71492 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Office of Energy Policy and New Uses 

7 CFR Part 2902 

RIN 0503–AA36 

Designation of Biobased Items for 

Federal Procurement 

AGENCY: Departmental Management, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to 

amend the Guidelines for Designating 

Biobased Products for Federal 

Procurement (Guidelines) to add 14 

sections that will designate the 

following items within which biobased 

products would be afforded Federal 

procurement preference: Animal 

repellents; bath products; 

bioremediation materials; compost 

activators and accelerators; concrete and 

asphalt cleaners; cuts, burns, and 

abrasions ointments; dishwashing 

products; erosion control materials; 

floor cleaners and protectors; hair care 

products; interior paints and coatings; 

oven and grill cleaners; slide way 

lubricants; and thermal shipping 

containers. USDA is also proposing 

minimum biobased contents for each of 

these items. 

DATES: USDA will accept public 

comments on this proposed rule until 

January 24, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods. All 

submissions received must include the 

agency name and Regulatory 

Information Number (RIN). The RIN for 

this rulemaking is 0503–AA36. Also, 

please identify submittals as pertaining 

to the ‘‘Proposed Designation of Items.’’ 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Direct your comments to Docket ID 

No. OPPM–2010–0002. 

• E-mail: biopreferred@usda.gov. 

Include RIN number 0503–AA36 and 

‘‘Proposed Designation of Items’’ on the 

subject line. Please include your name 

and address in your message. 

• Mail/commercial/hand delivery: 

Mail or deliver your comments to: Ron 

Buckhalt, USDA, Office of Procurement 

and Property Management, Room 361, 

Reporters Building, 300 7th St., SW., 

Washington, DC 20024. 

• Persons with disabilities who 

require alternative means for 

communication for regulatory 

information (braille, large print, 

audiotape, etc.) should contact the 

USDA TARGET Center at (202) 720– 

2600 (voice) and (202) 690–0942 (TTY). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron 

Buckhalt, USDA, Office of Procurement 

and Property Management, Room 361, 

Reporters Building, 300 7th St., SW., 

Washington, DC 20024; e-mail: 

biopreferred@usda.gov; phone (202) 

205–4008. Information regarding the 

Federal biobased preferred procurement 

program (one part of the BioPreferred 

Program) is available on the Internet at 

http://www.biopreferred.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The information presented in this 

preamble is organized as follows: 

I. Authority 

II. Background 

III. Summary of Today’s Proposed Rule 

IV. Designation of Items, Minimum Biobased 

Contents, and Time Frame 

A. Background 

B. Items Proposed for Designation 

C. Minimum Biobased Contents 

D. Compliance Date for Procurement 

Preference and Incorporation Into 

Specifications 

V. Where Can Agencies Get More Information 

on These USDA-Designated Items? 

VI. Regulatory Information 

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory 

Planning and Review 

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

C. Executive Order 12630: Governmental 

Actions and Interference With 

Constitutionally Protected Property 

Rights 

D. Executive Order 13132: Federalism 

E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

F. Executive Order 12372: 

Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs 

G. Executive Order 13175: Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

H. Paperwork Reduction Act 

I. E-Government Act 

I. Authority 

The designation of these items is 

proposed under the authority of section 

9002 of the Farm Security and Rural 

Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA), as 

amended by the Food, Conservation, 

and Energy Act of 2008 (FCEA), 7 U.S.C. 

8102 (referred to in this document as 

‘‘section 9002’’). 

II. Background 

Section 9002 provides for the 

preferred procurement of biobased 

products by Federal procuring agencies 

and is referred to hereafter in this 

Federal Register notice as the ‘‘preferred 

procurement program.’’ The definition 

of ‘‘procuring agency’’ in section 9002 

includes both Federal agencies and ‘‘a 

person that is a party to a contract with 

any Federal agency, with respect to 

work performed under such a contract.’’ 

Thus, Federal contractors, as well as 

Federal agencies, are expressly subject 

to the procurement preference 

provisions of section 9002. 

The term ‘‘item’’ is used in the 

designation process to mean a generic 

grouping of specific products that 

perform a similar function, such as the 

various brands of crankcase oils or 

interior paints. Once USDA designates 

an item, procuring agencies are required 

generally to purchase biobased products 

within these designated items where the 

purchase price of the procurement item 

exceeds $10,000 or where the quantity 

of such items or the functionally 

equivalent items purchased over the 

preceding fiscal year equaled $10,000 or 

more. Procuring agencies must procure 

biobased products within each 

designated item unless they determine 

that products within a designated item 

are not reasonably available within a 

reasonable period of time, fail to meet 

the reasonable performance standards of 

the procuring agencies, or are available 

only at an unreasonable price. As stated 

in 7 CFR Part 2902—‘‘Guidelines for 

Designating Biobased Products for 

Federal Procurement’’ (Guidelines), 

biobased products that are merely 

incidental to Federal funding are 

excluded from the preferred 

procurement program; that is, the 

requirements to purchase biobased 

products do not apply to such purchases 

if they are unrelated to or incidental to 

the purpose of the Federal contract. In 

implementing the preferred 

procurement program for biobased 

products, procuring agencies should 

follow their procurement rules and 

Office of Federal Procurement Policy 

guidance on buying non-biobased 

products when biobased products exist 

and should document exceptions taken 

for price, performance, and availability. 

USDA recognizes that the 

performance needs for a given 

application are important criteria in 

making procurement decisions. USDA is 

not requiring procuring agencies to limit 

their choices to biobased products that 

fall under the items for designation in 

this proposed rule. Rather, the effect of 

the designation of the items is to require 

procuring agencies to determine their 

performance needs, determine whether 

there are qualified biobased products 

that fall under the designated items that 

meet the reasonable performance 

standards for those needs, and purchase 

such qualified biobased products to the 

maximum extent practicable as required 

by section 9002. 

Section 9002(a)(3)(B) requires USDA 

to provide information to procuring 

agencies on the availability, relative 

price, performance, and environmental 

and public health benefits of such items 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71493 

and to recommend, where appropriate, 

the minimum level of biobased content 

to be contained in the procured 

products. 

Subcategorization. Most of the items 

USDA is considering for designation for 

preferred procurement cover a wide 

range of products. For some items, there 

are subgroups of products within the 

item that meet different requirements, 

uses and/or different performance 

specifications. For example, within the 

item category ‘‘thermal shipping 

containers,’’ some containers are 

designed as durable products that can 

be re-used over long periods of time. 

Such containers might be used, for 

example, in the trucking industry when 

trucks are dedicated to shipping the 

same types of products on a regular 

basis. Other thermal shipping containers 

may be non-durable, or intended for 

only a one-time use. These containers 

might be used to ship small quantities 

of perishable fruits or vegetables to 

consumers who would then dispose of 

the container. Where such subgroups 

exist, USDA intends to create 

subcategories. Thus, for example, for the 

item ‘‘thermal shipping containers,’’ 

USDA has determined it is reasonable to 

create a ‘‘durable thermal shipping 

container’’ subcategory and a ‘‘nondurable thermal shipping container’’ 

subcategory. Where structural integrity 

may be a key characteristic of a durable 

thermal shipping container, disposal 

concerns are a key characteristic of a 

non-durable thermal shipping container. 

