£ TK ' K/ jV' 4. f m, . £ ~®t , ,f United States " ,♦?.* " Pollution Prevention EPA 742-R-04-001 Environmental Protection and Toxics February 2004 Agency (7409) www epa gov/oppt/epp Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program Buying Green Online Greening Government E-Procurement of Office Supplies CONTENTS Acknowledgments .m Disclaimer .v Foreword:The Genesis and Purpose of this Report ... .vn Executive Summary . ix Definitions & Acronyms .. xi Section I Introduction I Status of Government Office Supply Purchasing .2 Drivers for E-Procurement of Office Supplies.4 Drivers for Greening Online Ordering System.7 Representative Federal Agency-Specific E-Catalogs.9 Section 2 Establishing a Green Office Supply Contract 15 Agency Working Group .15 Considerations for Multiple BPAs vs. a Single BPA.15 Considerations for the Source Selection Process .17 Considerations for Mandatory vs. Voluntary E-Catalog Use.18 Socio-Economic Considerations.19 Section 3 Choosing Green Office Products 21 Reliable Green Purchasing Criteria .22 Price of Green Products.25 Performance of Green Products.26 Purchasing Restrictions .27 Section 4 Monitoring Green Purchases 29 Tracking Green Purchases.29 Transaction Data.30 Vendor Role in Tracking and Monitoring .30 CONTENTS ♦ / Section 5 Enhancing Green Purchasing 33 Employee Training .33 Outreach to Customers .34 Section 6 Conclusion 37 Appendix A— EPA Green Purchasing Criteria.39 Appendix B—EPA RFP for Green Office Supply Vendor.47 Appendix C—Federal Agency Environmental Points of Contact. 59 Appendix D— EPA Announcement .61 a ♦ Buying Green Online Acknowledgments T he Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would like to thank all of the agencies and individuals who shared lessons learned and encouraged us in the development of this document. In particular, the foresight and innovation of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, RI inspired EPA—as a purchaser and as an encourager of other purchasers—to explore the green purchasing opportun¬ ities that agency-specific e-catalogs could provide to federal agencies. These two organizations helped us immeasurably in understanding how an agency could go about developing an agency-specific, green e-catalog. We greatly appreciate the assistance and valuable editing input of the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) and the Executive Order 13101 Interagency Advisory Group (EOIAG). We want to thank the former Procurement Executives Council (PEC) for helping to identify agencies with e-catalogs in place. Thanks also to EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines Program whose staff were key partners in the development of EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Criteria for office products (included as Appendix A to this report) and to the Integrated Acquisition Environment E-Marketplace Group (including representatives from GSA and DLA) for review of this report. We also offer our sincere thanks to EPA’s Office of Acquisition Management, particularly, Kerrie O’Hagan, Karen Lee, Cheryl Upton and Kristin Wright. Their interest in and commitment to creating a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for green office supplies at EPA provided the impetus for this report. Other Agencies and individuals whose expertise informed the contents of this report include: Agency Facility Contact Person Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Procurement and Property Management J.R. Holcombe, Jr., Procurement Analyst richard.holcombe@usda.gov (202) 720-8484 Department of Defense (DOD) Department of Defense (DOD) Department of Energy (DOE) Department of Energy (DOE) Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab (INEEL) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory John Hix, Intramart Manager hixje@nptnuwc.navy.mil (401) 832-4820 Kim Gossett, Kim.Gossett@wpafb.af.mil Timothy Inman, eGPC Project Manager Timothy.lnman@wpafb.af.mil (937) 904-0424 Heather Merrill, Buyer/Affirmative Procurement Program Administrator Contractor: Bechtel BWXT Idaho merrhj@inel.gov (208) 526-0499 Marty Stunkel, pcs@llnl.gov (925) 423-3448 Acknowledgments ♦ in Department of Energy (DOE) Department of Energy (DOE) Department of Energy (DOE) Department of the Treasury Department of the Treasury Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) National Institutes of Health (NIH) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Smithsonian Institution State of California State of California U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Internal Revenue Service Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Region 8 Langley Research Center (LaRC) Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Principal Center for Recycling and Affirmative Procurement Department of General Services California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) Sandra Cannon, EPP Coordinator Contractor: Battelle sandra.cannon@pnl.gov Jim Worthy, E-Procurement Administrator Contractor: S.M. Stoller Corporation j i m .worthy@rfets.gov (303) 966-3786 James Romero, Buyer jromero@sandia.gov (505) 844-341 I Anastasia Richardson, P2 Coordinator Contractor: Shaw Environmental arichar@sandia.gov (505) 284-3983 Joe Gregory Joe.Gregory@irs.gov (202) 283-1254 Frank Sutherland, Contract Manager FrankSutherland@occ.treas.gov (202) 874-4987 Dianne Thiel, Federal Facilities Coordinator thiel.dianne@epa.gov Kristin Poultney, Environmental Contract Mgr: SAIC k. k.poultney@larc.nasa.gov Mike Stubbs, Contracting Officer m.t.stubbs@larc.nasa.gov Richard Siebel, NASA Bank Card Manager Richard.J.Siebels@nasa.gov Linda Fitzgerald—LaRC Credit Card Manager l. p.fitzgerald@larc.nasa.gov Susan McClain, Small Procurement Contract Manager s.e.mcclain@larc.nasa.gov Shannah Trout Affirmative Procurement Coordinator Contractor: Dynamac Corporation shannah.trout-1 @ksc.nasa.gov (321) 867-8443 Jeff Weiner, IT Enterprise Architecture Manager jweiner@nih.gov (301) 496-7058 Steve Eslin, Property Management JSE@nrc.gov (301) 415-2050 Charlotte Davis, Asst. Manager, Procurement Division DavisC@si.edu (202) 275-1258 Roberta F. Hinchman, CAL-Card Prog. Statewide Administrator Roberta.Hinchman@dgs.ca.gov Robert Riola, Lead Buyer Bob.Riola@dgs.ca.gov Kimya Lambert klambert@ciwmb.ca.gov Karen Kallipolites karen.e.kallipolites@usps.gov Lee Crane, Supply Management Division lee.s.crane@usps.gov /v ♦ Buying Green Online Disclaimer T his report provides ail overview of recent federal government office supply e-procurement initiatives and includes references to specific products and technologies. These references are included to provide additional details and do not constitute endorsement of or recommendation for use of these products by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This report features representative federal government online purchasing activities. It does not represent the online purchasing efforts of every federal government agency initiating such activities and it does not describe every activity initiated by the agencies highlighted. Disclaimer ♦ v Foreword The Genesis and Purpose ofThis Report The purpose of this report is to help government agencies green their office supply purchases by sharing information about how EPA and other federal agencies purchase green products through agency-specific e-catalogues. The purpose of this report is to help government agencies green their purchases of office supplies. All federal procurement officials are required by Executive Order (E.O.) 13101 and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to engage in Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP), the practice of buying products and/or services that have a lesser or reduced impact on the environment and human health, when compared to competing products or services that serve the same purpose. However, identifying greener products or services and educating agency purchasers on which products and/or services to buy has been challenging. Concerns about access to accurate product information and increased decentralization of government purchasing have limited green purchasing. This is particularly true for office supplies, many, if not most, of which are obtained via small purchases made with Purchase Cards. In 2002, the EPA launched an effort to purchase all non-electronic office supplies bought with Purchase Cards via one nationwide BPA. This BPA gives EPA access to a commercially owned, agency-specific e-catalog, an online directory of products and services available for sale based on customer-specific requirements under a pre-negotiated contract vehicle. EPA made a commitment to maximize the number of green products available for purchase through this e-catalog. Toward this goal, EPA reviewed existing criteria, standards and guidelines used by a variety of U.S. organizations to define green office products. EPA then developed its own office product green purchasing criteria (See Appendix A). In preparation for launching this e-catalog, EPA identified and interviewed procurement and environmental staff representing a variety of government agencies who provide access to office supplies through agency- specific e-catalogs. EPA selected these interviewees based on recommenda¬ tions from the E.O. 13101 Interagency Advisory Group (EOIAG), the Procurement Executives Council (PEC) and government office supply vendors. Learning about the various approaches agencies took to developing their catalogs and the ways some agencies have made green products available to their purchasers through these e-catalogs has greatly informed EPA’s efforts. Through this report EPA will share the lessons learned to help other government agencies green their office supply purchases made via current or future agency-specific e-catalogs. Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) refers to the practice of buying products and/or services that have a lesser or reduced impact on the environment and human health, when compared to competing products or services that serve the same purpose. Foreword ♦ vn The intended audience for this report includes federal government staff who may be involved in the development and/or maintenance of their agency’s Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for office supply purchases, accessed by an agency-specific e-catalog. This includes federal government Information Technology (IT) managers, Purchase Card Program Managers, Acquisition Managers, advocates of green purchasing and staff participating in the development of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) for government facilities. This report also may apply to efforts by public or private purchasers to green the e-procurement of other categories of products and services. For additional information related to the contents of this report, please contact Holly Elwood of the EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program at (202) 564-8854. For additional information on the EPP Program or to access existing resources that can help you identify and purchase green products, please visit the EPP Program’s website at . ... Jp ' ■'•; m viii ♦ Buying Green Online Executive Summary A s a result of the research conducted to complete this report, EPA has learned that: ♦ Many Federal agencies currently are purchasing office supplies via agency-specific e-catalogs, based on both national and facility- specific contracts. 1 Agencies cited cost savings through group discounts, reduced time spent on routine processing of orders, improved tracking and monitoring capabilities and increased ability to direct purchasers to products meeting agency purchasing priorities as the main reasons for providing access to office products through these vehicles. ♦ Some agencies have made an effort to increase the number of green products available for purchase via their e-catalog (see Chart 1, page 10). Certain agencies limit the products available for purchase to those that meet EPA’s recycled content guidelines. As a result of offering only products compliant with the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) in specific product categories, the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories reported that purchases of recycled content products increased from less than 50 percent of overall purchases in FY00 to more than 80 percent in FY 02. 2 ♦ Some agencies have made the agency-specific e-catalog the only authorized mechanism for the purchase of office supplies. Between FY 01 and FY 02, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center noted a 20 percent increase in purchases of recycled products as a percentage of total purchases via their mandatory e-catalog. 3 ♦ Federal agencies use government Purchase Cards for most of their non-electronic office supply purchases. According to the Office of Management and Budget, slightly more than 400,000 Purchase Cards were in circulation as of April 2002 and government agencies spent more than $15 billion dollars via government Purchase Cards in FY 02. While exact figures for annual office supply purchases do not exist: ♦ EPA estimates annual office supply expenditures of $5 million, or about 14 percent of its $35.8 million total purchases via 2,000 Purchase Cards. 4 'See Charts I and 2, pages 10—13 lor a list of federal agencies using online ordering systems contacted for this report. Personal communication. Jimmy Romero, SNL. September, 2003. 'Personal communication, Shannah Trout, KSC, September, 2003. 'EPA BPA for Office Supplies Technical Evaluation Team Executive Summary ♦ ix ♦ The Department of Energy's laboratories recorded more than $34 million in Purchase Card transactions for office supplies, about 16 percent of their total $207.5 million in Purchase Card activity. 3 ♦ The Army spends approximately $100 million on office supplies each year or about 6 percent of their $1.7 billion dollars in purchases via more than 100,000 Purchase Cards. 6 ♦ In FT 2001, the U.S. Postal Service spent $125 million for office supplies, nearly 5 percent of their $2.6 billion total procure¬ ment of goods and services. 7 ♦ The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated that its 170,000 employees spend $85 million per year on non¬ electronic office supplies. DHS currently is developing green purchasing specifications for a forthcoming solicitation. 8 ♦ In addition, the Federal Procurement Data Center reports $141 million in contracted transactions (greater than $25,000) for Office Supplies and Devices for fiscal 2002.