[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 14, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15022-15024]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6101]
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Notices
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 /
Notices
[[Page 15022]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Presidential Memorandum of February 21, 2012; Driving Innovation
and Creating Jobs in Rural America Through Biobased and Sustainable
Product Procurement
On February 21, 2012, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to
the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies directing that they
effectively execute Federal procurement requirements for biobased
products, including those requirements identified in Executive Order
13514 and prescribed in the 2002 Farm Bill, as amended by the 2008 Farm
Bill. The text of this memorandum reads:
The BioPreferred program--established by the Farm Security and
Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (2002 Farm Bill), and
strengthened by the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L.
110-234) (2008 Farm Bill)--is intended to increase Federal procurement
of biobased products to promote rural economic development, create new
jobs, and provide new markets for farm commodities. Biobased and
sustainable products help to increase our energy security and
independence.
The Federal Government, with leadership from the Department of
Agriculture (USDA), has made significant strides in implementing the
BioPreferred program. It is one of the key elements in my efforts to
promote sustainable acquisition throughout the Government under
Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009 (Federal Leadership in
Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance). Further efforts will
drive innovation and economic growth and create jobs at marginal cost
to the American public.
The goal of this memorandum is to ensure that executive departments
and agencies (agencies) effectively execute Federal procurement
requirements for biobased products, including those requirements
identified in Executive Order 13514 and prescribed in the 2002 Farm
Bill, as amended by the 2008 Farm Bill. It is vital that these efforts
are in accord and carefully coordinated with other Federal procurement
requirements.
Therefore, I direct that agencies take the following steps to
significantly increase Federal procurement of biobased and other
sustainable products.
Section 1. Actions Related to Executive Order 13514
(a) Agencies shall include and report on biobased acquisition as
part of the sustainable acquisition goals and milestones in the
Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan required by section 8 of
Executive Order 13514.
(b) As required by section 2(h) of Executive Order 13514, agencies
shall ensure that 95 percent of applicable new contract actions for
products and services advance sustainable acquisition, including
biobased acquisition, where such products and services meet agency
performance requirements. In doing so, agencies shall:
(i) Include acquisition of biobased products in their Affirmative
Procurement Programs and Preferable Purchasing Programs, as applicable
(as originally required by Executive Order 13101 of September 14, 1998
(Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and
Federal Acquisition) and reinforced by Executive Order 13423 of January
24, 2007 (Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and
Transportation Management) and Executive Order 13514);
(ii) include biobased products as part of their procurement review
and monitoring program required by section 9002(a) of the 2008 Farm
Bill, incorporating data collection and reporting requirements as part
of their program evaluation; and
(iii) provide appropriate training on procurement of biobased
products for all acquisition personnel including requirements and
procurement staff.
(c) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall emphasize
biobased purchasing in the fiscal year 2012 and 2013 Sustainability/
Energy scorecard, which is the periodic evaluation of agency
performance on sustainable acquisition pursuant to section 4 of
Executive Order 13514.
Section 2. Biobased Product Designations
The USDA has already designated 64 categories of biobased products
for preferred Federal procurement. Although these categories represent
an estimated 9,000 individual products, less than half of the known
biobased products are currently included in the preference program.
Increasing the number of products subject to the Federal procurement
preference will increase procurement of biobased products. Therefore, I
direct the Secretary of Agriculture to:
(a) Increase both the number of categories of biobased products
designated and individual products eligible for preferred purchasing by
50 percent within 1 year of the date of this memorandum; and
(b) establish a Web-based process whereby biobased product
manufacturers can request USDA to establish a new product category for
designation. The USDA shall determine the merit of the request and, if
the product category is deemed eligible, propose designation within 180
days of the request.
Section 3. Changes in Procurement Mechanisms
Several actions can be taken to facilitate improvement in and
compliance with the requirements to purchase biobased products. To
achieve these changes, I direct:
(a) The Senior Sustainability Officers and Chief Acquisition
Officers of all agencies to randomly sample procurement actions (such
as solicitations and awards) to verify that biobased considerations are
included as appropriate. Agencies shall include results of these
sampling efforts in the Sustainability/Energy scorecard reported to
OMB;
(b) the Secretary of Agriculture to work with relevant officials in
agencies that have electronic product procurement catalogs to identify
and implement solutions to increase the visibility of biobased and
other sustainable products;
(c) the Senior Sustainability Officers of all agencies that have
established agency-specific product specifications, in coordination
with any other appropriate officials, to review and
[[Page 15023]]
revise all specifications under their control to assure that, wherever
possible and appropriate, such specifications require the use of
sustainable products, including USDA-designated biobased products, and
that any language prohibiting the use of biobased products is removed.