In sum, USDA looks at the products 

within each item category to evaluate 

whether there are subgroups of products 

within the item that have different 

characteristics or that meet different 

performance specifications and, where 

USDA finds these types of differences, 

it intends to create subcategories with 

the minimum biobased content based on 

the tested products within the 

subcategory. 

For some items, however, USDA may 

not have sufficient information at the 

time of proposal to create subcategories 

within an item. For example, USDA 

may know that there are different 

performance specifications that thermal 

shipping containers are required to 

meet, but it may have information on 

only one type of container. In such 

instances, USDA may either designate 

the item without creating subcategories 

(i.e., defer the creation of subcategories) 

or designate one subcategory and defer 

designation of other subcategories 

within the item until additional 

information is obtained. Once USDA 

has received sufficient additional 

information to justify the designation of 

a subcategory, the subcategory will be 

designated through the proposed and 

final rulemaking process. 

Within today’s proposed rule, USDA 

is proposing to subcategorize two of the 

items being proposed for designation. 

The first item is hair care products and 

the proposed subcategories are shampoo 

products and conditioner products. The 

second item is thermal shipping 

containers and the proposed 

subcategories are durable and nondurable thermal shipping containers. 

Minimum Biobased Contents. The 

minimum biobased contents being 

proposed with today’s rule are based on 

products for which USDA has biobased 

content test data. Because the 

submission of product samples for 

biobased content testing is on a strictly 

voluntary basis, USDA was able to 

obtain samples only from those 

manufacturers who volunteered to 

invest the resources required to submit 

the samples. 

In addition to considering the 

biobased content test data for each item, 

USDA also considers other factors 

including product performance 

information. USDA evaluates this 

information to determine whether some 

products that may have a lower 

biobased content also have unique 

performance or applicability attributes 

that would justify setting the minimum 

biobased content at a level that would 

include these products. For example, a 

lubricant product that has a lower 

biobased content than others within an 

item but is formulated to perform over 

a wider temperature range than the 

other products may be more desirable to 

Federal agencies. Thus, it would be 

beneficial to set the minimum biobased 

content for the item at a level that 

would include the product with 

superior performance features. 

USDA also considers the overall range 

of the tested biobased contents within 

an item, groupings of similar values, 

and breaks (significant gaps between 

two groups of values) in the biobased 

content test data array. For example, the 

biobased contents of six tested products 

within an item being proposed for 

designation today are 22, 28, 82, 98, 

100, and 100 percent. Because this is a 

very wide range, and because there is a 

significant gap in the data between the 

28 percent biobased product and the 82 

percent biobased product, USDA 

reviewed the product literature to 

determine whether subcategories could 

be created within this item. USDA 

found that the available product 

information did not justify 

subcategorization. Further, USDA did 

not find any performance claims that 

would justify setting the minimum 

biobased content based on the 22 or 28 

percent biobased content products. 

Thus, USDA is proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for this item 

based on the product with a tested 

biobased content of 82 percent. USDA 

believes that this evaluation process 

allows it to establish minimum biobased 

contents based on a broad set of factors 

to assist the Federal procurement 

community in its decisions to purchase 

biobased products. 

USDA makes every effort to obtain 

biobased content test data on multiple 

products within each item. For most 

designated items, USDA has biobased 

content test data on more than one 

product within a designated item. 

However, in some cases, USDA has been 

able to obtain biobased content data for 

only a single product within a 

designated item. As USDA obtains 

additional data on the biobased contents 

for products within these designated 

items and their subcategories, USDA 

will evaluate whether the minimum 

biobased content for a designated item 

or subcategory will be revised. 

USDA anticipates that the minimum 

biobased content of an item that is based 

on a single product is more likely to 

change as additional products within 

that designated item are identified and 

tested. In today’s proposed rule, the 

minimum biobased contents for both 

subcategories under the thermal 

shipping containers designated item are 

based on a single tested product. Given 

that only three biobased products have 

been identified in this item, and only 

one manufacturer of products within 

each subcategory supplied a sample for 

testing, USDA believes it is reasonable 

to set minimum biobased contents for 

these subcategories based on the single 

data point for each subcategory. 

Where USDA receives additional 

biobased content test data for products 

within these proposed items and 

subcategories during the public 

comment period, USDA will take that 

information into consideration when 

establishing the minimum biobased 

content when the items and 

subcategories are designated in the final 

rulemaking. 

Overlap with EPA’s Comprehensive 

Procurement Guideline program for 

recovered content products under the 

Resource Conservation and Recovery 

Act (RCRA) Section 6002. Some of the 

products that are biobased items 

designated for preferred procurement 

under the preferred procurement 

program may also be items the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

has designated under the EPA’s 

Comprehensive Procurement Guideline 

(CPG) for products containing recovered 

materials. In situations where it believes 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71494 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

there may be an overlap, USDA is 

asking manufacturers of qualifying 

biobased products to make additional 

product and performance information 

available to Federal agencies conducting 

market research to assist them in 

determining whether the biobased 

products in question are, or are not, the 

same products for the same uses as the 

recovered content products. 

Manufacturers are asked to provide 

information highlighting the sustainable 

features of their biobased products and 

to indicate the various suggested uses of 

their product and the performance 

standards against which a particular 

product has been tested. In addition, 

depending on the type of biobased 

product, manufacturers are being asked 

to provide other types of information, 

such as whether the product contains 

fossil energy-based components 

(including petroleum, coal, and natural 

gas) and whether the product contains 

recovered materials. Federal agencies 

also may ask manufacturers for 

information on a product’s biobased 

content and its profile against 

environmental and health measures and 

life-cycle costs (the ASTM Standard 

D7075, ‘‘Standard Practice for 

Evaluating and Reporting 

Environmental Performance of Biobased 

Products,’’ or the Building for 

Environmental and Economic 

Sustainability (BEES) analysis for 

evaluating and reporting on 

environmental performance of biobased 

products). Federal agencies may then 

use this information to make purchasing 

decisions based on the sustainability 

features of the products. Detailed 

information on ASTM Standard D7075, 

and other ASTM standards, can be 

found on ASTM’s Web site at http:// 

www.astm.org. Information on the BEES 

analytical tool can be found on the Web 

site http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/

software/bees.html. 

Section 6002 of RCRA requires a 

procuring agency procuring an item 

designated by EPA generally to procure 

such an item composed of the highest 

percentage of recovered materials 

content practicable. However, a 

procuring agency may decide not to 

procure such an item based on a 

determination that the item fails to meet 

the reasonable performance standards or 

specifications of the procuring agency. 

An item with recovered materials 

content may not meet reasonable 

performance standards or specifications, 

for example, if the use of the item with 

recovered materials content would 

jeopardize the intended end use of the 

item. 