° ♦ EPA’s green purchasing criteria (see Appendix A) are more compre¬ hensive than any other known federal government effort, to date, to provide greener office products to agency staff. For those product categories for which EPA has established green purchasing criteria, products that meet or exceed EPA’s standards for positive environ¬ mental attributes (including recycled content, processed chlorine free paper, reduced toxicity and non-ozone depleting) will be the pro¬ ducts of choice. The green purchasing criteria will be altered and strengthened as office products with additional positive environ¬ mental attributes become available. ♦ EPA’s office products contract requires recycling of all used toner cartridges and batteries. ♦ Vendor evaluation criteria used in the award of EPA’s Office Supply BPA included having an Environmental Management System(EMS) in place or in development and green fleet purchase and maintenance programs. Data on government Purchase Card use from Federal Supply Service, GSA Smart Pay Program Office, included in the Federal Procurement Report. The Federal Procurement Report is available at 6 'GAO-03-230 Contract Management, January 2003. 8 Meeting between EPA and DHS Office Supplies Commodities Council, October 28, 2003. Federal Procurement Data Center Agency summary for FSC Group 75, Office Supplies and Devices x ♦ Buying Green Onune Definitions and Acronyms Agency-specific e-catalog—An online directory of products and services available for sale only to staff of the agency. Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA)—a simplified method of filling antici¬ pated repetitive needs for supplies or services by establishing a contract or contracts with qualified sources of supply. Commercially owned e-catalog—A vendor owned and maintained online directory of products and services available for sale and purchase from that vendor. Commercially owned, agency-specific e-catalog-—An online directory of products and services available for sale and purchase by staff of an agency, based on customer-specific requirements under a pre-negotiated contract vehicle with a commercial vendor. E-procurement—The sale and purchase of products and services via the internet. Federally owned, agency-specific e-catalog—An online directory, main¬ tained by a federal agency, of products and services available for sale and purchase by staff of that agency based on customer-specific requirements under pre-negotiated contract vehicles with multiple commercial vendors. Federally managed e-catalog—A federally managed online directory of products and services available for purchase by staff of federal agencies via negotiated commercially owned e-catalogs and the federal catalog of managed National Stock Numbers (e.g., DOD E-Mail). Federally owned e-catalog—A federal government owned and operated online directory of products and services available for sale and purchase by staff of federal agencies based on pre-negotiated contract vehicles with multiple commercial vendors (e.g., GSA Advantage). BPA Blanket Purchasing Agreement CPG Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines OHS Department of Homeland Security DOD Department of Defense DOE Department of Energy DOT Department of Transportation EOIAG E.O. 13101 Interagency Advisory Group EMS Environmental Management System EO Executive Order EPA Environmental Protection Agency EPP Environmentally Preferable Purchasing FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation FEMP Federal Energy Management Program Definitions and Acronyms ♦ xi GSA INEEL IT JWOD KSC LaRC NASA NIB NUWC OARM OEM OFEE OFPP OPM OSDBU RCRA PEC PNNL SNL USD A VA General Services Administration Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Information Technology Javits Wagner O’Day Act Kennedy Space Center Langley Research Center National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Industries for the Blind Naval Undersea Warfare Center Office of Administration and Resources Management (EPA) Original equipment manufacturer Office of the Federal Environmental Executive Office of Federal Procurement Policy Office of Personnel Management Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Procurement Executives Council Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sandia National Laboratories U.S. Department of Agriculture Department of Veterans Affairs xii ♦ Buying Green Online Section I Introduction G overnment procurement officials have an increasingly challenging job. They must fulfill ongoing and immediate demands for goods and services, while navigating an increasingly varied and complex array of procurement vehicles, methods, The introduction of e-catalogs offers an opportunity to simplify access to environmentally preferable products and, thus, to increase their purchase. and practices. In addition, they must continually integrate new federal requirements into both ongoing and planned procurements. Incorporation of environmental considerations into the federal government purchasing process has been a requirement for more than twenty years. Various federal laws, Executive Orders and the FAR require federal agencies to buy green. All federal procurement officials are required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and Executive Order 13101, Greening the Government through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition, to assess and give preference to those products and services that are environmentally preferable. Environmentally preferable products and services are defined as those which “have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared to other products and services that serve the same purpose. This comparison may consider raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance or disposal of the product or service." 1 " The FAR Part 23 addresses government policy on acquisition ol recycled content, biobased, environmentally preferable and energy efficient products and services; Part 7 emphasizes consideration of the environmental and energy impacts of acquisition. EO 13101 requires agencies to consider the following factors in acquisition planning for all procurements and in the evaluation and award of contracts: “elimination of virgin material requirements; use of biobased products; use of recovered materials; reuse of product; life cycle cost; recyclability; use of environmentally preferable products; waste prevention (including toxicity reduction or elimination); and ultimate disposal.” 11 Section 6002 of the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires federal agencies to purchase EPA-designated products with recycled content and Section 9002 of the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act directs federal agencies to purchase USDA-designated biobased products. The chart found on page 10 indicates that a variety of federal agencies and facilities are using BPAs to purchase office supplies. Most BPAs give Agencies access to e-catalogs tailored to meet their needs. Agencies have demonstrated that the introduction of e-catalogs offers an opportunity to simplify access to environmentally preferable products and, thus, to increase their purchase. 10 E.O. 13101, Section 201 “E.O. 13101, Section 401 Introduction ♦ I This document illustrates how federal agencies have incorporated green purchasing into the e-procurement of office supplies by and for government workers. As noted in the acknowledgments, this report is based on interviews with procurement and environmental staff from a diverse group of government agencies and installations, many of whom already purchase green products through agency-specific e-catalogs. According to these agencies, some with several years experience with e-procurement, the benefits include: ease of use, reduced transaction costs, reduced product costs, supply chain efficiencies, enhanced tracking and reporting capabilities, quick and simple payment of invoices, enhanced controls over spending and authorizations, and reduction or elimination of the need to warehouse commonly used products. The report is organized around five major topics: ♦ The Status of Government Office Supply Purchases A discussion of how federal facilities currently purchase office supplies; ♦ Establishing a Green Office Supply Contract How agencies have integrated green requirements into their BPAs and provided access to office supplies via agency-specific e-catalogs; ♦ Choosing Green Office Products How agencies identify and select green products; ♦ Monitoring Green Purchases How agencies are tracking the purchase of green products; and ♦ Enhancing Green Purchasing Examples of green purchasing program outreach and training efforts Status of Government Office Supply Purchasing At the forefront of changes in government procurement is the way govern¬ ment agencies and facilities purchase office supplies. These changes are due to the typical small dollar value of individual office supply orders, the off-the- shelf availability of office supply products, access to these products via e- catalogs, and increased reliance on government Purchase Cards. Although individual office supply purchases are small, the overall size of this federal government market is huge. According to the Federal Procurement Data Center, the total dollar value of contracted transactions (greater than $25,000) for Office Supplies and Devices for fiscal year 2002 was nearly $141 million. 12 However, since most office supplies are obtained via micro purchases '"Federal Procurement Data Center , Agency summary for FSC Group 75, Office Supplies and Devices. 2 ♦ Buying Green Online (less than $2,500) made with Purchase Cards, the market actually is much larger than this figure indicates. EPA. for example, estimates annual office supply expenditures ol $5 million, or about 14 percent of its $35.8 million total purchases via nearly 2,000 A recent trend in federal office supply purchases is the development of BPAs with office supply vendors who provide access to products via agency-specific e-cataio I hr 1»1 A consolidates access to product offerings from large number of manufacturers and suppliers under a single contract. Purchase Cards. The Department of Energy’s laboratories recorded more than $34 million in Purchase Card transactions for office supplies, about 16 percent of a total $207.5 million in Purchase Card activity." The Army spends approximately $100 million on office supplies each year, or about 6 percent ot their *1.7 billion dollars in purchases via more than 100,000 Purchase Cards." In FY 2001, the U.S. Postal Service spent $125 million for office supplies, nearly 5 percent of their *2.6 billion total procurement of (roods and services. 1 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated that its 170.000 employees spend *85 million per year on non-electronic office supplies. DHS currently is developing green purchasing specifications tor a forthcoming solicitation. Agencies buy office supplies from a variety of sources including GSA Advantage, DOD E-mail, commercially owned catalogs, and brick and mortar stores. A recent trend in federal office supply purchases is the development of HFAs with office supply vendors who provide access to products via agency- specific e-catalogs. & The BPA allows procurement staff to use the contracting process to pre- select one or more vendors from whom workers purchase all office supplies. Ihe UFA consolidates access to product offerings from a large number of manufacturers and suppliers under a single contract. The individual customer is able to look through all of the product offerings and use an identification number or Purchase Card to order the exact quantity of each item they need, w len they need it. Customers may select products from paper or e-catalogs and purchase via telephone, fax, or the internet. The contracted vendor may become a partner in the design and maintenance of an agency-specific e-catalog, to ensure that the selection and presentation of products meets the current needs of the organization and is capable of responding to future changes in procurement requirements. The vendor also may provide a single point of contact who will work with a federal client to provide staff training '"'■Procurement and to resolve any problems. The contracted vendor under a in A IS usually paid by a percentage of sales of the products sold through the "Data on government Purchase Cards from Federal Supply Service, GSA Smart Pay Program Office included m the Federal Procurement Report. The Federal Procurement Report is ° available at P < I f tl(): //p u r c h a s e ca r d.» a a 11 . a r m y. m i I > GAQ-0 3-230 Contract Management, January 2003. 15 Introduction ♦ 3 Drivers for E-Procurement of Office Supplies According to federal agency staff interviewed for this report, the following drivers led them to establish office supply BPAs and provide access to office supplies via agency-specific e-catalogs: ♦ Cost savings; ♦ Reduced time spent on routine processing of orders; ♦ Improved tracking and monitoring capabilities; ♦ Increased availability of up-to-date product information; ♦ Ease of use; ♦ Increased ability to meet mandatory source-of-supply requirements; ♦ Increased ability to meet agency-specific purchasing goals; and ♦ Improved satisfaction of customers and procurement professionals. Cost Savings Micro-purchasing is the bane of any organization, since it involves high volume purchases of low dollar value items. As much as 80 percent of an organization’s purchasing volume may constitute only about 20 percent of the dollars spent, so procurement staff often spends an inordinate amount of time processing purchase orders and billing for small purchases. The National Association of Purchasing Management estimates the administrative cost of processing a typical paper purchase order is between $120 and $150, for an order usually worth less than $500. 16 The Institute for Supply Management estimates that the cost of an online transaction from requisition to receipt of product is 90 percent less than the cost of the same transaction via paper purchase order. 