Federal Procurement
Government Agencies' Purchases of Recycled-Content Products Gao ID: GAO-02-928T July 11, 2002In the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, Congress directed 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 these products. Procuring agencies, which can include contractors and state and local government grantees, are exempt from this requirement only under certain conditions and must document their reasons for not purchasing recycled-content products. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is responsible for coordinating the act's requirements with other federal procurement policies, and for reporting to Congress every 2 years on federal agencies' progress in implementing these requirements. Twenty-five years after passage of the act, the success of this effort is largely uncertain. EPA accelerated its designation of recycled-content products in the 1990s. However, procuring agencies acknowledge that EPA's designation of recycled-content products, by itself, cannot ensure that the products are purchased, and efforts to promote awareness have been limited.
GAO-02-928T, Federal Procurement: Government Agencies' Purchases of Recycled-Content Products
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United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
Testimony:
Before the Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate:
For Release on Delivery:
Expected at 9:30 a.m., EDT:
Thursday, July 11, 2002:
Federal Procurement:
Government Agencies‘ Purchases of Recycled-Content Products:
Statement for the Record by:
David G. Wood:
Director, Natural Resource and Environment Issues:
GAO-02-928T:
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
We are pleased to discuss the results of our work on the federal
government‘s purchase of recycled products. As you know, the federal
government buys about $200 billion of products and services each year
to conduct its operations. Through its purchasing decisions, the
federal government has the opportunity to affirm goals for preventing
pollution, reducing solid waste, increasing recycling, and stimulating
markets for environmentally preferable products and services.
Recognizing this potential, the Congress, in the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), directed 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 these products. Procuring agencies, which can
include contractors and state and local government grantees, are exempt
from this requirement only under certain conditions and must document
their reasons for not purchasing the recycled-content products. The
Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) is responsible for coordinating the RCRA requirements with
other federal procurement policies, and for reporting to the Congress
every 2 years on federal agencies‘ progress in implementing these
requirements.
This statement is based on our June 2001 report entitled Federal
Procurement: Better Guidance and Monitoring Needed to Assess Purchases
of Environmentally Friendly Products (GAO-01-430). Specifically, my
statement discusses federal agencies‘ (1) purchases of recycled-content
products and (2) efforts to promote awareness of recycled-content
products. In preparing the report, we surveyed the four agencies that
account for about 85 percent of all federal procurements”the
departments of Defense and of Energy, the General Services
Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)”and two major grant-awarding agencies”the
departments of Transportation and of Housing and Urban Development.
In summary:
* Twenty-five years after RCRA was to launch a revolution in federal
purchases of recycled-content products, the success of this effort is
largely uncertain. EPA accelerated its designation of recycled-content
products in the 1990s”the agency had identified 54 products with
recycled content at the time of our report. However, we could not
determine the extent to which the large procuring agencies purchase
these products because most lack reliable and complete data on such
purchases. The agencies lack data primarily because their procurement
systems are generally not designed to track these purchases”
particularly those made through contracts (which account for at least
90 percent of federal procurement dollars); with federal purchase cards
(used like credit cards); or by grantees.
* While procuring agencies acknowledged that EPA‘s designation of
recycled-content products, by itself, is not sufficient to ensure that
the products are purchased, their efforts to promote awareness have
been limited. The agencies told us that their staff members often are
either not aware of these products or not able to locate them in their
areas. In addition, the agencies have made little effort to ensure that
grantees are aware of their obligations to purchase recycled-content
products, and most do not have any reliable means of even identifying
contracts that call for the use of these products. Furthermore, in the
absence of credible data on purchases, the agencies have not put
programs in place to review and monitor their progress in complying
with the RCRA requirements.
Our report made a number of recommendations to improve the agencies‘
programs to purchase EPA-designated recycled-content products. In
October 2001, OMB responded to our recommendations. Regarding our
recommendations for additional guidance to federal agencies, OMB stated
that it is reviewing its current reporting requirements and plans to
issue more specific guidance as necessary. As of July 2002, it had not
issued additional guidance. In response to our recommendations,
effective October 1, 2001, OMB has added a new data field to its
procurement data information system to collect information on the
procurement of EPA-designated products for contracts of $25,000 or
more. This new field allows agencies for the first time to measure
their contractors‘ purchasing of recycled-content products. Although
OMB anticipated that this information would significantly improve
compliance and reduce agency administrative burdens, it still does not
provide complete information on agencies‘ purchases of these products
because it does not include purchases from federal purchase cards or
grantees. Finally, as we recommended, OMB agreed to consider
incorporating the RCRA requirements into the common rule the next time
it updates the rule. [Footnote 1] (It has not set up a time frame for
updating the rule.) In addition, a Federal Environmental Executive
official told us that as of July 2002, neither his organization nor EPA
had developed a process to provide agencies with current information on
the availability, or how to more effectively promote, the purchase of
recycled-content products.