Where a biobased item is used for the 

same purposes and to meet the same 

Federal agency performance 

requirements as an EPA-designated 

recovered content product, the Federal 

agency must purchase the recovered 

content product. For example, if a 

biobased hydraulic fluid is to be used as 

a fluid in hydraulic systems and 

because ‘‘lubricating oils containing rerefined oil’’ has already been designated 

by EPA for that purpose, then the 

Federal agency must purchase the EPAdesignated recovered content product, 

‘‘lubricating oils containing re-refined 

oil.’’ If, on the other hand, that biobased 

hydraulic fluid is to be used to address 

a Federal agency’s certain 

environmental or health performance 

requirements that the EPA-designated 

recovered content product would not 

meet, then the biobased product should 

be given preference, subject to 

reasonable price, availability, and 

performance considerations. 

This proposed rule designates two 

items for preferred procurement for 

which there may be overlap with an 

EPA-designated recovered content 

product. The first item is interior paints 

and coatings, which may overlap with 

the EPA-designated recovered content 

products ‘‘reprocessed latex paints’’ and 

‘‘consolidated latex paints.’’ The second 

item is slide way lubricants, which, 

depending on how they are used, may 

overlap with the EPA-designated 

recovered content product ‘‘re-refined 

lubricating oils.’’ EPA provides 

recovered materials content 

recommendations for this recovered 

content products in a Recovered 

Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN I). 

The RMAN recommendations for this 

CPG product can be found by accessing 

EPA’s Web site http://www.epa.gov/

epaoswer/non-hw/procure/products.

htm and then clicking on the 

appropriate product name. 

Federal Government Purchase of 

Sustainable Products. The Federal 

government’s sustainable purchasing 

program includes the following three 

statutory preference programs for 

designated products: the BioPreferred 

Program, the Environmental Protection 

Agency’s Comprehensive Procurement 

Guideline for products containing 

recovered materials, and the 

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing 

program. The Office of the Federal 

Environmental Executive (OFEE) and 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) encourage agencies to implement 

these components comprehensively 

when purchasing products and services. 

Procuring agencies should note that 

not all biobased products are 

‘‘environmentally preferable.’’ For 

example, unless cleaning products 

contain no or reduced levels of metals 

and toxic and hazardous constituents, 

they can be harmful to aquatic life, the 

environment, and/or workers. 

Household cleaning products that are 

formulated to be disinfectants are 

required, under the Federal Insecticide, 

Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 

to be registered with EPA and must 

meet specific labeling requirements 

warning of the potential risks associated 

with misuse of such products. When 

purchasing environmentally preferable 

cleaning products, many Federal 

agencies specify that products must 

meet Green Seal standards for 

institutional cleaning products or that 

the products have been reformulated in 

accordance with recommendations from 

the EPA’s Design for the Environment 

(DfE) program. Both the Green Seal 

standards and the DfE program identify 

chemicals of concern in cleaning 

products. These include zinc and other 

metals, formaldehyde, ammonia, alkyl 

phenol ethoxylates, ethylene glycol, and 

volatile organic compounds. In 

addition, both require that cleaning 

products have neutral or less caustic 

pH. 

In contrast, some biobased products 

may be more environmentally preferable 

than some products that meet Green 

Seal standards for institutional cleaning 

products or that have been reformulated 

in accordance with EPA’s DfE program. 

To fully compare products, one must 

look at the ‘‘cradle-to-grave’’ impacts of 

the manufacture, use, and disposal of 

products. Biobased products that will be 

available for preferred procurement 

under this program have been assessed 

as to their ‘‘cradle-to-grave’’ impacts. 

One consideration of a product’s 

impact on the environment is whether 

(and to what degree) it introduces new 

fossil carbon into the atmosphere. Fossil 

carbon is derived from non-renewable 

sources (typically fossil fuels such as 

coal and oil), whereas renewable 

biomass carbon is derived from 

renewable sources (biomass). Qualifying 

biobased products offer the user the 

opportunity to manage the carbon cycle 

and reduce the introduction of new 

fossil carbon into the atmosphere. 

Manufacturers of qualifying biobased 

products designated under the preferred 

procurement program will be able to 

provide, at the request of Federal 

agencies, factual information on 

environmental and human health effects 

of their products, including the results 

of the ASTM D7075, or the comparable 

BEES analysis which examines 12 

different environmental parameters, 

including human health. Therefore, 

USDA encourages Federal procurement 

agencies to consider that USDA has 

already examined all available 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71495 

information on the environmental and 

human health effects of biopreferred 

products, when making their purchasing 

decisions. 

Other Preferred Procurement 

Programs. Federal procurement officials 

should also note that biobased products 

may be available for purchase by 

Federal agencies through the AbilityOne 

Program (formerly known as the JavitsWagner-O’Day (JWOD) program). Under 

this program, members of organizations 

including the National Industries for the 

Blind (NIB) and the National Institute 

for the Severely Handicapped (NISH) 

offer products and services for preferred 

procurement by Federal agencies. A 

search of the AbilityOne Program’s 

online catalog (http://www.abilityone.

gov) indicated that four of the items 

being proposed today (concrete and 

asphalt cleaners, dishwashing detergent, 

floor cleaners and protectors, and hair 

care products) are available through the 

AbilityOne Program. While there is no 

specific product within these items 

identified in the AbilityOne online 

catalog as being a biobased product, it 

is possible that such biobased products 

are available or will be available in the 

future. Also, because additional 

categories of products are frequently 

added to the AbilityOne Program, it is 

possible that biobased products within 

other items being proposed for 

designation today may be available 

through the AbilityOne Program in the 

future. Procurement of biobased 

products through the AbilityOne 

Program would further the objectives of 

both the AbilityOne Program and the 

preferred procurement program. 

Outreach. To augment its own 

research, USDA consults with industry 

and Federal stakeholders to the 

preferred procurement program during 

the development of the rulemaking 

packages for the designation of items. 

USDA consults with stakeholders to 

gather information used in determining 

the order of item designation and in 

identifying: Manufacturers producing 

and marketing products that fall within 

an item proposed for designation; 

performance standards used by Federal 

agencies evaluating products to be 

procured; and warranty information 

used by manufacturers of end user 

equipment and other products with 

regard to biobased products. 

Future Designations. In making future 

designations, USDA will continue to 

conduct market searches to identify 

manufacturers of biobased products 

within items. USDA will then contact 

the identified manufacturers to solicit 

samples of their products for voluntary 

submission for biobased content testing. 

Based on these results, USDA will then 

propose new items for designation for 

preferred procurement. 

In the preamble to the first six items 

designated for preferred procurement 

(71 FR 13686, March 16, 2006), USDA 

stated that it planned to identify 

approximately 10 items in each future 

rulemaking. In an effort to finalize the 

designation of more items in a shorter 

time period, USDA now plans to 

increase the number of items in each 

rulemaking, whenever possible. Thus, 

today’s proposed rulemaking would 

designate 14 items for preferred 

procurement. 