17 BPAs allow contracting officials the opportunity to negotiate competitive pricing, such as a given percentage reduction from the retail price for each item. Due to guaranteed volumes, contracted prices should be lower than GSA schedule prices. For example, The U.S. B PA that list. Department of Agriculture (USDA) negotiated a offers office supplies at up to 69 percent below the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) negotiated a BPA that offers office supplies at up to 69 percent below list. 18 The State of California established a BPA which gives them office supplies at 63 percent below list. The contract includes a one percent price incentive for payments made via Cal Card. To compete with brick and mortar stores, more and more BPAs incorpor¬ ate Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery provisions. As its name implies, a JIT agree¬ ment indicates that the vendor will deliver specific office supply items within an established time period. For example, in their Master Purchase Agreement H ‘Gov Tech Magazine , 1998, ' Personal communication from U.S. Postal Service, Office of Supply Management, September 15, 2003. '^Bulletin 02-200 Procurement and Property Division, Policy Branch, AFM/ARS 4 ♦ Buying Green Online for office supplies, the State of California requires the vendor to deliver the most commonly ordered office products to the customer within 24 hours. 19 BPAs with JIT delivery also offer substantial cost savings by eliminating the need for onsite warehousing. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) discovered that elimination of warehousing and secondary delivery of common supplies saved NUWC $0.36 per $1.00 on locally stocked items. Improved Tracking and Monitoring of Procurement Activities federal agencies have established vendor tracking and reporting requirements in their office supply BPAs, since merchants have line item detail (Uevel-3) reporting capability. Contracted vendors provide transaction data in a configuration that can be accessed, consolidated and formatted to help agencies manage, analyze and re¬ port on their procurement activities. Access to these data significantly improves an agency’s ability to document performance against green from the data we receive, we can monitor all recycled, mandatory source, small business, minority owned and best buy purchases from the BPA holder. We currently are running at about 65 percent of all purchases falling within these areas. ,/. Mix. Intramart Manager. V U II C purchasing requirements and socio-economic goals, such as purchases from Javits Wagner O’Day (JWOD) program sources or small businesses. These data also may assist in identifying areas where improvement may be needed John ffix, fntramart Manager at NUWC in Newport, Rf, noted that NUWC is using their commercially-owned, agency-specific e-catalog to pro¬ vide data on the dollars spent on green products, as well as products pur¬ chased from small, minority or woman-owned businesses and the National Industries for the Blind. One of NUWC s BPAs includes the following reporting requirements: ( ♦ Dady download including procurement request number, originating code, job order number, originator’s name, location and total amount of the procurement, as well as a description, unit price, quantity extended price, serial number and category of each line item. ♦ Monthly usage/sales reports which detail in chronological order each individual purchase including date, account number, item(s) description, and quantity. ♦ Quarterly electronic report of the above information organized by department. ♦ Quarterly electronic report of the above information organized by account or organization. ( ''Personal communication, Robert Riola. Introduction ♦ 5 ♦ Quarterly report on purchases of recycled products by category (i.e., paper ) and quantity. ♦ Quarterly report on purchases from small, disadvantaged and women-owned businesses. The Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in New Mexico has established separate BPAs for the purchase of printer toner car¬ tridges, office paper, and janitorial paper products (toilet paper, tissues, paper towels etc.) with small (8A), local businesses. SNL purchases all other office supplies via a BPA with national vendor, Boise Office Solutions. SNL staff purchases from all of these contracts via a single, federally owned, agency- specific e-catalog. With SNL’s Oracle-based online ordering system, all of the necessary tracking information (item, price, recycled content, vendor etc.) is already captured in the database through the ordering process. SNL staff reduces the data by performing key word searches in the Item Description field (i.e. searching for paper, toner, binder, etc.) and then downloads that data into a separate program that matches the unique product item number with the associated requirement(s). 20 Increased Availability of Up-to-Date Product Information Vendor catalogs contain a wide range of information including product descriptions and prices, vendor and manufacturer names, parts numbers and any unique attributes associated with the product. Several agencies cited the benefits of e-catalogs when compared to paper catalogs. They found that paper catalogs are cumbersome to search and frequently out-of-date. Since vendors update both commercial and agency-specific e-catalogs several times each year, adding new products and Anyone can place an order online. You choose the product you want, put it in your shopping cart, hit approve and it’s ordered. You don’t have to keep any paperwork. J. Romero , Raver, DOE/SNL price adjustments, e-catalogs are usually up-to-date and can indicate, immediately, whether an item is in the warehouse inventory or must be back ordered. In addition, while paper catalogs are vendor specific, agency-specific e-catalogs may provide access to thousands of items on multiple contracts in a searchable database. Some agencies still use both paper and e-catalogs; others, such as NUWC, allow r purchases of office supplies only via the e-catalog. Ease of Use E-catalogs are easy to use. Agency customers place orders from their desktop computers using screens that are familiar to them. Depending on how the agency-specific e-catalog is developed, each customer may be able to create a quick reference, personal list for those items ordered frequently. Contracted vendors generally guarantee desktop delivery of most items within 24 hours, and can process “no questions asked” returns online, as well. Procurement policies and restrictions can be built into the system, freeing the customer from concerns about buying prohibited items. In addition, procurement staff may have reduced responsibilities for initiating and managing micro-purchases. "Personal communication, Stacy Richardson, SNL, December, 2003. 6 ♦ Buying Green Online Drivers for Greening Online Ordering Systems The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world. Federal agencies can leverage this purchasing power to encourage the use of products and services that minimize consumption of raw materials, reduce waste and improve the quality of the environment. Federal agencies that have established BPA’s based on green criteria for office supplies have taken two approaches to incorporating these environmen¬ tal criteria into their e-catalogs: ♦ Identifying green products within a larger universe of products available by placing a symbol next to the environmental product’s entry in the catalog, or ♦ Limiting offerings to only those products with positive environmental attributes. The following drivers were cited by agencies successful in greening the product offerings in their agency-specific e-catalogs: ♦ Legal requirements; ♦ Improved access to green products; ♦ Increased purchase of green products; ♦ Improved tracking and monit oring of green purchases; and ♦ Improved environmental performance for the agency. Meet Legal Requirements As noted in the introduction, all federal procurement officials are required to assess and give preference to those products and services that are environ¬ mentally preferable. E.O. 13101 requires each agency to create goals for purchasing environmentally preferable products and to document progress toward meeting these goals. Section 6002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) directs federal agencies to purchase those recycled content products designated by EPA in the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG). 21 The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to designate biobased products and provide guidance tor purchasing those products, similar to the buy-recycled program under RCRA. USDA plans to designate products in multiple categories which may include fibers, paper and packaging, inks and plastics. Federal agencies will be required to purchase biobased products when price and performance equal that of competing products. Biobased products currently used by Federal agencies include soy-based inks, citrus-based and other biobased cleaning products, compostable food service products, absorbents, ethanol, biodiesel, lubricants, compost, and mulch. USDA also will establish a voluntary biobased “'For additional information on the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) visit < w w w. e p a. gov/c p g/> Introduction ♦ 7 products labeling program." Government agencies will track their purchases of biobased products and report on them to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (Ob PP) and the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE). EO 13123 specifies that Agencies shall select, where life-cycle cost- effective, ENERGY STAR 1 ' and other energy-efficient products. For product groups where ENERGY STAR® labels are not yet available, agencies shall select products that are in the upper 25 percent of energy efficiency as designated by FEMP. Agencies shall Purchases of recycled content products increased by S 106,000 in the fiscal year after the Naval Undersea Warfare Center's Intramart became the mandatory source for office supplies. ./. Hix. Intramart Manager. A UWC incorporate energy-efficient criteria consistent with ENERGY STAR- and other FEMP-designated energy efficiency levels into product specification language developed for Basic Ordering Agreements, Blanket Purchasing Agreements, Government Wide Accpiisition Contracts and all other purchasing procedures. 23 Under EO 13221, Agencies that purchase products that use external standby power devices or products that contain an internal standby power function should select those that use no more than one watt in their standby power consuming mode. If compliant products are not available, agencies should purchase products with the lowest standby power wattage. Improve access to and purchase of green products According to Kerrie O’Hagan, EPA’s National Purchase Card Program Manager, “EPA decided to make the agency’s BPA ‘green’ because of the opportunity to use our purchases to actualize our mission—to protect the environment. In addition to providing bulk discounts and improved tracking, our new BPA will make it easier for EPA Purchase Card users to buy green office supplies every time they make a purchase, increasing our overall green product purchases. It’s a win-win-win situation for us.” Some agencies have worked with their contracted vendor(s) to ensure that the products offered in their agency-specific e-catalogs meet or exceed all relevant environmental criteria specified in the BPA and to identify those green products for agency customers. Creating an e-catalog in which the available product offerings meet applicable agency green purchasing criteria eliminates the challenge of depending on each individual purchaser to select green products from the range of products available for purchase. The customer simply orders what he or she needs, confident that the selection is environmentally sound. John Hix reports that purchases of recycled content products increased by $106,000 in the fiscal year after the Naval Undersea Warfare Center’s Intramart became the mandatory vehicle for purchasing office supplies. 24 NASA’s Kennedy Space Center reported a 20 percent increase in purchases of recycled content products via the agency-specific e-catalog over one year. 25 "For further information on these reporting requirements, visit -3 For further information visit ''Personal communication, John Hix, NUWC, June, 2003. -'Personal communication, Shannah Trout, KSC, September, 2003. 8 ♦ Buying Green Online Improve Tracking and Monitoring of Green Purchases As stated previously, agencies are required to track and report on their green purchases. To comply with Section 6002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), beginning in John Hix, Intramart Manager at NUWC. notes that he is able to monitor purchases of recycled content products using data received from N UWC’s office supply vendor. FY 2004, all federal agencies will be required to report to OFPP and OFEE on their purchases of pro¬ ducts that meet the recycled content standards in EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines. 26 In addition, federal agencies will be required to report on their purchases of biobased products once those products are designated by USDA. These data will assist in the govern¬ ment’s annual review and monitoring of the buy recycled and buy bio efforts. The ability to generate reports that include line item (Level-3) detail on purchases of specific kinds of products will be essential to agency compliance with these enhanced reporting requirements. See Section 4.2, Transaction Data, for a complete description of procurement item details for Level-1, Level-2 and Level-3 data. Some agencies have found that having a BPA for office supplies simplifies the generation of reports of purchases of specific kinds of products since vendors can track and report on all purchases made through the pre-negotia- ted contract vehicle. An e-catalog makes it easy for vendors to generate line item detail (Level-3) reports on specific kinds of products purchased online, such as detailed reports on an agency’s green purchases. For example, John H ix, Intramart Manager at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center notes that he is able to monitor purchases of recycled content products using data received from NUWC’s office supply vendor. It is important for management and staff to understand the potential to use these data to identify opportunities for increasing green purchasing. Improve Agency Environmental Performance and Meet Agency Goals Many government agencies have established green purchasing programs and green purchasing goals as part of new or enhanced programs targeting sus¬ tainability, environmental stewardship and EMS. Individually, and in combin¬ ation, these internal requirements create opportunities to add environmental attributes to product performance, availability and cost as key factors in gov¬ ernment office supply purchasing decisions. Representative Federal Agency-Specific E-Catalogs While many of the federal government’s office supplies are purchased through GSA Advantage or directly from major office product company commercial e-catalogs or brick and mortar stores, the charts which follow summarize the findings front EPA’s research with representatives of federal agencies known to be purchasing office supplies through agency-specific e-catalogs, either at one facility or nationwide. Some of these agency-specific e-catalogs offer office products that meet green criteria, as established by that agency, for specific product categories. Most have focused on ensuring that the office products they buy meet EPA’s CPG recycled content levels. tor further information on these reporting requirements, visit Introduction ♦ 9 Representative Federal Agency-Specific Green Office Product E-Catalogs -o O g S s U 2 O £ = CL U 3 "D O u 0 . C t/i in ° £ 2 cu O -C (},/) T3 D c CL) CL (U U L. U & s. « a> CL ra to cl js — u 3 o £ 4 -* CL >“ >“ LL LL C C rN r^ rv. a x x _ 0 ) u "O cu lO 03 JZ u 1 — 13 CL X to to ra O -C g txo .E X O 4 -» E ra txo 2 -5 ro L_ 03 CX C £ E O to 03 i- X CU JZ cu cj U CL (U CJ L. 03 Q_ c D CL to to CL U c c 0 ) CJ 1 - O E CL) 4-4 U Q_ C o w CL i= O LO 03 O O O CN L. CU > O >“ 00 O c ra JZ ^ c C n 3 fc 4 -» M— JZ to O tO 4 -» Si [U ro k C to _ 0 ) 4 -* c 4 -» c cu -c 2 cu E u L. P £ u L- 0 C £.2 U X u 4 -J 03 , g lS| g .