The review shall be on a 4-year cycle. Significant review should be
completed within 1 year of the date of this memorandum, and the results
of the reviews shall be annually reported to OMB and the Office of
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP); and
(d) the Secretary of Agriculture to amend USDA's automated contract
writing system, the Integrated Acquisition System, to serve as a model
for biobased product procurement throughout the Federal Government by
adding elements related to acquisition planning, evaluation factors for
source selection, and specifications and requirements. Once completed,
USDA shall share the model with all agencies and, as appropriate,
assist any agency efforts to adopt similar mechanisms.
Section 4. Small Business Assistance
A majority of the biobased product manufacturers and vendors
selling biobased products and services that use biobased products to
the Federal Government are small businesses. To improve the ability of
small businesses to sell these products and services to the Federal
Government, I direct:
(a) The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary
of Agriculture, to use relevant programs of the Department, such as the
Manufacturing Extension Partnership network, to improve the performance
and competitiveness of biobased product manufacturers;
(b) the Secretary of Agriculture to work cooperatively with
Procurement Technical Assistance Center programs located across the
Nation to provide training and assistance to biobased product companies
to make these companies aware of the BioPreferred program and
opportunities to sell biobased products to Federal, State, and local
government agencies; and
(c) the Secretary of Agriculture to develop training within 6
months of the date of this memorandum for small businesses on the
BioPreferred program and the opportunities it presents, and the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to disseminate
that training to Small Business Development Centers and feature it on
the SBA Web site.
Section 5. Reporting
The Federal Government should obtain the most reliable information
to gauge its progress in purchasing biobased products, including
measuring the annual number of procurements that include direct
purchase of biobased products, the annual number of construction and
service contracts that include the purchase of biobased products, and
the annual volume and type of biobased products the Federal Government
purchases. I direct that:
(a) Within 1 year of the date of this memorandum, the Federal
Acquisition Regulatory Council shall propose an amendment to the
Federal Acquisition Regulation to require reporting of biobased product
purchases, to be made public on an annual basis; and
(b) following the promulgation of the proposed amendment referenced
in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture, in
consultation with the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, shall develop
a reporting template to facilitate the annual reporting requirement.
Section 6. Jobs Creation Research
Biobased products are creating jobs across America. These
innovative products are creating new markets for agriculture and
expanding opportunities in rural America. Therefore, I direct the
Secretary of Agriculture to prepare a report on job creation and the
economic impact associated with the biobased product industry to be
submitted to the President through the Domestic Policy Council and OSTP
within 2 years of the date of this memorandum. The study shall include:
(a) The number of American jobs originating from the biobased
product industry annually over the last 10 years, including the job
changes in specific sectors;
(b) the dollar value of the current domestic biobased products
industry, including intermediates, feedstocks, and finished products,
but excluding biofuels;
(c) a forecast for biobased job creation potential over the next 10
years;
(d) a forecast for growth in the biobased industry over the next 10
years; and
(e) jobs data for both biofuels and biobased products, but shall
generate separate data for each category.
Section 7. Education and Outreach
In compliance with the 2002 Farm Bill, several agencies established
agency promotion programs to support the biobased products procurement
preference. The Federal Acquisition Institute has added biobased
procurement training to its course offerings. To assure both formal and
informal educational and outreach instruction on the BioPreferred
program are in place and being implemented by each agency, I direct:
(a) The Secretary of Agriculture to update all existing USDA
BioPreferred and related sustainable acquisition training materials
within 1 year of the date of this memorandum;
(b) the Senior Sustainability Officers and Chief Acquisition
Officers of agencies to work cooperatively with the Secretary of
Agriculture to immediately implement such BioPreferred program agency
education and outreach programs as are necessary to meet the
requirements of this memorandum and relevant statutes; and
(c) the Secretary of Agriculture to work actively with the
Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled
to promote education and outreach to program, technical, and
contracting personnel, and to purchase card holders on BioPreferred
AbilityOne products.
Section 8. General Provisions
(a) This memorandum shall apply to an agency with respect to the
activities, personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that are
located within the United States. The head of an agency may provide
that this memorandum shall apply in whole or in part with respect to
the activities, personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that
are not located within the United States, if the head of the agency
determines that such application is in the interest of the United
States.
(b) The head of an agency shall manage activities, personnel,
resources, and facilities of the agency that are not located within the
United States, and with respect to which the head of the agency has not
made a determination under subsection (a) of this section, in a manner
consistent with the policies set forth in this memorandum, to the
extent the head of the agency determines practicable.
(c) For purposes of this memorandum, ``biobased product'' shall
have the meaning set forth in section 8101(4) of title 7, United States
Code.
(d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity by any party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other
person.
(e) The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed
to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
[[Page 15024]]
Dated: March 8, 2012.
Pearlie S. Reed,
Assistant Secretary for Administration, S. Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2012-6101 Filed 3-13-12; 8:45 am]
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