USDA has developed a preliminary 

list of items for future designation and 

has posted this preliminary list on the 

BioPreferred Web site. While this list 

presents an initial prioritization of items 

for designation, USDA cannot identify 

with certainty which items will be 

presented in each of the future 

rulemakings. In response to comments 

from other Federal agencies, USDA 

intends to give increased priority to 

those items that contain the highest 

biobased content. In addition, as the 

program matures, manufacturers of 

biobased products within some industry 

segments have become more responsive 

to USDA’s requests for technical 

information than those in other 

segments. Thus, items with high 

biobased content and for which 

sufficient technical information can be 

obtained quickly may be added or 

moved up on the prioritization list. 

USDA intends to update the list of items 

for future designation on the 

Biopreferred Web site every six months, 

or more often if significant changes are 

made to the list. 

III. Summary of Today’s Proposed Rule 

USDA is proposing to designate the 

following items and subcategories for 

preferred procurement: Animal 

repellents; bath products; 

bioremediation materials; compost 

activators and accelerators; concrete and 

asphalt cleaners; cuts, burns, and 

abrasions ointments; dishwashing 

products; erosion control materials; 

floor cleaners and protectors; hair care 

products, including shampoos and 

conditioners as subcategories; interior 

paints and coatings; oven and grill 

cleaners; slide way lubricants; and 

thermal shipping containers, including 

durable and non-durable thermal 

shipping containers as subcategories. 

USDA is also proposing minimum 

biobased content for each of these items 

and subcategories (see Section IV.C). 

Lastly, except for thermal shipping 

containers, USDA is proposing a date by 

which Federal agencies must 

incorporate these designated items into 

their procurement specifications (see 

Section IV.D). USDA is proposing to 

defer the preference compliance date for 

biobased thermal shipping containers 

until two or more manufacturers of 

these containers have been identified. 

In today’s proposed rule, USDA is 

providing information on its findings as 

to the availability, economic and 

technical feasibility, environmental and 

public health benefits, and life-cycle 

costs for each of the designated items. 

Information on the availability, relative 

price, performance, and environmental 

and public health benefits of individual 

products within each of these items is 

not presented in this notice. Further, 

USDA has reached an understanding 

with manufacturers not to publish their 

names in conjunction with specific 

product data published in the Federal 

Register when designating items. This 

understanding was reached to 

encourage manufacturers to submit 

products for testing to support the 

designation of an item. Once an item 

has been designated, USDA will 

encourage the manufacturers and 

vendors of products within the 

designated item to voluntarily make 

their names and other contact 

information available for the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

Warranties. Some of the items being 

proposed for designation today may 

affect original equipment 

manufacturers’ (OEMs) warranties for 

equipment in which the items are used. 

For example, the manufacturer of a 

piece of equipment that requires 

lubrication typically includes a list of 

recommended lubricants in the owner/ 

operator’s manual that accompanies the 

equipment when purchased. If the 

purchaser of the equipment uses a 

lubricant (including a biobased 

lubricant) that is not among the 

lubricants recommended by the 

equipment manufacturer, the 

manufacturer may cite that as a reason 

not to honor the warranty on the 

equipment. At this time, USDA does not 

have information available as to the 

extent that OEMs have included, or will 

include, biobased products among their 

recommended lubricants (or other 

similar operating components). This 

does not necessarily mean that use of 

biobased products will void warranties, 

only that USDA does not currently have 

such information. USDA is requesting 

comments and information on this 

topic, but cannot be held responsible if 

damage were to occur. USDA 

encourages manufacturers of biobased 

products to test their products against 

all relevant standards, including those 

that affect warranties, and to work with 

OEMs to ensure that biobased products 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71496 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

are accepted and recommended for use. 

Whenever manufacturers of biobased 

products find that existing performance 

standards for warranties are not relevant 

or appropriate for biobased products, 

USDA is willing to assist them in 

working with the appropriate OEMs to 

develop tests that are relevant and 

appropriate for the end uses in which 

biobased products are intended. In 

addition to outreach to biobased 

product manufacturers and Federal 

agencies, USDA will, as time and 

resources allow, work with OEMs on 

addressing any effect the use of 

biobased products may have on their 

warranties. If, in spite of these efforts, 

there is insufficient information 

regarding the use of a biobased product 

and its effect on warranties, the 

procurement agent would not be 

required to buy such a product. As 

information is available on warranties, 

USDA will make such information 

available on the BioPreferred Web site. 

Updates to the BioPreferred Web site 

will occur whenever new information is 

submitted. 

Additional Information. USDA is 

working with manufacturers and 

vendors to make all relevant product 

and manufacturer contact information 

available on the BioPreferred Web site 

before a procuring agency asks for it, in 

order to make the preferred 

procurement program more efficient. 

Steps USDA has implemented, or will 

implement, include: Making direct 

contact with submitting companies 

through e-mail and phone conversations 

to encourage completion of product 

listing; coordinating outreach efforts 

with intermediate material producers to 

encourage participation of their 

customer base; conducting targeted 

outreach with industry and commodity 

groups to educate stakeholders on the 

importance of providing complete 

product information; participating in 

industry conferences and meetings to 

educate companies on program benefits 

and requirements; and communicating 

the potential for expanded markets 

beyond the Federal government, to 

include State and local governments, as 

well as the general public markets. 

Section V provides instructions to 

agencies on how to obtain this 

information on products within these 

items through the following Web site: 

http://www.biopreferred.gov. 

Comments. USDA invites comment 

on the proposed designation of these 

items and subcategories, including the 

definition, proposed minimum biobased 

content, and any of the relevant 

analyses performed during the selection 

of these items. In addition, USDA 

invites comments and information in 

the following areas: 

1. Two of the items being proposed 

for designation (interior paints and 

coatings and slide way lubricants) may 

overlap with products designated under 

EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement 

Guideline for products containing 

recovered material. To help procuring 

agencies in making their purchasing 

decisions between biobased products 

within the proposed designated items 

that overlap with products containing 

recovered material, USDA is requesting 

product-specific information on unique 

performance attributes, environmental 

and human health effects, disposal 

costs, and other attributes that would 

distinguish biobased products from 

products containing recovered material 

as well as non-biobased products. 

2. We have attempted to identify 

relevant and appropriate performance 

standards and other relevant measures 

of performance for each of the proposed 

items. If you know of other such 

standards or relevant measures of 

performance for any of the proposed 

items, USDA requests that you submit 

information identifying such standards 

and measures, including their name 

(and other identifying information as 

necessary), identifying who is using the 

standard/measure, and describing the 

circumstances under which the product 

is being used. 

3. Many biobased products within the 

items being proposed for designation 

will have positive environmental and 

human health attributes. USDA is 

seeking comments on such attributes in 

order to provide additional information 

on the BioPreferred Web site. This 

information will then be available to 

Federal procuring agencies and will 

assist them in making informed 

sustainable procurement decisions. 

When possible, please provide 

appropriate documentation to support 

the environmental and human health 

attributes you describe. 

4. Several items (e.g., animal 

repellents, bath products, concrete and 

asphalt cleaners, dishwashing products, 

floor cleaners and protectors, oven and 

grill cleaners, and hair care products) 

have wide ranges of tested biobased 

contents. For the reasons discussed later 

in this preamble, USDA is proposing a 

minimum biobased content that would 

allow many of the tested products to be 

eligible for preferred procurement. 