Background:
The use of federal procurement to promote environmental goals has
gained increasing emphasis since the 1976 RCRA legislation. RCRA
section 6002 requires each procuring agency [Footnote 2] that purchases
more than $10,000 of an item (in a fiscal year) that EPA has designated
as available with recycled content to have an affirmative procurement
program in place 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, an agency‘s affirmative procurement program must
consist of four elements: (1) a preference program that requires the
agencies to institute practices and procedures favoring the
specification and procurement of recycled-content products; (2) an
internal and external promotion program to actively promote the
purchase program for recycled-content products; (3) 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 (4) 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.
A 1998 executive order strengthened the RCRA requirements.
Specifically, the order clarified some existing requirements and
defined more clearly the duties of the Federal Environmental
Executive”who is appointed by and reports to the President”and the
responsibilities of agency environmental executives in implementing
certain initiatives and actions to further encourage the ’greening“ of
the government through federal procurement. A change to the Federal
Acquisition Regulations (FAR) formalized the 1998 executive order by
making it a requirement for all executive agencies and contracting
officers to follow when buying products, including supplies that are
furnished under a service contract. The changes to the FAR also
emphasized policies to purchase products containing recycled-content
material and other environmentally preferable products and services
when feasible. [Footnote 3]
Federal agencies must also comply with acquisition reform legislation
enacted during the 1990s. In response to concerns about the
government‘s ability to take advantage of the opportunities offered by
the commercial marketplace, these reforms streamlined the way that the
federal government buys its goods and services. For example, the reforms
introduced governmentwide commercial purchase cards, (known as federal
purchase cards) similar to corporate credit cards, to acquire and pay
for goods and services of $2,500 or less. [Footnote 4]
The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive has overarching
responsibilities to advocate, coordinate and assist federal agencies in
acquiring recycled-content products and services. In 1999, a White
House task force chaired by the Federal Environmental Executive issued
a strategic plan that calls upon all executive agencies to demonstrate
significant increases in the procurement of recycled-content products
from each preceding year through 2005. Each agency‘s environmental
executive is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the
agency‘s affirmative procurement program and for setting goals to
increase purchases of recycled-content products in accordance with the
strategic plan. The Federal Environmental Executive prepares a biennial
report to the President on agencies‘ actions.
Although all procuring agencies are required to have an affirmative
procurement program and to track their purchases of recycled-content
products, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Office of
the Federal Environmental Executive”who coordinate their information
requests”require annual purchase reports only from the top six
procuring agencies. These six agencies are the departments of Defense,
Energy, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs; GSA; and NASA. The Office
of Federal Procurement Policy and the Office of the Federal
Environmental Executive issue a joint report to the Congress every 2
years on these agencies‘ progress in purchasing the EPA-designated
products.
Federal Purchases of Recycled-Content Products Could Not Be Determined
Because of Incomplete Information:
While EPA accelerated its efforts in the 1990s to identify and issue
guidance on procuring products with recycled content, we could not
determine the extent to which the four major federal procuring agencies
purchase these products because their procurement systems do not
clearly identify purchases of recycled-content products. In addition,
the agencies do not receive complete data from their headquarters and
field offices or their contractors and grantees. As a result, these
agencies generally provide estimates, not actual purchase data, to the
Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Office of the Federal
Environmental Executive. According to three of the four
agencies”including Defense, which accounts for over 65 percent of
federal government procurements [Footnote 5]”even these estimates are
not reliable. In addition, agencies‘ efforts to promote awareness of
purchase requirements for recycled-content products have had limited
success, and their efforts to monitor progress have principally relied
on the estimated data they report. A White House task force made a
number of recommendations to improve data collection, particularly from
federal purchase card users and contractors. One of these
recommendations”adding a new data field that tracks the purchases of
recycled content products from the agencies‘ contractors”was instituted
in the fall of 2001. However, it does not include federal purchase card
users, grantees, or the agencies themselves.
