This action is in response to a Mar. 2015 Executive Order (EO) 13693 directing EPA to provide federal purchasers with recommendations of specifications, standards, and ecolabels to use in identifying and procuring environmentally preferable products and services.
The interim recommendations include standards and ecolabels for cafeteria services, construction, custodial, electronics, grounds landscaping, office operations, as well as fleets and shipping. Construction specific recommendations focus on adhesives, carpet, ceiling tiles/acoustical, fiberboard, gypsum panels, wallboard, flooring, insulation, interior latex paint, and lumber/wood.
In the Federal Register notice, EPA states that the federal government is one of the world’s largest purchasers. EO13693, "Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade," promotes sustainable acquisition and procurement of products and services by federal agencies. Federal procurement actions must include specific environmental performance and sustainability factors to the maximum extent practicable for:
- Meeting statutory mandates requiring purchase preference for recycled content, energy and water efficiency, and biopreferred/biobased products;
- Purchasing sustainable products/services identified by EPA programs including Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP), WaterSense, Safer Choice and SmartWay; and
- Purchasing environmentally preferable products/services that meet or exceed EPA recommendations or meet environmental performance criteria in voluntary consensus standards.
EPA's interim recommendations do not cover all product and service categories with federal environmentally sustainable procurement requirements stated in Section 3(i) (i) and 3(i) (ii) of EO13693. To see the full list of products and services with other federal environmentally sustainable procurement requirements, please go to the General Services Administration's Green Procurement Compilation tool.
Additional information can also be found on EPA’s website at http://www2.epa.gov/greenerproducts.