USDA welcomes comments on the 

appropriateness of the proposed 

minimum biobased contents for these 

items and whether there are potential 

subcategories within the items that 

should be considered. 

5. As discussed above, the effect that 

the use of biobased products may have 

on original equipment manufacturers’ 

warranties is uncertain. USDA requests 

comments and supporting information 

on any aspect of this issue. 

6. Today’s proposed rule is expected 

to have both positive and negative 

impacts on individual businesses, 

including small businesses. USDA 

anticipates that the biobased preferred 

procurement program will provide 

additional opportunities for businesses 

and manufacturers to begin supplying 

products under the proposed designated 

biobased items to Federal agencies and 

their contractors. However, other 

businesses and manufacturers that 

supply only non-qualifying products 

and do not offer biobased alternatives 

may experience a decrease in demand 

from Federal agencies and their 

contractors. Because USDA has been 

unable to determine the number of 

businesses, including small businesses, 

that may be adversely affected by 

today’s proposed rule, USDA requests 

comment on how many small entities 

may be affected by this rule and on the 

nature and extent of that effect. 

All comments should be submitted as 

directed in the ADDRESSES section 

above. 

To assist you in developing your 

comments, the background information 

used in proposing these items for 

designation has been assembled in a 

technical support document (TSD), 

‘‘Technical Support for Proposed Rule— 

Round 7 Designated Items,’’ which is 

available on the BioPreferred Web site. 

The TSD can be located by clicking on 

the Proposed and Final Regulations link 

on the right side of the BioPreferred 

Web site’s home page (http://www.

biopreferred.gov). At the next screen, 

click on the Supporting Documentation 

link under Round 7 Designation under 

the Proposed Regulations section. This 

will bring you to the link to the TSD. 

IV. Designation of Items, Minimum 

Biobased Contents, and Time Frame 

A. Background 

In order to designate items for 

preferred procurement, section 9002 

requires USDA to consider: (1) The 

availability of items and (2) the 

economic and technological feasibility 

of using the items, including the lifecycle costs of the items. 

In considering an item’s availability, 

USDA uses several sources of 

information. USDA performs Internet 

searches, contacts trade associations 

(such as the Bio organization) and 

commodity groups, searches the 

Thomas Register (a database, used as a 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71497 

resource for finding companies and 

products manufactured in North 

America, containing over 173,000 

entries), and contacts manufacturers and 

vendors to identify those manufacturers 

and vendors with biobased products 

within items being considered for 

designation. USDA uses the results of 

these same searches to determine if an 

item is generally available. 

In considering an item’s economic 

and technological feasibility, USDA 

examines evidence pointing to the 

general commercial use of an item and 

its life-cycle cost and performance 

characteristics. This information is 

obtained from the sources used to assess 

an item’s availability. Commercial use, 

in turn, is evidenced by any 

manufacturer and vendor information 

on the availability, relative prices, and 

performance of their products as well as 

by evidence of an item being purchased 

by a procuring agency or other entity, 

where available. In sum, USDA 

considers an item economically and 

technologically feasible for purposes of 

designation if products within that item 

are being offered and used in the 

marketplace. 

In considering the life-cycle costs of 

items proposed for designation, USDA 

has obtained the necessary input 

information (on a voluntary basis) from 

manufacturers of biobased products and 

has used the BEES analytical tool to 

analyze individual products within each 

proposed item. The BEES analytical tool 

measures the environmental 

performance and the economic 

performance of a product. The 

environmental performance scores, 

impact values, and economic 

performance results for products within 

the Round 7 designated items analyzed 

using the BEES analytical tool can be 

found in ‘‘Technical Support for 

Proposed Rule—Round 7 Designated 

Items,’’ located on the BioPreferred Web 

site (http://www.biopreferred.gov). 

In addition to the BEES analytical 

tool, manufacturers wishing to make 

similar life-cycle information available 

may choose to use the ASTM Standard 

D7075 analysis. The ASTM Standard 

D7075 product analysis includes 

information on environmental 

performance, human health impacts, 

and economic performance. USDA is 

working with manufacturers and 

vendors to make this information 

available on the BioPreferred Web site 

in order to make the preferred 

procurement program more efficient. 

As discussed earlier, USDA has also 

implemented, or will implement, 

several other steps intended to educate 

the manufacturers and other 

stakeholders on the benefits of this 

program and the need to make this 

information, including manufacturer 

contact information, available on the 

BioPreferred Web site in order to then 

make it available to procurement 

officials. Additional information on 

specific products within the items 

proposed for designation may also be 

obtained directly from the 

manufacturers of the products. USDA 

has also provided a link on the 

BioPreferred Web site to the Defense 

Standardization Program, including the 

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and to 

the General Services Administration 

(GSA)-related standards lists used as 

guidance when procuring products. 

These lists can be accessed through the 

‘‘Selling to the Federal Government’’ 

link on the BioPreferred Web site. 

USDA recognizes that information 

related to the functional performance of 

biobased products is a primary factor in 

making the decision to purchase these 

products. USDA is gathering 

information on industry standard test 

methods and performance standards 

that manufacturers are using to evaluate 

the functional performance of their 

products. (Test methods are procedures 

used to provide information on a certain 

attribute of a product. For example, a 

test method might determine how many 

bacteria are killed. Performance 

standards identify the level at which a 

product must perform in order for it to 

be ‘‘acceptable’’ to the entity that set the 

performance standard. For example, a 

performance standard might require that 

a certain percentage (e.g., 95 percent) of 

the bacteria must be killed through the 

use of the product.) The primary sources 

of information on these test methods 

and performance standards are 

manufacturers of biobased products 

within these items. Additional test 

methods and performance standards are 

also identified during meetings of the 

Interagency council and during the 

review process for each proposed rule. 

We have listed, under the detailed 

discussion of each item proposed for 

designation (presented in Section IV.B), 

the functional performance test 

methods, performance standards, 

product certifications, and other 

measures of performance associated 

with the functional aspects of products 

identified during the development of 

this Federal Register notice for these 

items. 

While this process identifies many of 

the relevant test methods and standards, 

USDA recognizes that those identified 

herein do not represent all of the 

methods and standards that may be 

applicable for a designated item or for 

any individual product within the 

designated item. As noted earlier in this 

preamble, USDA is requesting 

identification of other relevant 

performance standards and measures of 

performance. As the program becomes 

fully implemented, these and other 

additional relevant performance 

standards will be available on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

In gathering information relevant to 

the analyses discussed above for this 

proposed rule, USDA has made 

extensive efforts to contact and request 

information and product samples within 

the items proposed for designation. For 

product information, USDA has 

attempted to contact representatives of 

the manufacturers of biobased products 

identified by the preferred procurement 

program. For product samples on which 

to conduct biobased content tests and 

BEES analysis, USDA has attempted to 

obtain samples and BEES input 

information from at least five different 

suppliers of products within each item 

in today’s proposed rule. However, 

because the submission of information 

and samples is on a strictly voluntary 

basis, USDA was able to obtain 

information and samples only from 

those manufacturers who volunteered to 

invest the resources required to gather 

and submit the information and 

samples. The data presented are all the 

data that were submitted in response to 

USDA requests for information from 

manufacturers of the products within 

the items proposed for designation. 