EPA Has Accelerated the Designation of Products With Recycled Content:
In the early 1980s, the Congress directed EPA to issue guidance for
five products with recycled content, three of which the Congress
designated: cement and concrete containing fly ash, [Footnote 6]
recycled paper and paper products, and retread tires. Between 1983
and 1989, EPA issued guidance for these three products and for re-
refined lubricating oil and building insulation. [Footnote 7] EPA did
not issue guidance for any more products until 1995. Between 1995 and
2000, EPA increased the total number of designated products to 54 and
issued comprehensive procurement guidance to use in purchasing these
products. Figure 1 shows the increases in the number of designated
products with recycled content.
Figure 1: EPA‘s Designation of Recycled-Content Products, 1983 through
2000:
Year: 1983;
Number of products: 1.
Year: 1988;
Number of products: 4.
Year: 1989;
Number of products: 5.
Year: 1995;
Number of products: 24.
Year: 1997;
Number of products: 36.
Year: 2000;
Number of products: 54.
[End of figure]
EPA has identified eight categories of recycled-content products. These
are listed below, with examples of products in each category.
* Construction products: Building insulation containing recycled paper
or fiberglass; carpeting containing recycled rubber or synthetic
fibers; floor tiles made with recycled rubber or plastic.
* Landscaping products: Landscaping timbers and posts containing a mix
of plastic and sawdust or made of fiberglass; hydraulic mulch
containing paper; compost made from yard trimmings and/or food waste.
* Nonpaper office products: Trash bags containing recycled plastic;
waste receptacles containing recycled plastic or steel; and binders
containing recycled plastic or pressboard.
* Paper and paper products: Copier paper, newsprint, file folders, and
paper towels and napkins, all of which have recycled fiber content.
* Park and recreation products: Picnic tables and park benches
containing recycled plastics or aluminum; playground equipment
containing recycled plastic or steel; fencing using recycled plastic.
* Transportation products: Parking stops containing recycled plastic or
rubber; traffic barricades containing steel or recycled fiberglass;
traffic cones containing recycled PVC or rubber.
* Vehicular products: Engine coolants (antifreeze), re-refined motor
oil and retread tires, all of which contain recycled content materials.
* Miscellaneous products: Awards and plaques containing glass, wood or
paper; drums containing steel or plastic; signs and sign posts
containing plastic, steel, or aluminum.
EPA officials have also identified 11 additional recycled content
products for designation and expect to issue purchasing guidelines for
them in the fall of 2002. According to EPA officials, the list of
possible products continues to evolve because new products are always
being developed and existing products may be changed, adding more
recycled material.
However, the four major procuring agencies said that the list contains
more items than they can feasibly track the purchases of and that
targeting their tracking efforts on the major items they purchase would
be a better use of their resources. The four agencies also told us that
it is costly and burdensome to update their tracking programs each time
EPA adds new items and to document whether or not their purchases of
these products meet the $10,000 threshold. Defense and GSA officials
added that instead of continuing to add products to the designated
list, EPA should work with the agencies to assist them in buying
products already identified. Specifically, they said that (1) EPA
should provide more information on the availability of the individual
products, since listed products may not be available in all regions of
the country; and (2) EPA should identify the manufacturers and costs of
the recycled-content products and take the lead in promoting them, thus
making it easier for federal agencies to buy these products. Officials
at the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive agreed with
Defense‘s and GSA‘s assessment regarding purchasing difficulties.
Information on Agencies‘ Purchases of Products With Recycled-Content is
Largely Unavailable:
Three of the four major procuring agencies generally do not provide
credible and complete information on their purchases of recycled-
content products because (1) they do not have automated tracking
systems for these products and (2) the information they do collect and
report does not include a significant portion of their procurements,
such as those made by contractors.
Agencies Lack Automated Tracking Systems for Recycled-Content Products:
Defense, GSA, and NASA reported that they cannot use their automated
procurement systems to track recycled-content products purchased by
officials in their headquarters and field offices and by their
contractors and grantees. As a result, they collect information
manually, a process they find costly and time-consuming. This is
particularly the case for agencies with large field structures such as
Defense. Defense and GSA reported that they can electronically track
recycled-content products purchased from their automated central supply
systems, which also records purchases made by other agencies, if the
products are included in Defense and GSA stock inventories. The systems
do not track items purchased from vendor lists.
According to Defense and GSA officials, recent improvements to these
central supply systems include electronic catalogues of environmentally
friendly products linked to an automated shopping system, which will
allow the agencies to better track and report on other agencies‘
purchases of recycled-content products.
