Jeff Goodman Environmental Management Division

U.S. Department of AgricultureAugust 2012

Program Status and Outlook

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Topics Addressed

• BioPreferred program overview

• Review of Federal procurement preference program

• Increasing Federal acquisition of biobased products under Presidential Memorandum

• Labeling program status and outlook

• What’s Next

BioPreferred Program Overview

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• Established by 2002 Farm Bill

• Identifies and seeks new markets for biobased products

• Two major program elements:

– Federal procurement preference

– Voluntary labeling

U.S. Businesses Registeredwith BioPreferred program

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Procurement Preference Program

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• USDA identifies anddesignates productcategories (with minimumbiobased contents) by rule

• Federal agencies must showbiobased products indesignated categories aprocurement preference oneyear after rule is final1

• Requirement applies to Federal agencies and contractors

1Exceptions apply

Procurement Preference Status

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• To date, USDA has promulgated eight designation rules and has proposed a ninth rule

• Currently, 77 product categories designated

• About 10,000 products represented

• USDA will continue designations (Round 9 rule will add 12 categories)

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Product CategoryMinimum Biobased Content

Forming Lubricants 68%

Straight Oils 66%

Multi-Purpose Lubricants 88%

Parts Wash Solution 65%

Turbine Drip Oils 87%

Graffiti and Grease Removers

34%

Corrosion Preventatives 53%

Example - Operations & Maintenance

• “Driving Innovation and Creating Jobs in Rural America through Biobased and Sustainable Product Procurement”

• Overall objective is“…to promote rural economic development, create new jobs, and provide new markets for farm commodities.”

• Signed February 21, 2012

Presidential Memorandum Overview

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To ensure that Federal agencies effectively execute Federal procurement requirements for biobased products, including those requirements identified in Executive Order 13514 and prescribed in the 2002 Farm Bill, as amended by the 2008 Farm Bill.

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Goal

Presidential Memo Fits into White House Blueprint for the

Bioeconomy• White House initiative to

promote the bioeconomy

• Focus on bioeconomy because of its tremendous potential for American innovation, growth, job creation, and other societal benefits

• Announced April 26, 2012

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• 1: Actions Related to E.O. 13514

• 2: Biobased Product Designations

• 3: Changes in Procurement Mechanisms

• 4: Small Business Assistance

• 5: Reporting

• 6: Job Creation Research

• 7: Education and Outreach

• 8: General Provisions and Publication in Fed. Reg.

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Presidential Memo Sections

• Agencies to include and report on biobased acquisition as part of Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans (SSPPs)

• Agencies to ensure 95% sustainable acquisition of biobased products through

− Affirmative procurement programs

− Procurement review and monitoring under the 2008 Farm Bill

− Training

• OMB to emphasize biobased purchasing in sustainability scorecards

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1: Actions Related to E.O. 13514

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E.O. Actions: Scorecards

2012 2013

Identifies importance of Presidential Memo

Requirement to include goals and milestones in SSPP

Corrective action required in SSPP if biobased sustainable acquisition < 50%

Biobased sustainable acquisition will be scoring element

Agencies with product specifications will have specific targets for completion of reviews Presidential Memo requires

• Agencies submitted Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans (SSPPs) to OMB/CEQ on June 29th

• SSPPs include results of sustainable acquisition surveys including biobased acquisition

• SSPPs should include 2012 scorecard requirements

• USDA will be working with OMB in reviewing SSPPs to evaluate conformance to Presidential Memo/scorecard requirements

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E.O. Actions: SSPPs

• USDA to increase number of designated categories of biobased products for preferred Federal procurement by 50% in one year

− Given 64 categories designated at time of memo, goal is to add 32

− Will occur by February 2013 via three regulations

USDA to establish web-based process for biobased product manufacturers to suggest categories

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2: Biobased Product Designations

• 13 product categories added in Round 8 rule promulgated April 2012

• 12 additional product categories proposed in Round 9 rule in June 2012

• Designation schedule

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Designation Status and Outlook

Date Activity

Nov. 2012 Propose Round 10 (with ≥7 product categories)

Dec. 2012 Promulgate Round 9

Feb. 2013 Promulgate Round 10

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Achieving the Designation Goal

60

80

100

Feb 2012

Apr 2012

Jun 2012

Aug 2012

Oct 2012

Dec 2012

Feb 2013

Goal

Round 8 Round 9 Round 10

• Senior Sustainability Officers and Chief Acquisition Officers to sample solicitations and awards and include results in scorecards

• Agencies who have electronic catalogs to increase visibility of biobased products in those catalogs

• Senior Sustainability Officers of all agencies with product specifications to review and revise them to remove prohibitory language on a four-year cycle

• USDA to amend its contract writing system as a model for biobased product procurement

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3: Changes in Procurement Mechanisms

• GSA Advantage

− USDA performed cost comparisons of biobased vs. non-biobased products

− USDA finishing paper documenting instances where biobased products are “buried”

− Next step: meet with GSA management

• DOD Emall

− Access issues made for slower start

− Will follow same approach as GSA

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Electronic Catalog Activity

• Big player is Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)

• USDA has met with DLA to discussPresidential Memo requirements

• Discussion of 2013 specification-related scorecard requirementsincluded in June on-line trainingattended by DLA staff