While USDA would prefer to have 

complete data on the full range of 

products within each item, the data that 

were submitted support designation of 

the items in today’s proposed rule. 

To propose an item for designation, 

USDA must have sufficient information 

on a sufficient number of products 

within an item to be able to assess its 

availability and its economic and 

technological feasibility, including its 

life-cycle costs. For some items, there 

may be numerous products available. 

For other items, there may be very few 

products currently available. Given the 

infancy of the market for some items, it 

is expected that single-product items 

will be identified. Further, given that 

the intent of section 9002 is largely to 

stimulate the production of new 

biobased products and to energize 

emerging markets for those products, 

USDA has determined it is appropriate 

to designate an item or subcategory for 

preferred procurement even when there 

is only a single product with a single 

supplier, though this will generally 

occur once other items with high 

biobased content and two or more 

producers are first designated. However, 

USDA has also determined that in such 

situations it is appropriate to defer the 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71498 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

effective preferred procurement date 

until such time that more than one 

supplier is identified in order to provide 

choice to procuring agencies. Similarly, 

the documented availability, benefits, 

and life-cycle costs of even a very small 

percentage of all products that may exist 

within an item are also considered 

sufficient to support designation. 

B. Items Proposed for Designation 

USDA uses a model (as summarized 

below) to identify and prioritize items 

for designation. Through this model, 

USDA has identified over 100 items for 

potential designation under the 

preferred procurement program. A list 

of these items and information on the 

model can be accessed on the 

BioPreferred Web site at http:// 

www.biopreferred.gov. 

In general, items are developed and 

prioritized for designation by evaluating 

them against program criteria 

established by USDA and by gathering 

information from other government 

agencies, private industry groups, and 

manufacturers. These evaluations begin 

by looking at the cost, performance, and 

availability of products within each 

item. USDA then considers the 

following points: 

• Are there manufacturers interested 

in providing the necessary test 

information on products within a 

particular item? 

• Are there a number of 

manufacturers producing biobased 

products in this item? 

• Are there products available in this 

item? 

• What level of difficulty is expected 

when designating this item? 

• Is there Federal demand for the 

product? 

• Are Federal procurement personnel 

looking for biobased products? 

• Will an item create a high demand 

for biobased feed stock? 

• Does manufacturing of products 

within this item increase potential for 

rural development? 

After completing this evaluation, 

USDA prioritizes the list of items for 

designation. USDA then gathers 

information on products within the 

highest priority items and, as sufficient 

information becomes available for a 

group of items, a new rulemaking 

package is developed to designate the 

items within that group. USDA points 

out that the list of items may change, 

with items being added or dropped, and 

that the order in which items are 

proposed for designation is likely to 

change because the information 

necessary to designate an item may take 

more time to obtain than an item lower 

on the list. 

In today’s proposed rule, USDA is 

proposing to designate the following 

items and subcategories for the 

preferred procurement program: Animal 

repellents; bath products; 

bioremediation materials; compost 

activators and accelerators; concrete and 

asphalt cleaners; cuts, burns, and 

abrasions ointments; dishwashing 

products; erosion control materials; 

floor cleaners and protectors; hair care 

products, including shampoos and 

conditioners as subcategories; interior 

paints and coatings; oven and grill 

cleaners; slide way lubricants; and 

thermal shipping containers, including 

durable and non-durable thermal 

shipping containers as subcategories. 

USDA has determined that each of these 

items meets the necessary statutory 

requirements—namely, that they are 

being produced with biobased products 

and that their procurement by procuring 

agencies will carry out the following 

objectives of section 9002: 

• To increase demand for biobased 

products, which would in turn increase 

demand for agricultural commodities 

that can serve as feedstocks for the 

production of biobased products. 

• To spur development of the 

industrial base through value-added 

agricultural processing and 

manufacturing in rural communities; 

and 

• To enhance the Nation’s energy 

security by substituting biobased 

products for products derived from 

imported oil and natural gas. 

Further, USDA has sufficient 

information on these items to determine 

their availability and to conduct the 

requisite analyses to determine their 

biobased content and their economic 

and technological feasibility, including 

life-cycle costs. 

Overlap with EPA’s Comprehensive 

Procurement Guideline program for 

recovered content products. In today’s 

proposed rule, two items may overlap 

with EPA-designated recovered content 

products. The first item is interior 

paints and coatings, which may overlap 

with the EPA-designated recovered 

content products ‘‘Reprocessed Latex 

Paints’’ and ‘‘Consolidated Latex Paints.’’ 

The second item is slide way lubricants, 

which may overlap with the EPAdesignated recovered content ‘‘Rerefined Lubricating Oils.’’ 

For these items, USDA is requesting 

that information on qualifying biobased 

products be made available by their 

manufacturers to assist Federal agencies 

in determining if an overlap exists 

between the biobased products and the 

applicable EPA-designated recovered 

content products. USDA is requesting 

this information on overlap situations to 

further help procuring agencies make 

informed decisions when faced with 

purchasing a recovered content material 

product or a biobased product. As this 

information is developed, USDA will 

make it available on the BioPreferred 

Web site. 

Exemptions. Products exempt from 

the biobased procurement preference 

are military equipment, defined as any 

product or system designed or procured 

for combat or combat-related missions, 

and spacecraft systems and launch 

support equipment. However, agencies 

may purchase biobased products 

wherever performance, availability and 

reasonable price indicates that such 

purchases are justified. 

Although each item in today’s 

proposed rule would be exempt from 

the procurement preference requirement 

when used in spacecraft systems or 

launch support application or in 

military equipment used in combat and 

combat-related applications, this 

exemption does not extend to 

contractors performing work other than 

direct maintenance and support of the 

spacecraft or launch support equipment 

or combat or combat-related missions. 

For example, if a contractor is cleaning 

the interior of a non-combat office 

building on a military base, the floor 

cleaners and protectors the contractor 

purchases and uses in the office 

building should be biobased. The 

exemption does apply, however, if the 

product being purchased by the 

contractor is for use in combat or 

combat-related missions or for use in 

space or launch applications. After 

reviewing the regulatory requirement 

and the relevant contract, where 

contractors have any questions on the 

exemption, they should contact the 

cognizant contracting officer. 

USDA points out that it is not the 

intent of these exemptions to imply that 

biobased products are inferior to nonbiobased products. If manufacturers of 

biobased products can meet the 

concerns of these two agencies, USDA is 

willing to reconsider such exemptions 

on an item-by-item basis. Any changes 

to the current exemptions would be 

announced in a proposed rule 

amendment with an opportunity for 

public comment. 

Each of the proposed designated items 

and their subcategories are discussed in 

the following sections. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71499 

1Additional information on the determination of 

minimum biobased contents is presented in Section 

IV.C of this preamble. 

1. Animal Repellents (Minimum 

Biobased Content 79 Percent) 1

Animal repellents are products used 

to aid in deterring animals that cause 

destruction to plants and/or property. 

USDA identified 29 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 109 animal repellents. 