NASA and Energy offices also manually collect purchase data on recycled-
content products but enter the information into automated systems for
tracking and reporting. However, they have not integrated these
automated systems with their agencywide procurement systems. Despite
this lack of integration, Energy officials indicated that with their
current tracking system, they are able to determine the extent to which
most of their offices and contractors are purchasing recycled-content
products. NASA officials reported that their system provides more
limited data on some contractors.
Defense and GSA officials acknowledged that their data collection would
improve if they had on-line electronic systems for recycled-content
products linked to agencywide procurement systems. However, the
additional cost of developing such an integrated system would not be
worthwhile, according to these officials. For example, Defense believes
that the cost of developing and maintaining a reliable system to
produce the data needed to comply with current reporting requirements
would far exceed the value of the information produced.
Major Purchase Sources are Excluded From the Agencies‘ Reports:
The data the agencies collect and report to the offices of Federal
Procurement Policy and of the Federal Environmental Executive generally
exclude several sources of information. First, data are excluded
regarding federal purchase card acquisitions, which are increasing and
as of fiscal year 2001 accounted for about 5.5 percent of all federal
purchases. The four procuring agencies reported that they cannot track
federal card purchases of recycled-content products made in the private
sector, such as desk accessories, tires, and lubricating oil, unless
they establish an internal system that relies on the card users to keep
records. Defense and GSA reported that they do not have such systems.
Defense officials noted that requiring purchase card users to keep logs
is in conflict with acquisition reforms intended to simplify the
procurement process for purchases below $2,500 (micropurchases).
[Footnote 8] Energy and NASA officials stated they do track and report
purchases of recycled-content products through federal purchase cards
and have established processes for staff to keep records for entry into
their database for the recycled content program.
Second, the agencies‘ data are also incomplete because they may exclude
information on purchases made by some of their component organizations.
For example, Defense reported that the military services provide mostly
estimated data, which they do not verify to determine accuracy and
completeness. Furthermore, these estimates do not include all of the
services. For example, the Army provided no information for Defense‘s
report to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Office of
the Federal Environmental Executive for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, and
the Air Force and Navy provided limited purchase data. The lack of
reliable data from Defense is of particular concern in evaluating the
effectiveness of the RCRA program because Defense‘s procurements
account for over 65 percent of total federal procurements reported for
fiscal year 1999. Defense reported that it purchased recycled-content
products worth about $157 million out of total fiscal year 1999
procurements of about $130 billion. (The total fiscal year procurement
figure of $130 billion includes $20 billion for research and
development and $50 billion for major weapons systems that are unlikely
to involve the procurement of recycled-content products. In addition,
it includes $53 billion for service contracts that may or may not
involve the purchase of recycled-content products. Defense officials
indicated that some of these figures may overlap.)
Third, the agencies lack complete data on purchases made by contractors
and grantees. This data gap is potentially significant because
contracts over $25,000 account for almost 90 percent of all federal
procurements. The agencies reported the following: Defense has no
information on contractors‘ purchases; GSA has limited information on
some contractors‘ purchases; Energy, which spends about 94 percent of
its appropriations on contractors, collects purchase information from
about 86 percent of its contractors; and NASA collects purchase data
from on-site contractors but receives little or no data from off-site
contractors.
Fourth, the agencies lack data on grantee purchases. State and local
agencies receiving federal grants may be ’procuring agencies“ under
RCRA. If they meet the $10,000 threshold – that is, if they spend more
than $10,000 on a designated item – they are subject to the affirmative
procurement program requirement and to buying the recycled-content
products on EPA‘s list. However, grantees are not required to report
their purchases of EPA-designated products with recycled content. Also,
executive orders do not apply to grantees. Because of overall federal
efforts to reduce the paperwork (reporting) burden on grantees, federal
agencies stated that they cannot request information from grantees
without OMB approval. Consequently, six of the agencies we reviewed,
including the major grant-making agencies”DOT and HUD”reported that
they do not obtain any information on grantees‘ purchases.
A White House task force workgroup on streamlining and improving
reporting and tracking, cochaired by the Federal Environmental
Executive and OMB‘s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, has made a
number of recommendations to improve data collection from federal
purchase card users and contractors. Aside from instituting additional
data requirements, the task force is planning to begin a pilot project
with banks and willing vendors to identify and report recycled-content
products purchases made with federal purchase cards. However, as of
July 2002, it is not sure when this effort will begin. We believe that
this effort would provide useful additional information regarding
purchase card users‘ compliance with the RCRA requirements.