£ C L. 00 V 4 _ c 03 ra > to O i CU to c 1 txo 4 _J tO c 53 £ cu 0 ’4-* 0 to C to CU -C C L> tr l_ J— u c ra O D D CJ O L. 4 -» to O CU CU to I- 0 c $ t- , g. e o & 2 “■ 8? '§ « «- o w g h O fl . U S . r "o U ^ u c w u-ai_ >0J >*. 3 c 3 > o 3 n a o CL CJ CO V4- CU to O ^ rrl 5 CU -C CO txo u cu ra 5- lO L D _ cn c Q _ (D -C CU rj Z> : Q. Q. «j .£2 > X > cu X cu E o CL CU 03 U 'c o _cy .e 4i 8 s ■ ' ias ¥isjsII D S Q D OJ Qj 13 qj CU o CTX L_ CL L. CL *j ( f\ c o L. MS G > a: o o LO D rt % c ^ C CU 4 -» c o u 2 o 2 1 -i 2^ttl O Q_ u P ^ g ° g a- u 1 - o c -C cl ro u y tj -3 -Q 5 ; c 5f E to CU x £ o O cu x VJ ^ *-» c o U to p 1 - i* e «WD 3 O txo != ^ 3 nd u 4-» CU s 5 O 03 (U k > -c Q. ffl L 3> 5 ^ 7 ^ ^ . &■ i3 5 b ed £ ■o _3 c o *d > T X L. o 4-» CO X c 03 Z ra X c cO z X i_ 3 c _D X L. 3 c _D >s S- td £ S-. CL u 5 k w 4-» 0 CL 0 Q_ CU CU 4—4 £ CL *u Q ra L. 0 3 V) c Cj cu u 0 CL > 5E 0 0 u CL X aJ I S>-8 I I ~ E O o ti a> S3 E CJ y -o c 0) ro u ^ ^ c r~ p u « n P D L- lO • — CO __ o w ca cQ >> CJ _ u .ra — 03 U O o t£l 4-» CU — n p O Jf n VJ IU u - vE to Q_ LO o o 9- o CL D X U LU CU c o e £ CU E D CJ O Q to & X3 fg X _ c 03 03 LO CJ LO _ D O) X CL O 03 5 - 16 CU Q_ ra CL JD JJ IE J 52 w g 0L g £ oq E > $ -2 £ « .9- o Jz! tj a: g S CD E > or y It 11 to O) r- < 03 L -5 cfc z y *5 £fl x< J cu L. o X c CU > '5 j“ e -8 ^ ? S CQ E > •L u (d LL a » aj U _ S k b £ B “ t *i C « c >5 iu 7 Z D £ U e txo £ c p 5 _ *r (U C r ° 1.“ C P LU X L_ S 03 "ri ra ^ § -Q ^ 2 Z £ g E J 3 4 aj £ ° ro 2 ^-7 c ro — 1 9 Z " g Z ro nj —7 —7 n3 Q- Z Z _J 03 CL X ro S III? £ z J3 e* c (U 04 < o O D LU o 0 / 0 ♦ 8uy/ng Green Online Representative Federal Agency-Specific Green Office Product E-Catalogs (continued) T> O O as z >s J= © ~ s. 2 ¥ a. 5 . VI >S W E S- O Ql a- *i 5 | JO u IE 2 u rt u . >s O c Z u E ^ x ra ^ 2 X) i_ o *j *»0 O ro O (N C^rr fe. LT ^ ~ © 0 « >~ o C CO « d. ^ DO ^ W) Q) X C X X txo c _Q OJ L. t— C 'c 1 4-> 03 to L_ 03 L_ 03 L_ c jQ -C •* cr a a t C? c Q - o U to p u .E /7 ~ X) u cu Q_ to _D U c c CU CU i_ t>0 0) <✓} 4_J W) => . a) — to 3 S y 4) n C 3 -Q V re ^x ^ « fe c p re re jz O cL re w £ >v -O X (LI CL E _ LU CWJ O B H c r3 “O C n3 z ra l_ oo ( 9 x U LU 5 > « O < 00 ^ Q_ C L " CQ ± (U > X u c " LL >- LL 03 _C _ r- sO \£> CL L_ 03 +-» L- LO IX 0) (LI Q. XI -5 — ai c o o ^ x •s 3 0 -E § c > (U «j C < O C = ^ 2 1 l jQ to *_» r3 ~D O i3 ^ /n L. o CL oo 03 JO. _Q w u D CU u *-> to X c CU o 3 J3 03 to i_ o X c CL O _ 4-» ♦j X ~ 03 CL -C E 2 CL (J o c <-» 03 o u D CL u X L_ o &0 03 U E to a f® wroyn — me 2 c n 3 (J X c c cr != o ai c re 3 l l o L. CL CL re u *o JJ c U (U X u “O cu c . 8 U S 2 < m < z (U a) £ ^ XJ v) (U ^ Cl 00 > X re x _ c (0 I {! in n « in 2 • L_ L_ CL w u CL 03 " o .n (j u > — re c o 5! LU Q_ D , c re o = « c °-*- .P R o L. 3 CL u re er £ re aC (J Q. u 5 c _3 u 03 C v* J3 ^ c re U < LO < z Introduction ♦ / / Chart 2: Representative Federal Agency and Quasi Federal Agency Online Office Supply Systems 12 ♦ Buying Green Online Introduction ♦ / 3 . Section 2 Establishing a Green Office Supply Contract W F ederal agencies have found that green contracting language can easily be incorporated into an RFP (see example green criteria and contracting language in Appendices A and B). Some vendors already have experience offering access to green products via an agency-specific e-catalog through their work with the agencies featured in this report. Vendors are prepared to work with federal agencies to establish a green office supply BPA accessed via an agency-specific e-catalog that encourages and supports green purchasing. Through the contracting process, each agency can incorporate green criteria for the appropriate office products into a Request for Proposals (RFP) and evaluate potential office supply vendors on the basis of their ability to provide products that meet price and performance standards, as well as these environmental criteria. Our research has demonstrated that the following contracting considerations helped the agencies interviewed for this report develop green office supply contracts that are successfully serving the needs and goals of each agency’s purchasing culture. Agency Working Group The agencies interviewed for this report established contracts that resulted in agency-specific e-catalogs that meet the needs of all of their staff. This was accomplished by encouraging input from agency staff representing a wide range of diverse viewpoints. Each organization selected staff from appropriate organizations to participate in designing the BPA, based on the agency’s mission and agency procurement goals and targets. For example, within an organization, representatives of Environmental, Purchase Card, Procurement, Contracting, Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, (OSDBU) and Information Technology staff may work together to develop the criteria for the most effective mechanism to support e-procurement of green office supplies for that organization. Considerations for Multiple BPAs vs. a Single BPA EPA has selected a BPA with a single, nation-wide vendor for its office supply purchases. EPA anticipates that overall contract management, including tracking of purchases and updates EPA anticipates that overall contract management, including tracking of purchases and updates to the offerings on the system, will be more cost- and time efficient with a single BPA. to the offerings on the system, will be more cost- and time-efficient with a single BPA. EPA also is hoping to get the largest group dis¬ count possible for the office supplies they purchase by buying them through a single vendor. A potential disadvantage of a single BPA, however, is reliance on the resources of a single vendor for access to products. Other organizations, such as DOE’s Sandia Labs and DOD’s Naval Undersea Waifare Center, have established agency-specific e-catalogs for office supplies backed by a series of BPAs with both local and national vendors. % Establishing a Green Office Supply Contract ♦ 15 dlIr . , h contracted vendors provides a specific product or group of pro¬ ducts. and contractual arrangements ensure that vendors provide only those products that meet the agency’s environmental criteria. The system is .nvis'b'e to the customer who purchases through one agency-specific e-catalog that provides access to all available products. NUWC established The Intraniart I he Department of Energy’s Sandia National Labora- tones (SNL) m New Mexico established separate BPAs for printer toner cartridges, office paper, office supplies and janitorial paper products because they already had estab¬ lished positive relationships with local vendors of green paper products and renianufactured toner cartridges and wanted to maintain those relationships. SNL staff pur¬ chases from these contracts via a federally-owned, agency- specific e-catalog where employees select among only those products that meet SNL’s green criteria. to manage facility e-procurement. The office supplies section of the Intra¬ mart is based on BPAs with Office Depot and Corporate Express. Customers select products from commercially owned, agency specific e-catalogs offering more than 20,000 items, of which more than 4,000 are recycled content products. Use of the Intraniart is mandatory; NUWC staff , 7— . is not permitted to purchase office tZn r soo" r BPA CeS '| PU r haSeS "* limited t0 orders of less an $.,500 and the B1 As clearly state that the seller "shall not honor orders exceeding this limitation.” NTTWr Pu, ', hase Card is embedded into e-procurement system and all purchases are recorded onto this single Purchase Card. When placing an online order the mdiv.dual customer enters a job order number, which § coincides with the procuring organization’s account. Both Office Depot and ■orporate Express provide monthly reports on purchases. One staff person reconciles the vendor reports witli tile Purchase Card invoice. JIT delivery requirements ensure desktop delivery of office supplies within 24 hours. ' which enabled NUWC to eliminate costly warehousing of office products. At the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in i ew Mexico, purchasing staff worked hand-in-hand with the environmental program to establish separate, sole source, JIT BPAs for printer toner cartridges, otfice paper, office supplies and janitorial paper products (toilet paper, tissues, paper towels etc). Office paper, janitorial paper products, and toner cartridge vendors are separate local small businesses; the office supply contract is with a national vendor, Boise Cascade. SNL staff decided to adopt multiple ocal BPAs because they already had established positive relation¬ ships with local vendors of green paper products and remanufactured toner cartn ges and wanted to maintain those relationships. In addition, SNL requires delivery only to Albuquerque, NM locations. Direct local purchase reduces overhead and transportation costs and the environmental impacts of moving goods over long distances. SNL staff purchases from these contracts via a federally-owned, agency- specific c-catalog where employees select among only those products that ' meet s green criteria. A staff pollution prevention specialist identified green products and developed purchasing specifications that were incorpor¬ ated into the bid documents and the final contracts. The contract mechan¬ isms are invisible to the customers. The customer simply chooses from among le products oflered, enters a Purchase Card or project charge number and sends an electronic order directly to the appropriate vendor. Although use of / 6 ♦ Buying Green Online the e-catalog is voluntary, ease of use makes the e-catalog the most popular purchasing mechanism for SNL staff. SNL owns its e-catalog and, thus, manages the purchase data from multiple vendors. Some agencies may find it more challenging to compile and manage all office supply purchase data when the information comes from several sources. However, SNL is pleased that they have significantly increased their purchases from small (8A), local businesses through their agency-specific e-catalog. 27 Considerations for the Source Selection Process Price, performance, availability, and JIT delivery are common procurement standards. In addition, EPA and other federal facilities have created agency- appropriate specifications for green office products for inclusion in their Request For Proposals (RFP). Vendor selection requirements may include green criteria for the products in the e-catalog, vendor environmental performance and vendor ability to meet tracking and reporting requirements. For example, EPA’s RFP for a green online ordering system, issued on October 24, 2003 (see Appendix B), incorporates the existing Federal requirements (e.g., CPG and EPP) pertaining to green office supply purchases. It also allows for changes to be made as green purchasing knowledge advances—for example, adding biobased products after USDA’s biobased products list becomes available. Other agencies have requested that vendors provide evidence that they will: ♦ offer access to an acceptable range of green products; ♦ offer products that meet the agency’s green purchasing criteria; ♦ provide an acceptable level of detail concerning each product’s environmental attributes; 28 ♦ provide icons or other indicators in both paper and online catalogues to help staff identify and purchase environmentally preferable products; ♦ guarantee that the products offered meet price and performance considerations; and ♦ continually add more green products to the system. SNL awards contracts on a “best overall value’" basis, rather than net low price. One of their best value criteria was the vendor’s ability to assist SNL in meeting its green purchasing goals. Vendors are asked to provide the names of Our contracts generally are awarded on a “best overall value’’ basis, not low net price. One of the best value criteria was the vendor's ability to help us meet our green purchasing goals. ,/. Romero, Buyer. DO El SNL “ Personal communication, Jimmy Romero, SNL, September, 2003. " EPAs contracted office supply vendor requires its suppliers to self-certify that their products meet or exceed the agency's green specifications. Establishing a Green Office Supply Contract ♦ / 7 clients who can speak to their past performance in meeting similar green requirements for other customers. In addition to establishing green requirements for the products that will be available in the e-catalog, agencies have included other green selection criteria including whether the vendor: ♦ has trained key contract staff, including buyers, in green purchasing; ♦ can provide line item detail (Level-3) reports, including reports outlining CPG and EPP purchases; ♦ purchases green products for their own use; ♦ has an internal recycling program for appropriate materials; ♦ incorporates environmental considerations into contracts for janitorial services (e.g., less toxic cleaning products) and vehicle/fleet purchase and maintenance (e.g., use of alternative fueled and/or high MPG vehicles, re-refined or biobased oils, retread tires, aqueous degreasers etc.); ♦ has adopted an ISO 14001 or other Environmental Management System (EMS) or issued a corporate environmental policy; and ♦ participates in any Federal Agency voluntary environmental programs, such as ENERGY STAR®, WasteWise, Performance Track, or the SmartWay Transport program. 