FAR 52.223-4 & energy efficient.

H

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based.

I

FAR 52.223-4 & environmentally

preferable

FAR 52.223-4 & environmentally

preferable

J

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based & energy

efficient

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based & energy

efficient.

K

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based &

environmentally preferable

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based &

environmentally preferable

L

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based & energy efficient & environmentally preferable

FAR 52.223-4 & bio-based & energy

efficient & environmentally preferable

 

1 EPA-designated, Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) or Recovered/Recycled Products, associated with clause 52.223-4:  Typically applies to contracts for operation and maintenance (O&M) of facilities, construction, or supply contracts that acquire the products listed at http://www.epa.gov/cpg/products.htm.

 

2 Energy-Efficient:  Applies to contracts for information technology hardware, appliances, lighting, building fixtures, and so forth.  Use with 52.223-15, Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products.  This includes the following programs:  ENERGY STAR® at http://www.energystar.gov/products;  Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/procurement/eep_requirements.html ,  and WaterSense®   http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/products/index.html.

 

3 USDA-Designated, Biobased or Biopreferred Products:  Applies to O&M, construction or supply contracts that acquire the products listed at http://www.biopreferred.gov/ProductCategories.aspx.   Use with clause, 52.223-2 Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products under Service and Construction Contracts.

 

4 Environmentally Preferable:  Environmentally preferable means "products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. This comparison applies to raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, use, reuse, operation, maintenance, and disposal.   See FAR 23.7 and the EPP web page at http://www.epa.gov/epp/pubs/products/index.htm.  Products include electronic products with Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-registration, e.g., IT hardware; EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program has a list of safe alternatives to ozone-depleting substances at http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap ). Use with clauses 52.223-10, Waste Reduction Program, and 52.223-16, IEEE 1680 Standard for the Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products.  Also use if the specs or SOW call for non-toxic or less toxic alternatives to hazardous substances.

 

3.  OMB Reporting

 

Typically, the SSPP is due in June and the OMB Scorecard is due in January.  These timeframes are for reference only as OMB may make adjustments.  The Headquarter Environmental Management Division (EMD) prepares and submits these reports to OMB on behalf of NASA.  Upon request from EMD, each center procurement office will provide the data available through FPDS, e.g., applicable contract actions and which sustainable acquisition fields apply to the actions, or provide the standard FPDS report when that becomes available.  For any manual file reviews, the procurements offices will assist environmental personal by providing access to contract files and staff to respond to procurement questions. 

RELATED FAR/NFS PART:  Parts 23 and 1823.

CLAUSE CHANGES:  No FAR or NFS clauses or clause prescriptions are impacted by this PIC.

 

CANCELLATION:  This PIC supersedes PIC 08-04, Environmental Reporting, dated February 15, 2008, and PIC 01-27, Applicability of Affirmative Procurement, dated October 16, 2001.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This PIC is effective as dated and will remain in effect until canceled or superseded. 

 

HEADQUARTERS CONTACT:  Marilyn E. Chambers, Contract Management Division, (202) 358-5154, email: marilyn.chambers@nasa.gov.

 

        /s/

Ronald A. Poussard

Director, Contract Management Division

 

DISTRIBUTION:

   PIC List