With respect to contractors, the workgroup recommended revising the
Federal Procurement Data System”a system that collects information on
procurements on a governmentwide basis for contracts over $25,000.
[Footnote 9] The revised data system would require the procuring
official to indicate whether the contract includes (1) recycled-content
products, and (2) appropriate language from the FAR to ensure that the
contractor is notified of the requirements with respect to purchasing
recycled-content products. If these changes are implemented, the
agencies will no longer have to manually collect and report on their
individual purchases of recycled-content products. Although the revised
system will not provide information on the products themselves or of
the dollar amount associated with them, it would allow agencies for the
first time to identify contracts subject to recycled-content product
purchases and to measure their annual progress in increasing the
percentage of contracts containing affirmative procurement clauses.
Agencies‘ Efforts to Promote Recycled-Content Products Have Generally
Not Increased Awareness:
The four major procuring agencies reported efforts to promote awareness
of the requirement to purchase recycled-content products, but several
studies indicate that the success of these efforts has been limited. In
addition, although RCRA requires federal agencies to review and monitor
the effectiveness of their RCRA program efforts, only Energy has taken
any steps beyond the data collection efforts discussed earlier.
Success of Promotion Efforts Is Limited:
Studies of the agencies‘ affirmative procurement programs report that
the agencies are not effectively educating procurement officials about
the requirement to buy EPA-designated recycled-content products. This
lack of awareness is a major or contributing factor to inaccurate data
and noncompliance with implementing affirmative procurement programs,
according to our survey of the agencies, as well as the reports by the
GSA and NASA inspectors general, the Air Force‘s Internal Audit Agency,
and a fiscal year 2000 EPA survey of 72 federal facilities. [Footnote
10]
Efforts to promote the purchase of recycled-content products by
government agencies, their contractors, and grantees can occur
government- or agency-wide. Governmentwide efforts include those
conducted by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, which
actively promotes, coordinates, and assists federal agencies‘ efforts
to purchase EPA-designated items. For example, the Office of the
Federal Environmental Executive has helped increase agency purchases of
EPA-designated products by encouraging GSA, the Defense Logistics
Agency, and the Government Printing Office to automatically substitute
recycled-content products in filling orders for copier paper (begun in
1992) and lubricating oil (begun in 1999). This effort has increased
sales of recycled-content copier paper from 39 percent to 98 percent at
GSA and the Government Printing Office, according to the Office of the
Federal Environmental Executive. GSA now carries only recycled-content
copier paper. The Defense Logistics Agency reported that its sales of
re-refined lubricating oil increased over 50 percent from fiscal year
1999 to fiscal year 2000. Given the success of the automatic
substitution program for these products, the Office of the Federal
Environmental Executive is strongly encouraging agencies to identify
other recycled-content products for which automatic substitution
policies might be appropriate. However, this program does not apply to
purchases made outside of the federal supply centers.
GSA and Defense have also placed symbols in their printed and
electronic catalogues and in their electronic shopping systems to
identify recycled-content products. Using the electronic catalogue,
agencies can then go directly into the electronic shopping system to
order these products. They will also be able to track and report these
purchases. Defense and GSA are also working jointly to modify the
Federal Logistics Information System to add environmental attribute
codes to the products listed in that system to more easily identify
environmentally friendly products. [Footnote 11] The modification‘s
usefulness may be limited, however, because this system does not
automatically link the user to a system for purchasing the products
identified, according to agency officials.
Energy, GSA, and Defense‘s Air Force, Navy, and Army Corps of Engineers
have initiated alternative efforts to inform contractors of the
requirement to purchase recycled-content products. Energy makes its
major facility management contractors part of its affirmative
procurement program team to help implement the program. Moreover, in
May 2000, Energy established ’green acquisition advocates“ at each of
its major contracting facilities. Among their duties, these advocates
are to promote the RCRA program to the contractors. GSA and the three
Defense components have developed ’green“ construction and/or lease
programs that promote the use of EPA-designated products. In addition,
all the agencies we reviewed have incorporated the FAR clauses
pertaining to the RCRA program into their contracts. GSA also reported
that it plans to modify its acquisition manual to include a review of
the list of EPA-designated products with contractors in post-award
conferences.