• Expect scorecard requirement to serve as major incentive to act

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Specifications Review

• Department of Commerce to use Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and other mechanisms to make biobased manufacturers more competitive

• USDA to work with Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) to assist biobased product companies

• USDA to develop and SBA to disseminate small business-specific training materials

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4: Small Business Assistance

• USDA met with Small Business Administration representatives in April to discuss ways two agencies can work together

• BioPreferred staff met with PTAC Association to discuss Presidential Memo

• BioPreferred staff spoke in May at Manufacturing Extension Partnership National Conference

• Within USDA, BioPreferred staff working with Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization

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Small Business Assistance

• Free, on-line seminar August 14th,1:30 − 2:30 pm

• Live via streaming video or satellitedownlink, including information on:

− Biobased product opportunities andgrowth industries

− Introduction to BioPreferred Program

− How Federal procurement preference stimulates demand

− Resources available from SBA, PTACs, and MEP

• Go to www.biopreferred.gov to register

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Cultivating Opportunitiesin the Biobased Marketplace

• 5: Reporting

Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to publish FAR rule requiring reporting of biobased product purchases

− USDA, in consultation with Chief Acquisition Officers Council, to create reporting template to assist agencies in meeting reporting requirements

• 6: Jobs Creation Research ― USDA to do study

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Sections 5 and 6

• Selected members of an existing Chief Acquisition Officers Council workgroup are developing template and approach

• USDA developing a draft reporting template

• Process will likely involve contractorreporting by Federal agency withUSDA as central point of datacollection

• Interim spreadsheet solution until incorporation into GSA Integrated Acquisition Environment

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Reporting Template

• USDA to update existing BioPreferred training

• Senior Sustainability Officers and Chief Acquisition Officers to work with USDA to implement training

• USDA to collaborate with AbilityOne to promote the increased purchase of biobased AbilityOne products

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7: Education and Outreach

• USDA updated all classroom trainingand posted it on thebiopreferred.gov website

• We held a live one-hour training session on the Presidential Memo in June attended by over 1,000

• USDA and AbilityOne staff worked together at GSA Expo in May to promote the use and purchase of biobased products

• Currently updating contract templates for posting on website

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Education/Outreach Actions

Voluntary Labeling Program Goals

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• Expand purchases of biobased products in commercial and retail markets

• Increase availability of information to consumers

• Help manufacturers market biobased products

“USDA Certified Biobased Product” Label

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• Launched February 2011• Serves as an unbiased

indicator of biobased content• On-line paperless application

process• Minimum biobased content

− Same as designated category for products associated with a category

− 25% for all others • Independent third party certification partnership

with ASTM International

What’s on the Label?

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• “Sun, sea, and soil” motif

• Product or package

• Biobased content percentage listed

• “FP” (“Federally Preferred”): associated with a designated product category and included in Federal procurement preference program

USDA Certified Biobased Products

Activity Number

Applications Received 1,200

Review/Testing in Process 400

Certification 750

Failed [ ] 60

(As of June 2012)

CertificationProcess

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Auditing: Overview• Objective is to ensure program

integrity– Monitors validity of participants’

biobased content claims for designated products

– Safeguards proper usage of label in marketplace

• Aimed at products in BioPreferred catalog

• Three stage process for all products that program recognizes

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Auditing: Catalog Overview

Product counts as of March 2012

748

1,895

Only Labeled

Only Designated

Both

Total products in catalog = 2,93729

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• Stage 1 – Declaration of Conformance form submittal (2012)

− 25% of products in catalog will be removed this fall

− 80% of companies audited are using the label/certification mark correctly

Mostly minor label use violations; some major

Corrective follow-up in place

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Auditing: Status

Auditing: What’s Next

• Stage 2 – USDA testing of a sampling of participants’ products (2013/ 2014)

• Stage 31 – Participant retesting of all certified/labeled products at frequency to be determined (2016)

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1Stage 3 implementation will require revision of labeling rule.

• USDA proposed changes to BioPreferred Program Guidelines on May 1, 2012 including

− Designating intermediate materials and feedstocks and downstream finished products

− Designating complex assembly products

− Limiting program to “new and emerging markets for biobased materials”

• 60-day comment period closed end of June

• Currently evaluating comments received from 19 organizations or individuals

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Program Guidelines: Status

• Will complete analysis of comments, develop regulatory options, and decide on positions for final rule

• Promulgation of revised Program Guidelines scheduled for January 2013

• Passage of new Farm Bill could send us “back to the drawing board” vis-à-vis inclusion of mature market products legislatively

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Program Guidelines: What’s Next?

• New awards program will recognizeoutstanding achievements by USDAemployees in advancing BioPreferredprogram objectives

• Nominations received by end of July

• Awards in October

• FY 2012 pilot program limited to USDA

• Pilot to serve as model for a government-wide awards program in future

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Awards Program

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Contacts

• Jeff Goodman, Chief, Environmental Management Division, jeffrey.goodman@dm.usda.gov, 202-401-4747

• Ron Buckhalt, BioPreferred Program Manager, ronb.buckhalt@dm.usda.gov, 202-205-4008

• Web site: http://www.biopreferred.gov

• Twitter: @BioPreferred