These 29 manufacturers and suppliers 

do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers of animal repellents, 

merely those identified during USDA 

information gathering activities. 

Relevant product information supplied 

by these manufacturers and suppliers 

indicates that these products are being 

used commercially. However, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

contacted by USDA did not identify any 

performance standards, test methods, or 

applicable industry measures of 

performance against which these 

products have been tested. As noted 

earlier in this preamble, the lack of 

identified performance standards is not 

relevant to the designation of an item for 

preferred procurement because it is not 

one of the criteria section 9002 requires 

USDA to consider in order to designate 

an item for preferred procurement. If 

and when performance standards, test 

methods, and other relevant measures of 

performance are identified for this item, 

USDA will provide such information on 

the BioPreferred Web site. 

USDA contacted procurement 

officials with various policy-making and 

procuring agencies in an effort to gather 

information on the purchases of animal 

repellents, as well as information on 

products within the other 13 items 

proposed for designation today. These 

agencies included GSA, several offices 

within the DLA, OFEE, USDA 

Departmental Administration, the 

National Park Service, EPA, a 

Department of Energy laboratory, and 

OMB. Communications with these 

Federal officials led to the conclusion 

that obtaining current item statistics and 

specific potential markets within the 

Federal government for biobased 

products within the 14 proposed 

designated items is not possible at this 

time. 

Most of the contacted officials 

reported that procurement data are 

appropriately reported in higher level 

groupings of Federal Supply Codes for 

materials and supplies, which is higher 

level coding than the proposed 

designated items. Using terms that best 

match the items in today’s proposed 

rule, USDA queried the GSA database 

for Federal purchases of products 

within today’s proposed items. The 

results indicate purchases of products 

within items in today’s proposed rule. 

The results of this inquiry can be found 

in the TSD for this proposed rule. Also, 

the purchasing of such materials as part 

of contracted services and with 

individual purchase cards used to 

purchase products locally leads to less 

accurate data on purchases of specific 

products. 

USDA also investigated the Web site 

FEDBIZOPPS.gov, a site which lists 

Federal contract purchase opportunities 

and awards greater than $25,000. The 

information provided on this Web site, 

however, is for broad categories of 

services and products rather than the 

specific types of products that are 

included in today’s proposed rule. 

Therefore, USDA has been unable to 

obtain data on the amount of animal 

repellents purchased by procuring 

agencies. However, many Federal 

agencies routinely procure such 

products for use in animal control and 

related services involving the use of 

such products. On this basis, USDA 

reaches the conclusion that the 

government has a need for animal 

repellents and for services that use these 

products. Designation of animal 

repellents will promote the use of 

biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics, have been collected on 

eight animal repellents. Analyses of the 

environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased animal repellents were 

performed for three of the products 

using the BEES analytical tool. The 

results of those analyses are presented 

in the TSD for the Round 7 items, which 

can be found on the BioPreferred Web 

site. 

2. Bath Products (Minimum Biobased 

Content 61 Percent) 

Bath products are personal hygiene 

products, including soaps and other 

cleansers for the body. These products 

are generally bar soaps, liquids, or gels 

that are referred to as body washes, 

body shampoos, or cleansing lotions. 

USDA identified 369 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 888 bath products. 

These 369 manufacturers and suppliers 

do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers of bath products, merely 

those identified during USDA 

information gathering activities. 

Relevant product information supplied 

by these manufacturers and suppliers 

indicates that these products are being 

used commercially. In addition, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

identified four test methods (as shown 

below) used in evaluating products 

within this item. While there may be 

additional test methods, as well as 

performance standards, product 

certifications, and other measures of 

performance, applicable to products 

within this item, the four test methods 

identified by the manufacturers of 

products within this item are: 

Test Methods: 

• ASTM International D–130 

Standard Test Method for corrosiveness 

to copper from petroleum products by 

copper strip test; 

• ASTM International D–665 

Standard Test Method for rustpreventing characteristics of inhibited 

mineral oil in the presence of water; 

• ISO 32 Calibration in analytical 

chemistry and use of certified reference 

materials; and 

• Vickers I–286–S Tests for pump 

wear. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for bath products 

within the Federal government as 

discussed in the section on animal 

repellents. These attempts were largely 

unsuccessful. However, Federal 

agencies routinely procure such 

products and contract for lodging and 

health care related services involving 

the use of such products. On this basis, 

USDA concludes that the government 

has a need for bath products and for 

services that use bath products. 

Designation of bath products will 

promote the use of biobased products, 

furthering the objectives of this 

program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics, have been collected on 

101 bath products. Analyses of the 

environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased bath products were performed 

for three of the products using the BEES 

analytical tool. The results of those 

analyses are presented in the TSD for 

the Round 7 items, which can be found 

on the BioPreferred Web site. 

3. Bioremediation Materials (Minimum 

Biobased Content 86 Percent) 

Bioremediation materials are dry or 

liquid solutions used to clean oil, fuel, 

and other hazardous spill sites. They do 

not include sorbent materials, but may 

include bacteria or other microbes. 

USDA identified 31 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 53 bioremediation 

materials. The 31 manufacturers and 

suppliers do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers and suppliers of biobased 

bioremediation materials, merely those 

identified during USDA information 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71500 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

gathering activities. Information 

supplied by these manufacturers and 

suppliers indicates that these products 

are being used commercially. In 

addition, manufacturers and 

stakeholders identified two test methods 

(as shown below) used in evaluating 

products within this item. While there 

may be additional test methods, as well 

as performance standards, product 

certifications, and other measures of 

performance, applicable to products 

within this item, the two test methods 

identified by the manufacturers of 

products within this item are: 

Test Methods: 

• American Type Culture Collection 

Biosafety Level 1 minimal potential for 

causing diseases in humans, plants, 

animals and aquatic life; and 

• California Air Resources Board 

Method 310 VOCs. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for bioremediation 

materials within the Federal 

government as discussed in the section 

on animal repellents. These attempts 

were largely unsuccessful. However, 

many Federal agencies own residential 

and office buildings and routinely 

perform, or procure contract services to 

perform, the types of maintenance 

activities that would use these products. 

Thus, they have a need for 

bioremediation materials and for 

services that require the use of 

bioremediation materials. Designation of 

bioremediation materials will promote 

the use of biobased products, furthering 

the objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics, have been collected on 

11 bioremediation materials. An 

analysis of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased bioremediation 

materials was performed for one of the 

products using the BEES analytical tool. 

The results of that analysis are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

4. Compost Activators and Accelerators 

(Minimum Biobased Content 95 

Percent) 

Compost activators and accelerators 

are products designed to be applied to 

compost piles to aid in speeding up the 

composting process and to ensure 

successful compost that is ready for 

consumer use. They are available in 

either liquid or powder forms. 