The agencies we examined have generally not developed agency-specific
mechanisms for advising grantees of their responsibility to purchase
recycled-content products. Instead, they rely on OMB Circular A-102.
This circular refers to RCRA and contains a general statement on the
requirement for grantees to give preference in their purchases to the
EPA-designated products. It does not inform them of the specific
requirements they need to follow, such as developing affirmative
procurement programs. Only Energy, in its financial assistance
regulations, requires its grant-making program offices to inform
grantees of the RCRA requirement.
Agencies‘ Review and Monitoring of Recycled Content Purchases Is
Limited:
RCRA requires federal agencies to review and monitor the effectiveness
of their recycled-content programs; however, it does not define what
review and monitoring should consist of. With the exception of Energy,
which has established purchasing goals that its contractors must meet,
the major procuring agencies limit their required annual review and
monitoring functions to compiling data on their purchases of recycled-
content products in order to report to the offices of the Federal
Environmental Executive and Federal Procurement Policy. But as the
agencies admit, these data are unreliable and incomplete. Consequently,
these data do not allow the agencies to assess their progress in
purchasing recycled-content products or review the effectiveness of
their recycled content purchase programs. However, Defense procurement
officials believe that legislation like RCRA, because of its review and
monitoring requirements, is in conflict with the streamlining reforms
that are intended to ease the administrative burden associated with
government purchases.
We recognize that demonstrating that an agency is meeting RCRA
requirements can be administratively difficult. The major procuring
agencies noted that it is costly and burdensome to update their
purchase tracking programs each time EPA designates recycled-content
products; each relies on costly and time-consuming manual data
collection. Defense, the largest procuring agency, believes efforts to
monitor and report on recycled-content product purchases conflict with
the streamlining goals of procurement reform. However, RCRA requires
such information.
Contact and Staff Acknowledgement:
For further information on this testimony, please call me at (202) 512-
6878 or Pat Gleason at (202) 512-6946. Maureen Driscoll, William Roach
Jr., and Paul Schearf also made key contributions to this testimony.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] The common rule is a set of governmentwide rules and conditions
under which grants to state and local governments are administered.
[2] Procuring agencies are federal agencies, state and local agencies
using appropriated federal funds, and their contractors.
[3] The FAR specifies rules that agencies must follow in their
procurement actions. On June 6, 2000 the Civilian Agency Acquisition
Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council published a
final rule amending the FAR to implement Executive Order 13101,
Greening the Government through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and
Federal Acquisition, dated September 14, 1998.
[4] The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 required federal
agencies to enter into multiple award contracts and introduced the
micro-purchase threshold for purchase cards up to $2,500. The Clinger-
Cohen Act of 1996 allowed agencies to authorize more employees to make
purchases up to $2,500.
[5] This figure includes all Defense procurements”including weapons
systems and research and development funds, which are unlikely to
include the purchase of recycled-content products. The figure also
includes service contracts”which may or may not involve the purchase of
these products.
[6] Fly ash is the residue that results from the combustion of
pulverized coal.
[7] U.S. General Accounting Office, Solid Waste: Federal Program to Buy
Products With Recovered Materials Proceeds Slowly. GAO/RCED-93-58
(Wash., D.C.: May 17, 1993).
[8] The use of federal purchase cards was encouraged in 1993 by the
National Performance Review, which identified the purchase card as a
major acquisition reform and recommended that all federal agencies
increase their use of the card to cut the red tape normally associated
with the federal procurement process.
[9] This data system, operated by GSA on behalf of the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy, has been in operation since 1978. It has
undergone numerous changes over the years and is considered to be
outdated. A multiagency task force is currently considering replacing
this system.
[10] The three audits include the NASA Inspector General Final Report
on the Audit of Kennedy Space Center‘s Recycling Efforts, IG-98-017,
dated June 12, 1998; the GSA Inspector General Report entitled Review
of GSA‘s Affirmative Procurement Program, A71503/P/5/R97016, dated
March 28, 1997; and an Air Force Audit Agency…s report on its
Affirmative Procurement Program, Project Number 99052016, June 1999.
[11] The Federal Logistics Information System is a computerized
database that serves as a centralized, federal-wide repository for
information on the more than 7 million items in the federal supply
system. In addition to showing the name and national stock number for
each item, the system provides vendor information, the item‘s physical
characteristics, and guidance on acquiring, storing, distributing,
transporting, using, and disposing of the item. Procurement officials
use the system primarily to research which items are most appropriate
for them to purchase.
[End of section]
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