29 NIJWC Intramart Manager, John Hix, noted that they queried each vendor’s willingness to partner with NUWC in establishing and managing the agency-specific e-catalog. NUWC also asked how the vendor would measure results, improve reporting and increase the availability of green products. NUWC also considered whether the vendor’s point of contact would be readily accessible. Considerations for Mandatory vs. Voluntary E-Catalog Use At most agencies interviewed for this report, management has supported establishing purchasing restrictions to ensure that the vendor contracted through their office supply BPA, accessed via the agency-specific e-catalog, is the preferred source of supply. Since the e-catalog generally is easy to use, reduces administrative require¬ ments, offers preferred pricing and can provide access to products that comply with green purchasing standards, making use of the e-catalog mandatory has not been found to create a hardship for customers or procurement ' 9 For more information on the ENERGY STAR* program visit ; for WasteWise, visit ; for Performance Track, ; for SmartWay, / 8 ♦ Buying Green Online personnel. John Hix, the Intramart Manager at NUWC has found that requiring that purchases be made via the e-catalog supports efforts to gather valid data to better manage required programs. He notes that “you will never be able to provide an accurate evaluation of how well you are doing in meeting your green purchasing goals if you are missing vital information from purchases not recorded or unknown purchases.” Implementation of a mandatory e-catalog can reduce or eliminate the potential for loss of vital data if staff fails to document purchases and target increases in green purchasing. Some agencies where use of the agency-specific e-catalog is voluntary have found that a significant amount of additional staff time is needed to identify and track purchases made outside the system. In addition, these agencies have limited ability to ensure that staff obtains the lowest possible price or selects green products. Also, reduced purchase volume via the BPA may affect the agency’s leverage, in terms of system changes, prices etc., with the contracted vendor. Socio-Economic Considerations The federal government has established certain mandatory sources from which federal agencies must purchase products and services, if they are available. The Javits-Wagner-O Day (JWOD) Program, for example, creates jobs and training opportunities for people who are blind or who have other severe disabilities. JWOD sells a variety of office products via their com¬ mercially owned e-catalog (), and some agencies list JWOD products first in their agency-specific e-catalog, to encourage the purchase of these items. Some agencies block the purchase of products from other suppliers and automatically switch purchases to the item offered through a mandatory source of supply. Some purchasers have expressed concern that limiting purchases to green products might reduce the use of JWOD and other preferential purchasing programs, such as small, women-owned or minority-owned businesses. In fact, environmental considerations readilv co-exist with these other preference programs. . __ Some purchasers have expressed concern that limiting purchases to green products might reduce the use of JWOD and other preferential purchasing programs, such as small, women-owned or minority-owned businesses. In fact, environmental considerations readily co-exist with these existing preference programs. Through agency specific e-catalogs, agencies have been able to improve tracking and monitoring of their dollars going to JWOD and/or small business vendors, and even increase these purchases while simultaneously meeting their green purchasing goals. One federal facility, PNNL, purchases office supplies from small, minority-owned (and, in one case, local) suppliers of products from national office supply- companies. This allows PNNL to meet their small business purchasing goals, while providing staff with access to the large suite of products and low prices available from nationwide distributors. JWOD has worked hard to ensure that many of their office products meet the CPG recycled content standards. JWOD offers many common office sup¬ plies manufactured with recovered material, including: hanging file folders, clipboards, steno pads, pens, pencils, notebooks, binders, paper towels, nap- Estabushing a Green Office Supply Contract ♦ / 9 kins, and other paper products. Like any business, JWOD responds to customer demand. The more federal agencies request green JWOD products, the more JWOD will work to incorporate environmental attributes into its products and to communicate that information to potential purchasers. If agencies establish BPAs that include JWOD products that meet their green criteria, JWOD purchases may even \t Sandia Labs, all toner cartridges are purchased via a contract with a small, local business. The contract only allows the vendor to provide remanufactored toner cartridges that meet the agency’s green criteria. Those JWOD cartridges that do not meet these criteria are not available for purchase bv Sandia staff. ./. Romero. Buyer. DOE/SNL increase. Agencies can continue to 1 identify JWOD products as mandatory source items, meaning that customers must purchase those JWOD items that meet required green specifications. Some of the leading manufacturers of green products are small businesses. Some agencies have required office supply vendors to only sell green products made by small businesses for certain product categories via their agency specific e-catalogs. Others have created period of performance extension incentives for vendors to ensure that a certain percentage of dollars spent via their BPA goes to small business vendors selling green products. A potential resource for locating green small, women and minority-owned businesses is the Small Business Administration’s searchable Pro-Net database, which can be accessed at . In addition, small businesses that manufacture CPG-compliant products are now indicated on the EPA’s CPG Supplier Database at . 20 ♦ Buying Green Online Section 3 Choosing Green Office Products A s we have noted, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, or EPP, refers to the practice of buying products or services that have a lesser or reduced impact on the environment and human health, when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. 30 The purchase of green office products can have a significant positive environmental impact. The table, below, demonstrates the annual benefits to EPA of shifting from virgin paper to paper with 30 percent post-consumer recycled content and the increased annual benefits associated with the shift to paper with at least 50 percent post-consumer content in October, 2001. Environmental Impacts of Increased Post-consumer Recycled Content in EPA Paper Purchases . . \.>H ■■■. . ■ : - Change in percentage of recovered content in paper Trees Preserved* Energy Savings** Net Reduction in Atmospheric Emissions** Solid Waste Reduction** 0 to 30% post-consumer 5,71 1 3,999,479,000 Btus 499,176 lbs. 257,393 lbs. 30% to 50% post¬ consumer 11,348 7,946,859,000 Btus 991,850 lbs. 511,434 lbs. 0 to 50% post-consumer 17,059 1 1,946,338,000 Btus 1,491,026 lbs. 768,828 lbs. * based on Conservatree calculations at ** from Paper Calculator at Green purchasing may be as simple as buying paper with recycled content or as complex as considering the environmental impacts of each product at each stage in its life cycle—from Green purchasing makes my job more exciting. I'm doing more than just purchasing; I 'm trying to help protect the environment. Romero . Buyer. DOE/SNL manufacturing through use to disposal. Office products are made from many materials—paper, plastics, metals and a range of combinations and composites. As a result, the environmental impacts of the manufacture, use and disposal of office products are varied and complex. Agencies have taken a variety of approaches to buying green products. Some do the minimum to ensure that they meet the legal buy recvcled require- ments; others establish a broad range of green office supply specifications that emphasize the purchase of recycled content, less-toxic and less wasteful products. Each agency must determine its own green purchasing criteria. 30 For additional information on EPP visit Choosing Green Office Products ♦ 2 / Reliable Green Purchasing Criteria There are certain attributes that distinguish green office products from their alternatives. Green office products may be, for example, durable, recyclable, reusable, remanufactured, rechargeable, energy-efficient, and/or less toxic. Green office supplies may be EPA offers information, training and other resources on manufactured with biobased or procurement of environmentally preferable products at recycled content. Reduced g packaging and recyclable packaging .I. | I | I 1 1 II I I I |iff also are attributes of green office supplies. Green purchasing is a dynamic concept that, depending on the product category, will not necessarily be implemented in the same manner from agency to agency or even within one agency. But, there already are excellent green purchasing criteria established by federal, state and local government pioneers who have implemented pilot green procurement projects. Agencies have found that determining which environmental attributes to consider when making a purchasing decision depends on both federal requirements and the goals of their Green Purchasing Program. As the charts beginning on page 10 indicate, agency environmental staff assisted in establishing green purchasing criteria at DOE labs and NASA’s LaRC and KSC. See Appendix C for a list of federal agency environmental contacts. The following resources provide accurate, reliable information concerning green purchasing criteria currently used by federal agencies: EPA RFP EPA’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for an office products vendor, included as Appendix B to this report, provides reliable, up-to-date (as of October 2002) criteria for negotiating green purchasing standards for office supplies. EPA’s green purchasing criteria assure EPA’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for an office products vendor, included as Appendix B to this report, provides reliable, up-to-date (October 2002) criteria for negotiating green purchasing standards for an agency-specific e- catalog. that each product offered via the agency-specific e-catalog complies with the requirements of RCRA Section 6002 and E.O. 13101. To ensure that their green purchasing criteria maximized information on products readily available for purchase in the U.S., these green purchasing standards are based on existing standards or guidelines established by U.S. organizations or government agencies. It is understood that these criteria will be updated as the market¬ place expands, as new environmental attributes of concern arise, and/or when new standards/guidelines or other information become available. Agency personnel have begun to consider what will happen to a product at the end ot its useful life, as part of the procurement process. They recog¬ nize the importance of determining whether a material is recyclable in an agency or community recycling program and whether there is a collection or drop-off program to ensure that it will be separated for recycling. Many organizations are aware of products that the manufacturer will take back for disassembly and reuse. For example, SNL purchases toner cartridges that have been diverted from disposal, remanufactured, and resold by their 22 ♦ Buying Green Online contracted vendor. The vendor also collects used cartridges for recycling from SNL. EPA has included toner cartridge collection and remanufacturing requirements in their green office supply BPA, as many office supply vendors have experience operating toner cartridge recovery and remanufacturing programs. Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG) Program The CPG Program is a reliable source of information on buying products manufactured with recycled content. RCRA requires EPA to consider a variety of criteria to determine which items it will designate in the CPG: availability, the potential impact on the solid waste stream, economic and technological feasibility of producing the item, and other uses of the recover¬ ed material. EPA also considers comments from end users, manufacturers and other interested parties. The CPG provides a recommended range of recycled content for paper, paper products and non-paper office supplies. While many agencies are purchasing copy paper with 30 percent post-consumer recycled content, it’s important to recognize that EPA has recommended recycled content levels for a variety of office papers, including writing tablets and envelopes. EPA also has recommended recycled content percentages for non-paper office products. Non-paper office products include items such as binders, clipboards, file folders, presentation folders, plastic desktop accessories, office waste and recycling receptacles, printer ribbons and toner cartridges. New products are added to the list frequently. To comply with RCRA Section 6002, 100 percent of an agency’s purchases of these products should meet or exceed the EPA guidelines. Additional information is available from the CPG website . To view a database of product brands that meet the CPG recycled content guidelines go to < w ww.ergweb2.com/cpg/ user/epg_se arch. cfm >. Green Seal Choose Green Report: Office Supplies I he independent, non-profit certification organization Green Seal has issued the Choose Green Report: Office Supplies , which is available online at . The report addresses 11 product categories including: binders, clipboards, highlighters, markers and correction fluid, envelopes, file folders, index cards, labels, pens and pencils, presentation transparencies, self-stick notes, and toner cartridges. The Office Supplies report includes life cycle criteria; a listing of recommended products that meet these criteria, by brand and manufacturer; and sources where the environmentally preferable product is available. EPA has incorporated the Green Seal recommendations into its RFP. Green Seal recommendations for recycled content meet or exceed the CPG, and Green Seal also considers other environmental attributes, including durability and toxicity. Exposure to toxics can cause minor health problems, such as headaches or nausea, or can lead to long-term problems. There may be economic impacts for an organization when workers are absent due to illness or when chronic health problems affect their Choosing Green Office Products ♦ 23 daily pei formance. It s hard to imagine that common office products contain hazardous chemicals, but some do. Certain markers use aromatic solvents, for example, while others are water based. Some agencies have specified solvent- free markers, highlighters and The average compact fluorescent bulb lasts 8 to 10 times m correction fluid as well as PVC-free longer than any incandescent bulb. binders and chlorine-free paper and Green Seal Choose Green Report: paper products. Use of more durable products reduces the quantity of waste and the environmental impacts of disposal in incinerators and landfills. Procurement staff recognize the importance of reusable, refillable, rechargeable, remanufactured or otherwise more durable products and often compare warranties for office equipment to determine which products will provide the best service. The purchase of a product with a higher initial purchase price, such as rechargeable batteries or low-mercury compact fluorescent lamps, may be justified through a comparison of life cycle costs. Additional durable products include refillable pens, erasable wall calendars and reusable shipping containers. Compact h luorescent Lighting USDA As noted earlier, USDA will designate biobased products and provide guidance for purchasing products with biobased content in categories which may include: adhesives, construction materials and composites, fibers, paper, and packaging, fuels and fuel additives, inks, landscaping materials and composted livestock and crop residue, lubricants and functional fluids, paints and coatings, plastics (monomers and polymers), solvents and cleaners and sorbents. Many Federal agencies already purchase and use biobased products includ¬ ing biobased food service items, biodiesel, ethanol, cleaning products, and compost “tea for golf courses. For additional information visit or . ENERGY STAR* Under E.O. 13123 and 13221, those agencies that incorporate electronic equip¬ ment in their e-catalogs also should include energy efficiency in their green purchasing criteria, in particular, energy-efficient standby power devices. ENERGY STAR* is a voluntary partnership between EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE). More than 35 product categories qualify for the ENERGY STAR® label, indicating that they use less energy and reduce both energy costs and environmental impacts. Consider EPA’s ENERGY STAR* criteria and specifications for energy efficient office products such as copiers, printers, fax machines, and other electrical equipment. Product piocurement. information is available at . Information on products with low' standby power is available from the Federal Energy Management Program (I EMP) at . 24 ♦ Buying Green Online Other green purchasing resources such as case studies are available at . EPAs Database of Environmental Information for Products and Services is a searchable database of product-specific environmental standards and guidelines, as well as a vendor list of products that meet these standards. The database also provides links to contract language and specifications from a variety of gov¬ ernment sources. Price of Green Products Prices of green products vary depending on the volume of the purchases and the purchaser’s location but, overall, the purchase and use of green office supply products offers positive financial incentives for most federal agencies. Indeed, there may be measurable cost reductions associated with the purchase of certain green office supplies. For example, in 2002, King County, WA purchased 4,380 reman¬ ufactured toner cartridges for laser printers at a cost of approximately $140,000. The remanufactured cartridges meet original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM) standards and provide full performance guarantees. These purchases saved the County $280,000, as the cost of the remanufactured toner cartridges was approximately one-third the cost of the new cartridges they previously purchased. 31 DOE’s SNL, in calendar year 2002, saved approximately $154,000 by purchasing remanufactured toner cartridges from a small, local supplier. The cost savings was calculated based on SNL’s negotiated rate for virgin toner cartridges. 32 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has found that, depending on the model, the purchase of a remanufactured printer toner cartridge can save as much as 60 percent over the cost of a new cartridge. 33 The Massachusetts Buy Recycled Business Alliance notes that the cost of an original equipment cartridge for an HP Laser Jet 4 is $145 while the cost of the remanufactured option is between $65 and $80. Additional cost savings arise through the avoided disposal costs associated with recovering and reusing the toner cartridges. The common perception is that recycled copy paper costs significantly more than comparable virgin paper. However, EPA purchases processed chlorine free paper with a minimum of 50 percent post-consumer recycled content at per carton prices comparable to those of virgin paper. John Hix at NUWC notes that he has been able to keep the price of recycled paper close In 2002, King County. WA purchased 4,380 remanufac¬ tured toner cartridges for laser printers. These purchases saved the County $280,000, as the cost of the remanu¬ factured toner cartridges is approximately one-third the cost of the new cartridges they previously purchased. Karen Hamilton, King Corn 'Personal communication. Karen Hamilton, Environmental Purchasing Program. King Country Procurement & Contract Services, December 26, 2002. 3 -Personal communication, Stacy Richardson, SNL, September, 2003. Recycled Product Fact Sheet #3. Massachusetts Operational Services Division, February, 1999. Choosing Green Office Products ♦ 25 to the price of virgin paper for six years. 3 * The actual costs for the purchase of recycled copy paper manufactured with 30 percent or higher post-consumer content are determined by each agency or facility’s supply and delivery requirements. In cases where the green product is more expensive, agencies may he able to bring the cost down through volume purchases via an agencv- specific e-catalog. In addition, as demand for green products increases, the prices for these products are likely to decrease. Products that are reusable, more durable, or repairable may have a higher initial purchase price, yet the cost of these products over their useful life may be significantly less than disposable or single-use alternatives. Depending on the initial cost of a bulb, for example, the Federal Trade Commission estimates that it costs $2.60 less per year to power a compact fluorescent bulb than an incandescent bulb. 1 The purchase and use of less toxic products may reduce costs by minimizing potential health impacts and lost worker productivity. Performance of Green Products Many government agencies still remember the first recycled paper products introduced in the late 1980s. The paper was a darker color and did not per¬ form very well in printers and copiers. Some agencies also had negative experiences with the first EPA Region 3 uses copy paper with 100 percent post ¬ consumer recycled content and has had no problems with this paper in printers or copiers. remanufactured toner cartridges. However, green products have come a long way since the initial introduction of recycled products. Today, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) maintains a list of qualified high-speed recycled copy papers that meet stringent specifications including: a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer recycled fiber, being free of lint and fuzz, and having not more than one paper-caused jam per 5,000 continuous copies. EPA Region 3 uses copy paper with 100 percent post-consumer recycled content and has had no problems with this paper in printers or copiers. The State of North Carolina s Division of Pollution Prevention and Environ¬ mental Assistance reports that, in blind tests, 100 percent post-consumer recycled content paper actually performed better in copiers and printers than paper with 30 percent post-consumer recycled content. 36 The six federal agencies (DOD, DOE, GSA, NASA, VA and DOT) that were required to report on their purchases of recycled products indicated that 34 percent of toner cartridge purchases specified a remanufactured cartridge. According to Karen Dickerson, Computer Specialist with EPA, “the remanufactured toner cartridges we purchase are nationally rated for print quality and offer performance above and beyond many other companies. If you get a bad cartridge, the company replaces it free of charge. In the four "Personal communication, John Hix. NUWC, June, 2003. 3 Green Seal Choose Green Report: Compact Fluorescent Lighting, p. 1 . ,6 Personal communication, M. Giuranna, EPA Region 3 26 ♦ Buying Green Online years that I have been buying cartridges, I have had four defective cartridges (which is one a year).*' Staff at New York City's Department of City wide Administrative Services found that remanufactured toner cartridges they tested actually printed a higher number of quality pages than their OEM counterparts. 37 Many agencies have involved staff in product testing before making a commitment to a green product. Kristin Poultney of SAIC, the Environ¬ mental Contract Manager at NASA LaRC, found that product testing helped to break down a lot of barriers with people who thought recycled products were inferior. “It’s difficult to get people to change from a familiar product to something new; it’s easier to show them—to buy the product and let them try it. We had blind product testing with evaluation criteria and forms to fill out and they couldn’t tell the difference between the virgin product and the recycled product.” Purchasing Restrictions Many organizations restrict purchases to those that meet their environmental criteria (See Charts, pages 10—13). John Hix reports that at NUWC the system shows all available products. If you try to purchase an item that has a green substitute, the system notifies you that you are trying to purchase a restrict- ^ ed product and directs you to the green alternative. At DOE’s SNL, the vendor contracts are limited to green products. Buyer James Romero notes, “We have control over what is and isn’t entered on our supplier’s catalogs. Thus, each supplier customizes their on-line catalog for Sandia. In the case of office products, the vendor is instructed not to include certain blocked items in their catalog.” Sandra Cannon of DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory stated: “We did not restrict the on¬ line system to only the CPG pro¬ ducts, which means that staff can choose a virgin instead of a recycled product. Some federal organizations have made that restriction and their life is much easier.” At NASA Langley Research Center, Kristin Poultney, SAIC, Environ¬ mental Contract Manager, noted, “If someone tries to buy the virgin product, it automatically goes to the product with recycled content. The purchaser has no idea that the block is in place.” Decisions about how much information to provide to customers may be driven by the agency’s mission. EPA, for example, has elected to market to EPA purchasers the fact that EPA’s agency-specific e-catalog will offer only a green product in those product categories for which green products are ''Memo from Carol Green, DCAS, 1999. We did not restrict the online system to only the CPG products, which means that staff can choose a virgin instead of a recycled product. Some federal organizations have made that restriction and their life is much easier. Sandra Cannon DOE, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory At NUWC, the system shows you all of the available products. However, if you try to purchase an item that has a green substitute, the system notifies vou that the product is restricted arid directs you to the green alternative. ./. Ilix, Intramart Administrator, NUWC Choosing Green Office Products ♦ 27 available. Other agencies have taken the opposite approach and give pur¬ chasers no indication of the environmental attributes of the products on their system, although only green products are offered. DOE’s SNL staff is concerned that purchasers who are We don't market that this is a way to buy green products. Vs long as it works for them, as long as it meets their quality standard, they don’t care whether it’s recycled or not. ./ Romero , Buyer. DOE/SNL aware that they are buying green will focus on product performance flaws. Buyer James Romero points out: “People don’t even realize, as much as possible, that we’ve converted to recycled [products]. All they see is this is the product, these are the colors you can pick, this is the price, enter your project and task number and it will arrive on your desk in three days. We don’t market that this is a way to buy green products. As long as it works for them, as long as it meets their quality standard, they don’t care whether it’s recycled or not.” 28 ♦ Buying Green Online Section 4 Monitoring Green Purchases T he agencies interviewed for this report have given careful attention to the reporting capabilities of their contracted office supply vendor or vendors to ensure that they receive a range of data on what the organ¬ ization purchases, who makes those purchases, and the dollar value of green purchases as a subset of overall office supply purchases and procurement expenditures. These data allow agencies to comply with the federal govern¬ ment reporting requirements discussed earlier in this report. In addition, agencies may require that their individual As of I Y 2004, all federal agencies must report on facilities and installations comply purchases of recycled content products. The 2002 Farm with internal reporting requirements Bill