Strategies to Ensure Successful Delivery of Sustainable Products and Services
Overview
This page is intended for the acquisition workforce (particularly procurement officials, requirement officials/specifiers, and other staff who affect acquisition decisions) to provide sample contract language and 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. When specifying products, start with the Green Procurement Compilation, which includes federal requirements for selecting products with environmental or energy attributes.
Specifying Sustainable Products and Services
Visit the Sample Contract Language for Environmental Programs page for generic solicitation/contract language that can be used to incorporate minimum sustainability requirements into contracts for products.
Consider prohibiting certain chemicals by specifying that products "contain no chemicals on the State of California Proposition 65 List"
. Other considerations:
Resources that may assist the acquisition workforce in incorporating sustainability best practices include:
CalRecycle Section 01350: Special Environmental Requirements establishes goals and provides an overview of special environmental requirements, such as guidelines for energy, materials, water efficiency, indoor air quality, nontoxic performance standards for cleaning and maintenance products, and sustainable site planning and landscaping considerations.
The Center for Environmental Health (CEH)
helps institutional purchasers select products made without the toxic chemicals often found in Office Furniture, Flooring, and Single-Use Foodware.
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system defines and measures what makes a building ‘green’. Projects pursuing LEED certification earn points for green building strategies across several categories. All projects can use LEED as a guide for specifying sustainable products and services.
The Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN) is an international network of buyers dedicated to socially responsible and environmentally sustainable purchasing. RPN’s Purchasing Guides can help institutional purchasers save money, conserve resources, reduce waste, and improve efficiency.
Resources for Verifying Sustainable Products
Federal Requirements
The Green Procurement Compilation lists products for which Federal agencies require specifications, standards, or ecolabels, or have otherwise provided guidance for selecting products with environmental or energy attributes. The GPC includes EPA’s Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing and those presently recommended by various DOE and GSA programs, which can be used to determine whether contractors are providing compliant products. It is up to the contractor and/or vendor to provide credible and verifiable documentation to demonstrate a product or service meets the sustainable requirements included in the contract. Visit the Materials and Resources page for terms that help define sustainable acquisition and to better understand designated product requirements.
An important resource for verifying environmental information about a product is an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). EPDs are Type III environmental declarations that communicate standardized environmental information about the life cycle impact of a product.
Other Vendor Compliance Determination Resources
In addition to the required specifications, standards, and ecolabels included in the GPC, the following programs, standards, and ecolabels can be used to determine vendor compliance with requirements for certain products.
Program/Resource (Multiple Attributes)
Covered Product Types: Electronics
Compliance Determination: Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the product meets the Restriction of Hazardous Substances.
Private Sector Standard/Ecolabel (Multiple Attributes)
Covered Product Types: Integrated Pest Management (Branch 2 General Pests only)
Compliance Determination: Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the service is certified by Ecowise:
Covered Product Types: Numerous including Agriculture, Cleaning Products, Food, Furniture, Personal Care, Textiles, and Apparel
Compliance Determination: Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms via product label or other language that product is Fair Trade certified. The Fair Trade website contains a list of certified products.
Covered Product Types: Integrated Pest Management
Compliance Determination: Have your facility certified or determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the service is on the Green Shield list:
Covered Product Types: Furniture, Textiles
Compliance Determination: Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the product is Greenhealth Approved.
Covered Product Types: Remanufactured Cartridges
Compliance Determination: Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the product manufacturer is STMC certified.
Private Sector Standard/Ecolabel (Single Attribute)
Covered Product Types: Compostable Products
Compliance Determination: Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the product is on the CMA Accepted Products lists.
Covered Product Types: Fertilizer, Pest Control, Livestock Care Products
Compliance Determination: OMRI reviews input products to determine compliance with the USDA National Organic standards and/or Canada Organic Regime (COR) standards. Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms the product is OMRI certified.
Federal Ecolabel (Single Attribute)
Covered Product Types: Food, Fiber Products
Compliance Determination: The USDA organic seal verifies that the product has 95 percent or more certified organic content and confirms no genetically modified organisms. Determine if documentation provided by contractor confirms via product label or other language that product is USDA certified organic.