mandates reporting on biobased purchases as well. as part of the agency Affirmative mm .. . ... i n. . . . .i . . . . Procurement (AP) Program or to meet EMS objectives and targets. Beyond these requirements, monitoring the office product purchases made by agency customers can identify opportunities to assist customers with green purchasing, as well as opportunities to improve an agency’s e-catalog offerings to ensure that the e-catalog meets customer needs. Tracking Green Purchases Through the contracting process, agencies define those attributes, such as purchases of recycled content or less toxic products, for which reporting data will be required and determine the kinds of data needed to meet external and internal reporting and other requirements. Office supply vendors are able to provide data on both the dollar value and the quantity of purchases of, for example, products that meet CPG requirements, or products that go beyond CPG requirements, such as 100 Through the Intramart, Office Depot and Corporate Express provide data on total purchases of printing and writing paper and the percentage of those purchases that met the CPG guideline of 30 percent post-consumer recycled content, by procuring office or organization. J. IIix. Intramart Manager NUWC percent recycled content, processed chlorine free paper. As discussed previously, vendors also can provide data to track socio-economic requirements including purchases from specific suppliers, such as small businesses or JWOD. To evaluate the effectiveness of your green purchasing program, it’s important to have the capability of tracking purchases of individual products, such as copier paper, as well as broader categories, such as overall purchases of paper and paper products manufactured with recycled content. Some organizations have found it useful to associate each specific green purchase with the various organizational levels in which the purchase was made (e.g., shop, group, installation, and agency). SNL tracks purchases by project, while NUWC data is organized by the procuring organization. This allows procurement and environmental staff to identify and recognize those organizations that have an exemplary green purchasing program, as well as those that may need assistance in implementing or improving green purchasing. Monitoring Green Purchases ♦ 29 Transaction Data Vendors who accept Purchase Cards can provide different levels of data for transactions. Level-1 includes onlv basic information such as the date, total amount of the purchase and the vendor s name. Level-2 adds items such as shipping charges, tax and purchase order number. Level-3 refers to line item data which includes detailed specific purchase information, such as an item description, quantity, unit-of-measure, per unit price, and sales tax, combined with merchant information. Level-3 data provides significantly more informa¬ tion about each purchase than a standard Purchase Card statement. Generally, vendors provide only Level-1 or at most Level-2 data. Some office supply vendors are able to provide Level-3 data for purchases made via an agency office supply BPA. For tracking and reporting purposes, the agencies interviewed for this report collect Level-3 data for their office product purchases from the contracted vendor. This includes information about the specific products purchased (item name, manufacturer, quantity, per item cost) as well as the green attributes of those products. If staff uses only the agency-specific e- catalog for office supply purchases, the agency is able to use vendor supplied data to track and report on all purchases. If staff makes purchases from a variety of vendors outside the office supply BPA, it is not always possible to obtain Level-3 data for those purchases. In some cases, an agency uses account numbers for tracking purchases via the e-catalog, but also allows individual customers to purchase office supplies from brick and mortar stores or other sources, using a Purchase Card. These external purchases may create costly tracking and monitoring challenges. For example, DOE’s SNL tracks e-catalog purchases via project numbers. Buyer James Romero notes that Purchase Cards provide a mechanism for individuals to make purchases from vendors that do not have BPAs with SNL. He notes, “we went to the trouble of setting up these green contracts and our vendors expect a certain level of business from us. I’m positive that the majority of our purchasers use the e-catalog; it works really well for us. People should be reluctant to use their Purchase Cards to make purchases outside the system when they’ve gotten so spoiled with our e-catalog." At DOE’s INEEL the customer is required to complete an electronic receipt for each purchase made outside of the e-catalog and to indicate whether the item purchased met the lab’s environmental criteria. These electronic receipts must be verified by procurement staff to document that all purchases meet government guidelines. A significant outlay of staff time is required to confirm that staff followed the INEEL purchasing guidelines. Vendor Role in Tracking and Monitoring Perhaps the easiest and most accurate method of tracking green purchases is monitoring actual orders using data provided by the contracted office product “We went to the trouble of setting up these green contracts and our vendors expect a certain level of business from us . . .People should be reluctant to use their Purchase Cards to make purchases outside the system when they’ve gotten so spoiled with our e-catalog." Jimmy Romero, SJ\L 30 ♦ Buying Green Online vendor. As we have noted, the major office supply vendors are familiar with tracking and monitoring requirements and experienced in providing a wealth of detailed information regarding office product purchases. Once particular products have been tagged as green products, there are seemingly limitless possibilities as to what can be tracked. This can include aggregating and reporting green purchases at various organizational levels over various time intervals (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or annually). With e-catalog data, it also is possible for an agency to track and report on green purchases as a component of overall purchases within a particular product category, and to generate reports showing the volume of purchases of CPG compliant, biobased or otherwise green products. It is even possible to identify opportunities for additional green purchasing. Tracking can best be accomplished using detailed information on indivi¬ dual purchases, provided by the contracted office product vendor, based on purchases via an agency-specific e-catalog. The issuing bank can provide a consolidated record of purchases made with Purchase Cards, but these records currently provide only the dollar amount spent with a particular vendor. If your organization has thousands of Purchase Cards in use, the process of verifying all purchases and confirming compliance with green purchasing requirements creates an administrative burden. It’s important to note that if your organization still uses charge accounts to pay for office supply purchases, the same approach to tracking by either product name or key terms can be used. NASA currently is implementing an agency¬ wide financial software system that will integrate with Purchase Card Solutions software to track Purchase Card use. According to Kim Dalgleish, former NASA Agency Credit Card Manager, staff are investigating approaches to ensuring that green purchases are monitored within the new svstem. J Agencies have found that their office supply vendor is the most critical player in efforts to monitor green purchases. By establishing tracking and reporting requirements as part of the vendor contract, the office supply ordering system should be able to deliver the data to meet all monitoring and reporting needs. The key to success is up-front planning. It includes working with the vendor to ensure their understanding concerning products you want tracked, what information you want regarding individual purchases, and how you want this information aggregated and reported. The State of California's office supply contract requires the vendor to prepare a report on the quantity and dollar amount of green purchases for any office, on demand. Ii. Riola, Lead Buyer, Slate of California Monitoring Green Purchases ♦ 31 . . Section 5 Enhancing Green Purchasing A gencies have found it useful to work with the vendor as w r ell as pur¬ chasers and Purchase Card holders to ensure that everyone agrees on the organization’s green purchasing requirements, objectives and expectations. Through the contracting process, each agency can decide whether and how to ensure that the office supply vendor(s) identify the green office products that are available and block the purchase of non¬ green products when green substi¬ tutes are available. A key provision is the requirement that the vendor identify and test new green products so that they can be added to the e-procurement system. EPA created a period of performance extension incentive to encourage their office supply vendor to continue to seek out new products that meet the EPA green purchasing criteria and make them available for purchase through the contract. The key to a successful green purchasing program is cooperation. The agencies participating in the development of this report recognize outreach to the organization and staff training as key to continuous improvement in green office supply e-procurement. Each agency’s environmental staff is familiar with green products and can be instrumental in continual improve¬ ment and expansion of the green office products offerings through the BPA and via an agency-specific e-catalog (See Appendix C for Agency contacts). Procurement and contracting staff manage the tools that make green pur¬ chasing possible. Green purchasing requires buyers and other procurement staff to add detailed knowledge about the environmental impacts of pro¬ ducts, materials and services to their proficiency in standard purchasing evaluation criteria like price and performance. Employee Training If purchases are limited to the BPA, which offers only those office products that meet all environmental criteria, staff may not require specific training to allow r them to select the green pro¬ ducts. However, if agency staff selects among a wide range of pro¬ ducts from a variety of vendors, and 01 dy some of the products offered are green (both recycled content and virgin paper products are available, for example), then all customers should be made aware of their responsibilities under RCRA Section 6002 and E.O. 13101. Some examples of federal agency training in green purchasing include: At Sandia National Labs, Purchase Card holders must attend a mandatory two-liour training session. The training includes information on what t hey cannot buy as well as a detailed presentation about green products and why they have to buy certain items with recycled content. S. Richardson, P2 Coordinator , DOE/SJ\L mm EPA created a period of performance extension incentive to encourage their office supply vendor to continue to seek out new products that meet EPA’s Green purchasing criteria and make them available for purchase through the contract. Enhancing Green Purchasing ♦ 33 ♦ The National Park Service, Pacific Region has initiated Environmental Contracting training for 40 Pacific West Region procurement/contracting officers and project managers. ♦ EPA offers an interesting online introductory EPP training that introduces EPP concepts in a government procurement context at < www. e p a. gov/o p p t/e pp/gent t/i ml ex. h t m >. ♦ Shannah Trout, Dynamac, Recycling and Affirmative Procurement Specialist, reports that staff of Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s Principal Center for Recycling and Affirmative Procurement, are responsible for keeping NASA personnel up-to-date on environ¬ mentally preferable procurement. Some of the tools NASA uses to increase awareness include: ♦ Procurement Information Circulars (PICs), the official NASA procurement rules for buyers. Affirmative Procurement requirements are addressed in PIC 01-20, 01-27 and 02-12, item 78 ; ♦ Quarterly video conferences featuring new products and EPP success stories, attended by representatives of environmental, procurement and property disposal from all NASA centers; and ♦ Site visits to three NASA Centers per year to provide focused environmental purchasing training for procurement and contracts personnel, as well as staff in facilities and logistics. ♦ The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, in conjunction with OFPP, EPA and DOE, is working with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to create an on-line green purchasing training course with separate tracks for Purchase Card holders and contract management officers/specialists. This course will be available in calendar year 2004 on OPM’s GoLearn e-learning site. Outreach to Customers Federal agencies have used a variety of methods to notify top management and all potential customers of the availability of a new opportunity to buy office products from their desks via an agency-specific e-catalog. Here are some recommended approaches: Give potential users a heads up EPA used Buylines, an electronic newsletter, to notify Purchase Card holders nationwide of the green office supply BPA and the forthcoming agency- specific e-catalog. Hold a BPA Signing Ceremony On Tuesday, December 9, 2003, EPA held a signing ceremony for their new Green Office Products BPA with Corporate Express. The ceremony was attended by EPA’s Assistant Administrators (AA) for Pesticides Prevention and Toxic Substances and Solid Waste and Emergency Response, as well as 34 ♦ Buying Green Online the Deputy A A for Administration and Resources Management and key staff. The signing ceremony provided ail opportunity for EPA to celebrate the agency’s commitment to buying green products, including ofice supplies. Issue a policy statement EPA has created a variety of green purchasing goals to reduce the agency’s environmental footprint. EPP goals for office supplies and other products were distributed to all employees on Earth Day, 2003 via office-wide e-mail. For more information, visit . Keep employees informed of reduced environmental impacts from their green purchases Some agencies maintain a flow of information about green products and green purchasing. NASA Ames Research Center, for example, keeps staff informed of its efforts to increase the use of 100 percent post-consumer content, processed chlorine-free paper through articles in Astrogram, center- wide e-mails and special events. Send regular green purchasing bulletins to all staff, contractors and vendors King County,WA issues regular bulletins describing successful EPP efforts; read them at . EPA sent an E-mail from the Office of Administration and Resources Management (0ARM) to all EPA employees announcing their new office products BPA and agency-specific e-catalog. A copy of this announcement is included as Appendix D to this report. Create an informational display or kiosk EPA created a demo “green office’" which was placed at the entrance to the Agency s Office of Administration and Resource Management. NUWC in Newport, RI holds an annual Earth Day event to publicize the staff’s green purchasing options. 38 Issue annual [or more frequent] reports on green office supply purchases NUWC and Sandia National Labs use tracking data to create graphs and charts that document green purchases as a percentage of total agency office supply purchases as well as total procurement dollars. Include green purchasing in training Take advantage of new employee orientation and other regularly scheduled agency training sessions, including required training for Purchase Card holders, to promote your office supply BPA and the concept of green purchasing. !K Many federal facilities host exhibits and events for Earth Day and/or America Recycles Day. Past winners of the White House Closing the Circle Award for Education and Outreach use these events to promote their facilities' green purchasing efforts. Enhancing Green Purchasing ♦ 35 Include green purchasing on the agenda Agencies have begun to encourage staff to include green purchasing as a line item on the agenda for briefings to upper level management, and for regular meetings of the Environmental Compliance or Quality Committee, Safety Committee, Contracts Customer Relations Committee (CCRC) and other organizations. At EPA, the Assistant Administrator for OARM distributed a fact sheet describing the green office products RPA to all EPA AAs at their regular monthly meeting and highlighted the Agency’s green purchasing efforts at the annual EPA Acquisition Conference. Hold an interactive teleconference Teleconferences are an excellent tool for sharing information with multiple organizations within your agency. Staff from the NASA Principal Center conduct quarterly video conferences with all NASA Centers to discuss affir¬ mative procurement concerns. DOE holds monthly national green purchasing teleconferences for their green acquisition advocates. EPA announced develop¬ ment of their system on their Contracts Customer Relations Committee teleconference and holds monthly national “Greening EPA” conference calls. Recognize and reward efforts to enhance the online system Tour green purchasing efforts may be able to receive agency or government¬ wide recognition. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 6 received a 2003 White House Closing the Circle Award based, in part, on initiating the use of 100 percent post-consumer recycled content, chlorine-free copier paper in the regional office and the field stations and coordination with Region 6 contract¬ ing and general services to ensure waste prevention and green procurement are incorporated into all contract documents. NUWC also received a Closing the Circle award for their green office supply BPA. To apply for a Closing the Circle award, go to . 36 ♦ Buying Green Online Section 6 Conclusion his report illustrates how representative federal agencies purchase environmentally preferable products through BPAs accessed via agency-specific e-catalogs. For those government agencies seeking to establish or enhance BPAs for office supplies or other products, this report hopefully has identified significant opportunities to increase and better track and manage green purchases through these vehicles. In addition to increasing green purchasing, e-procurement through BPAs also allows federal agencies and other institutional purchasers to reduce costs, streamline the small purchase process, and improve tracking of purchases to meet green, socio¬ economic and internal reporting requirements. Research done for this report found that at least 16 BPAs for office supplies have been put in place by federal facilities or federal agencies to date. Some of these entities, such as DOE’s SNL, PNNL and INEEL, DOD’s NUWC and NASA’s KSC and LaRC, have successfully greened their office supply purchases by greening their office supply BPAs. EPA is in the process of implementing their new agency-wide BPA for office supplies, which builds on the efforts of some of these early pioneers by limiting the products available for purchase to those that meet the agency's green criteria (see Appendix A). EPA is anxious to learn more about federal agency efforts to buy greener products and services through BPAs for office supplies and e-procurement. Please contact Holly Elwood at elwood.holly@epa.gov to let us know how you are greening the procurement process. ; Conclusion ♦ 37 Appendix A PEPA roduct Specific Green Purchasing Criteria c o ■Jj i E o c -o — C 1- -C i. 3 LL vO LO 00 CO I ^r NO LO I fNj O fN L. rq u 3 cx: y a c o U . fell IS 1/1 c 2 O o E J= 3 “* S « O i. la JC > 1"“ c UJ T3 5a rt xi c C3 4-> in in o u CD ^ o o ^ o o 35 (N fN c c c c CD (D CD CD W c 4-J c 4-J c 4-4 c 4-» c 4-J c 4-4 c o CD o CD o CD o u 4-* CJ 4-4 u 4-» u L_ C L_ C L. c L CD o CD o (D o CD E u E CJ E CJ E 3 X) 3 TD 3 X) 3 to CD to CD CO (D to C L C 1— C L. C o u i > o o u i CD > O o u ■ CD > O o CJ i 4—» u 4-4 CJ 4-» u 4-4 to 0) to CD CO CD to o L_ O L_ O L_ O CL CL CL CL O ^ O O — NO cici ^r o ^ o o — VO m m c c J) o CL o o “ ^ o c o u E 3 to C o u £ s* £ § i - LO c d) w c O u TD CL) O CL C cd 4 -» c o u L_ CD £ 3 CL) > O u CD C o u . o CL g \o O ON O LO 35 O cj CD L_ CD E D to C o u O CL 0"N sn O LO O J, 7 CD L_ CD > o u CD C CD *-> C o u L. d) E 3 to C o u O CL o m I LO (N ■hi g o I O LO m rN c CD 4 -* +s C C o CD U c o u TD CD l_ CD > O u CD O CL O O JC H c X u "5 CL i_ CD CL fT3 CL LO "O -o rt o Z u- Q> V/5 01 X W) 3 U § 8- - u £ to t3 3 TJ O v. CL 3 to to F 10 13 to 3 T> C U Q_ u CD 3 o Q_ u Q. u .2 to CO C V_ CD CL ro CL u L. O M C JC £ •a c rt o -Q u v 3- 0. d) c '3 c o V TD CD 4-» (TS txo 3 O U O Q_ u CD X o -Q L_ CD _Q O UD Appendix A ♦ 39 Product Categories Products Included in This Green Standard/ Standard Environmental Vendor List/ on Core List Category Guidelines Attributes Thresholds Further Information 4-» c c cu > o 4-4 OO o o OO O CL u CL u o cu Sp¬ cu L_ as o op *s o o T o T o o o m *— 4-F c cu 4-» c o cj XJ (D t_ CU > o u CU c CU 4-> c o cj L. CU £ D oo C o cj O Q_ o o o o 5 tA O' 4-T C CU 4-4 c o u X> CU &_ CU > o u a c cu w c o u i_ cu £ D oo C o cj O CL LO LO 4-T c cu 4-4 c o u c CU 4-» c o cj cu -1 o CJ o CJ cu L_ as as o o (N I m m c cu 4-4 c o u L. cu £ 3 00 c o u o CL 4-4 c 4-» c cu 4—4 c o 4-r c 4-4 c cu 4-4 c o 4-» C 4-4 c cu 4-4 c o 4-4 c 4-» c cu 4-4 c o 0_ cu 4-4 c o u 4-4 c cu 4-4 c o cu CJ cu CJ a u cu CJ ~u CJ 4-4 c L_ (U 4-4 c L_ cu 4-4 c L_ s_ CU o u £ o u E o CJ £ o CJ E £ T3 D uo “D D 00 ~U D oo TD D oo o u ZJ oo (U C CU C CU C CU C cu C o CJ i L CU > o CJ L CU > O CJ i L CU > o u L. o u 1 o 4—4 o 4J o 4-4 o 4J o 4-4 u cu 00 O u O as o O o O o O o o £ o m m m ro m m ro m m X> O u cu c cu 4-> c o u o CJ c LU L. 0) o. u u 0 £ c o i— O u H ■4— ’ c i_ 04 4-» C L. 04 +-» c L_ 04 +-» c t_ 04 4-» C i_ 04 OJ C L_ 04 4-J c L_ 04 L* c j_ 04 X L. 04 04 4-4 o u ~a E D o u X £ D v) o u XJ E D i/> o u X E 3 IS) o u X £ D 00 o u X £ D to o u X £ D 00 o u X £ 3 to 04 L. 04 > £ ZJ IS) □ 04 C 04 C 04 C 04 C 04 C 04 C 04 C 04 C o C -Q L S < L. 04 > o u 04 L_ o u 1 +J oo o Q_ J_ 04 > O u 04 l_ o u i *-> oo O CL t_ 04 > O u 04 L_ o u • w 00 O CL i_ 04 > O u 04 L. o u 1 4-* 00 o Q- L. 04 > O u 04 L- o u 1 w 00 O CL L. 4) > o u 04 s_ o u ■ 4-» to O CL L 04 > O u 04 i_ o u i 4-» 00 o CL L- 04 > o u 04 L. o u i 4-» 00 o Cl U 04 i_ O LT) o u ■ 4-» OO o CL ctf 1 o ro O m O ro O ro o o o O o ro o ro O O O O o ro O ro o fN O rsl c 04 t? o c o u X 04 L. 04 > o u 04 o o to (N c 04 w t? o rr i i o CL c o u X 04 L. O u 04 O Q. O O to 04 a c a 4-» c o u “D GJ o u 04 c 04 4-» c o u L_ 4) £ D oo C o u j5 -n 4) c £ ro E o o a. 2 § 04 04 04 CL n Q. X jy u X u 04 L- o o o Ql o “U f3 «/> “O C) c c 43 to Ctf W L O O Q. u o n D n Q. o Q. o Q_ o 0. o_ CL a 0. Q- u u u u u u u u U u os a; m c <14 <14 L. u £ T3 O u X c 03 4-» X ,04 x 04 L. 04 X C _04 ra u L. 04 CL 3 on X) o o £ X c 3 o L &0 XI 04 04 C In u os z 04 1_ 04 4-> 04 CL n3 Q_ $ u u O 3 X 4-» to 04 O s_ X i_ 00 £ rt 00 00 _04 CL tM) C C4 U X c X 1— 03 -X U w X 04 4—» o Z IS) X 04 C o 03 o .n c OJ w u 04 _C 4-» fT3 o _Q s_ a X 04 X X 04 X IS) IS) 04 l_ to txo 00 O U U U Q c Q_ 1- CL. T o ^ 8? j « « u £ -w (J u 3 C TJ O O 1. CL L. 04 a. rt CL t- +•» 04 U *■§ 0 2 is a. Appendix A 41 VJ .gj xx ■a. <-o CD VJ & o o QJ Q£ C £ O o o $ C E c o v. '> c tu "O i- rt ■D c fU •w V) vi •a VI CJ VI 3 -Q u ^2 c nJ E t/> o CD c w E 00 CD a) L * &0 vj fa rt l cx rd u fc c CD -L-* c o u X JD U X U QJ ^ fa X L. v w u c a a) ^ E 8 g I c rd c U .*= u Q_ Y CD ■a _c CQ XI c rd (D Q- rd CL CD CD I/O l_ O c o £> £ 5 2 *- c 3 b o b (D •E si u “■ do O S! £ -u D “O CD o Cd O O £ i- CD CD CL i_ j_ \p QJ 0\ ** u CD X £ c § CL ^ -g b -o -O n> to to _c rd j-» -* * ■p N rd O JD JI rd •*-* L < I xfa CD L* CD X CD L- CL E JZ 4-J u D —> VJ c rd JD JD CD C L O U 1 *-» JD L CD VJ CL O o rd CL CL u _c 4- > *4-» rd > s_ CD X CD C _c u rd ♦2 rd * < C . CD X JD U >v U to S o i- a. Is <*s £ o rd 5 -£ -C 2 .t; b * Yd XJ Q_ 1 - b -3 CD "S CD £ L. o *-5 Q. u fa CD a. L o E > -S b O X 0) o .S CD O 8 Z u PT. X .. C X rd (D cd CD C L CD ~ a. -b -Q (d £ c Ql U D - b CD rd w ^ _>> < o -8 b H b a z 'b Q X Q_ O QJ U r- j-j L -5 3 0) ra r- . L O bo a 4D U CD dO X L t rd CJ i_ CD C S c o JD JD CD *-> C rd O JD L. CD Q_ rd Q_ X CD L CD > O u rd CL rd O JD 1— CD Q. rd CD. X CD L. CD > O u L_ CD Cl rd Q. rd O JD X L rd u c N V. —— 4_) E CD JQ C - f3 F VJ cZ m m U if to LO -d 42 ♦ Buying Green Online paper that is free of both elemental chlorine and chlorine derivatives or unbleached. c o '43 3 E is o c XI — § t > £ L. 3 LL XX XX 3 GO o o XX a> oc c a> VJ & o ■iJ L O XX f i/i XI o j; 4-J c o u J_ *-> X CJ CD s_ L_ XI _CD u CD *-* c o CJ +-> c 4-» to O CL vO o n C c o i/i (U s. CD £ 3 c CD w C CD £ 3 U CD L_ l_ CD £ CD *-> c o O 00 X. ■> JO. H 00 C o o u to C o a o 3 to C u TD io U 0 c LU i/i (D 1 J u 4-* to TP QJ U CJ i +-» to as o CJ i *-> _CD U >v to _£5 CL V) XI *1* 3 O Q_ X CJ O Cl o LO to O CJ CD to rt *w ns 13 r0 T XJ as o CD L- 75 as o d) m CL as i- 3 3 O CD a 4J in ig LO <± c c CD V 1*1 4_» 4J .. c c UJ o o Q- u u \— o UJ o CL — 43 o 4-J as a c c o u G. cd =? E cd 3 u to to C V ° 2_ u c CD 4-J c o u “D _aj u x u CD C c C C O O U U ^ « >x 3 CJ io CD C *- O 75 V ♦— 1 4-» O £ 4-» O g» o o — NO x o t-J \0 c m O rs C *r <° TD Z_ n3 _Q LO < o w bO c v2 c o u o TJ O £ o == CD X i— "D TD JD CJ U CD aL TD 2 o _CD U u CD aC D U X| O JD u X u CD aC "a _QJ ^ S CD 3 i- as cd l n I " § a O -Q S £ CL as c LO o CN U TD JD U U CD CD £ 3 to C o CD o cl § e O £ i § - U T5 flS i/i T3 ft) c c 3 15 to -o c '5 o> pj CP tp 0- u C3 03 03 CO CD CD CD CD C/> 00 to to c c C C CD CD CD CD CD CD CD CD L. L 1— l_ 13 U (J o CP CL. u CP a_ u JO H c -Q a> X) _3 U c 4-1 u 3 ■a o i_ a. >. o 60 o rt U CL ■a o i/i u c (LI Q. T3 C re to c a> CL a> _y 1_ re E -a c re _c 00 -C oo CL CL O Q u 0) CL JO c aj re CL 00 re _o re i_ _re 0. i/i 01 o +* KO i/I 60 - 0) -J * « CO Q T *■ Q. V £ eo oC 0 O u 3 O l_ Appendix A + 43 Plastic desktop accessories CPG 25-80% post-consumer recycled c o V. £ o c TJ — c »- 4) V > -S 3 U. +J C c Hi TJ 5- flS T> C rt -w in in ts o X in O V. X h- VI CJ •w 3 X ■6 n in -Q Ci c IS) 13 TJ c '5 S g O U X H c TJ » l. O BO 0) ■u rs U in T3 O “ 'Sb o A. ~> "a Cl O CL Ll &0 L c X ^ X CL cL q- <■3 > V ^ r3 0) £ 3 co C o u O CL o o ci fN lO o o m I LO CN or cd E 3 to C o u O CL vO S 5 on w O Q_ S *3 J, s 04 ^ iC O < O -Q O. a j -Q O on O Cl O 00 I o _ -b 3 I s ■§ O -cl o o — or cd £ .o o» 4-J CO ZJ X c c o u (J (J CL CL u u to o. to CD _y C CJ 3 ‘3 c CL o CD CJ U CD &0 L_ _c CD 4-* to "u X r3 u J CD l_ ai CD o U ft £ 0 o a u £ o L V «✓> •M U 3 X O o. a. -a. -a. on £ O CL CL 3 on CD o 4-» c CD *-» C o u X jd u u CD i_ O o r3 4—» 4-* 3 Q X _o C CD o to CD < 4-» JZ 4-» rs — E _y > V> rs > ‘l_ CD 5 rs 4-J c CD 4-» c > X CD r~ CD i_ CL CD JC 4—• o 4-» s o 4—» o X o o u c_ u r3 3 _Q ^3 o- CD C ON or LO or CD CD CD O CD (D E _Q _C CD _o E £ 3 o. CD r~ ZJ 3 to (D _o v£ u to to C CL C C o r3 -d to X o o u CL CJ c X CJ to i 4J to O D c 4-> c u O O CL £ CD O. £1 rs CD CL CL c £ JD CD CL _o JO O rs _c C O O LO E CD CL CJ D ON LO 3 o 4-> o 00 Jj OT CD E 3 to C o u o CL LO 03 _c c CD 4-J c o u TJ _aj u u CD o o * 3 < 5 c > o _c U u ai jy £ -Q 3 l_ to > c _Q CD 2 £ (D *■5 *-> o 3 _Q -Q o_ CD ° C CD r cd CD > 4-» > CD “D CD C ‘l_ O E O 13 £ ^ c O r m c _c u 3 c CD E _a CD ~o C X rs CD CD -F. c rj L. CD o z c D 3 o 4-* o ON or CD E Z3 to C o u O CL O ON CT3 *-> o u> o ON or CD £ D to C o u O CL O ON n CD CO c CD CD o. o 03 o JO 9- u u ili / n Vi Q_ Q. ra Q U Q.I _C3 CL CO CL r3 CD on c CD CD s_ (J 9- v, CJ w to C O 4-J u J rs 3 y O uj CL c CD to to L_ LLi V t3 a. o CL CD CL ™ O Q CD X o q. cl IE u CL £ X (D X £ C o c (D X c rs r3 O JD Cl U CD X v2 CD £ O. O CL a. 0 44 ♦ 8uy/NG Green Online oduct Specific Green Purchasing Criteria (as of 1/20/03) (continued) c o i £ o c T> — > £ SL IL too Cl A 'tob too CL U A > ■o > "U 1> T> O CL O CL o Cl op O O o -CL DC C QJ v 5b o o 6 15 C ^ O o i-5 5 a* O 5- .h x c t LU o _ -t-i •C 3 « 5 5 -w 5 < i/i ■O _aj u >. u a) o L- U a LO O O *-» Cl o o LO ro too c dJ CL tj _o & JZ l_ d> 4-J TO ~Q_ CL TO u TO -Q d) JZ) LO a JZ u -X L_ c TO c L_ d) a c u TO too CL TO too V» TO to (U LO L. L. dJ o X j_ TO JZ u tob C 4-> L_ TO JZ u L. o CL l_ d) 5 CJ too l— TO 4-» TO JZ N o 1 c o L-> 1 c d) oo d) X TO JZ V4— o o 1_ TO L. a; JZ u O c c 1 XI c d> Cl to a> TO d) U1 o z z £ '5 c oc: Qi e o O CPG CPG CPG c <1) 01 L. O qj d) * L. o to o fd U T3 TO D O U JZ O lO T> L- TO o JZ d> a TO GO T *Z> C O u d) L_ L. O u 5? •U y U L. ■CL LO c IE V o £ X c in a o s. s- X '> H c i/i LLi CJ 4-i "D rt 3 X T3 C tJ n) ■w on < a c V. u a; CD E D to C o u CD Cl n Cl CL o m to U 15 a> un T3 C H3 cd "a CD C 6 8 JC H .E TJ OJ T> _2 u _c I/) •w u 3 "O o 3. o &0 0) rt U u c CD L (T! CL to C CTJ ~o C _