USDA identified 19 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 32 compost activators 

and accelerators. The 19 manufacturers 

and suppliers do not necessarily include 

all manufacturers and suppliers of 

biobased compost activators and 

accelerators, merely those identified 

during USDA information gathering 

activities. Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. However, manufacturers 

and stakeholders contacted by USDA 

did not identify any applicable 

performance standards, test methods, or 

other industry measures of performance 

against which these products have been 

tested. USDA points out that the lack of 

identified performance standards is not 

relevant to the designation of an item for 

preferred procurement because it is not 

one of the criteria section 9002 requires 

USDA to consider in order to designate 

an item for preferred procurement. If 

and when performance standards, test 

methods, and other relevant measures of 

performance are identified for this item, 

USDA will provide such information on 

the BioPreferred Web site. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for compost activator 

and accelerator products within the 

Federal government as discussed in the 

section on animal repellents. These 

attempts were largely unsuccessful. 

However, Federal agencies routinely 

perform, or procure contract services to 

perform, the types of composting 

activities that would use these products. 

Thus, they have a need for compost 

activators and accelerators and for 

services that require the use of compost 

activators and accelerators. Designation 

of compost activators and accelerators 

will promote the use of biobased 

products, furthering the objectives of 

this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics, have been collected on 

five compost activators and accelerators. 

An analysis of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased compost activator and 

accelerator was performed for one of the 

products using the BEES analytical tool. 

The results of that analysis are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

5. Concrete and Asphalt Cleaners 

(Minimum Biobased Content 58 

Percent) 

Concrete and asphalt cleaners are 

products used in concrete etching as 

well as to remove petroleum-based soils, 

lubricants, paints, mastics, organic soils, 

rust, and dirt from concrete, asphalt, 

stone and other hard porous surfaces for 

commercial, industrial, or residential 

use. 

USDA identified 29 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 34 concrete and asphalt 

cleaners. The 29 manufacturers and 

suppliers do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers and suppliers of biobased 

concrete and asphalt cleaners, merely 

those identified during USDA 

information gathering activities. 

Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. In addition, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

identified six test methods (as shown 

below) used in evaluating products 

within this item. While there may be 

additional test methods, as well as 

performance standards and other 

measures of performance, applicable to 

products within this item, the six test 

methods identified by the 

manufacturers of products within this 

item are: 

Test Methods: 

• Boeing Spec D6–17487P for aircraft 

exterior and general cleaning; 

• ASTM International D3505 

standard test method for density or 

relative density of pure liquid 

chemicals; 

• ASTM International E70 standard 

test method for pH of aqueous solutions 

with the glass electrode; 

• Environmental Protection Agency 

560/6–82–003 Describes methods for 

performing testing of chemical 

substances under the Toxic Substances 

Control Act; 

• Environmental Protection Agency 

601 Purgeable Halocarbons; and 

• Environmental Protection Agency 

602 Purgeable Aromatics. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for concrete and 

asphalt cleaning products within the 

Federal government as discussed in the 

section on animal repellents. These 

attempts were largely unsuccessful. 

However, many Federal agencies 

routinely perform, or procure contract 

services to perform, concrete and 

asphalt cleaning. Thus, they have a need 

for concrete and asphalt cleaners and for 

services that require the use of concrete 

and asphalt cleaners. Designation of 

concrete and asphalt cleaners will 

promote the use of biobased products, 

furthering the objectives of this 

program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics, have been collected on 

nine concrete and asphalt cleaners. An 

analysis of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased concrete and asphalt 

cleaners was performed for one of the 

products using the BEES analytical tool. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71501 

The results of that analysis are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

6. Cuts, Burns, and Abrasions 

Ointments (Minimum Biobased Content 

84 Percent) 

Cuts, burns, and abrasions ointments 

are products designed to aid in the 

healing and sanitizing of scratches, cuts, 

bruises, abrasions, sun damaged skin, 

tattoos, rashes and other skin 

conditions. 

USDA identified 42 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 71 different cuts, burns, 

and abrasions ointments. These 42 

manufacturers and suppliers do not 

necessarily include all manufacturers 

and suppliers of biobased cuts, burns, 

and abrasions ointments, merely those 

identified during USDA information 

gathering activities. Information 

supplied by these manufacturers and 

suppliers indicates that these products 

are being used commercially. However, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

contacted by USDA did not identify any 

applicable performance standards, test 

methods, or other industry measures of 

performance against which these 

products have been tested. USDA points 

out that the lack of identified 

performance standards is not relevant to 

the designation of an item for preferred 

procurement because it is not one of the 

criteria section 9002 requires USDA to 

consider in order to designate an item 

for preferred procurement. If and when 

performance standards, test methods, 

and other relevant measures of 

performance are identified for this item, 

USDA will provide such information on 

the BioPreferred Web site. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for cuts, burns, and 

abrasions ointments within the Federal 

government as discussed in the section 

on animal repellents. These attempts 

were largely unsuccessful. However, 

many Federal agencies routinely 

procure and use such products in daily 

operations. In addition, Federal agencies 

may contract for health care services 

involving the use of such products. 

Thus, they have a need for cuts, burns, 

and abrasions ointments and for 

services that require the use of cuts, 

burns, and abrasions ointments. 

Designation of cuts, burns, and 

abrasions ointments will promote the 

use of biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

23 cuts, burns, and abrasions ointments. 

Analyses of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased cuts, burns, and 

abrasions ointments were performed for 

two of the products using the BEES 

analytical tool. The results of those 

analyses are presented in the TSD for 

the Round 7 items, which can be found 

on the BioPreferred Web site. 

7. Dishwashing Products (Minimum 

Biobased Content 58 Percent) 

Dishwashing products are soaps and 

detergents used for cleaning and clean 

rinsing of tableware in either hand 

washing or dishwashing machines. 

USDA identified 39 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 64 different 

dishwashing products. These 39 

manufacturers and suppliers do not 

necessarily include all manufacturers 

and suppliers of biobased dishwashing 

products, merely those identified during 

USDA information gathering activities. 

Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. In addition, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

identified six test methods (as shown 

below) used in evaluating products 

within this item. While there may be 

additional test methods, as well as 

performance standards and other 

measures of performance, applicable to 

products within this item, the six test 

methods identified by the 

manufacturers of products within this 

item are: 

Test Methods: 

• Bacteria Inhibitory; 

• Chlorine Equal; 

• Boeing D6–7127: ‘‘Cleaning 

interiors of commercial transport 

aircraft’’; 

• Federal Test Method Standard 

536A: Soap and soap products 

(including synthetic detergents) 

sampling and testing; 

• South Coast Air Quality 

Management District, Clean Air: The 

South Coast Air Quality Management 

District hereby certifies the above 

product as a ‘‘Clean Air Solvent’’; and 

• U.S. Navy, Navsea 6840 U.S. Navy 

surface ship (non-submarine) authorized 

chemical cleaning products and 

dispensing systems. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for dishwashing 

products within the Federal government 

as discussed in the section on animal 

repellents. These attempts were largely 

unsuccessful. However, many Federal 

agencies routinely use dishwashing 

products in daily operations. In 

addition, Federal agencies may contract 

for food preparation and kitchen 

cleaning services involving the use of 

such products. Thus, they have a need 

for dishwashing products and for 

services that require the use of 

dishwashing products. Designation of 

dishwashing products will promote the 

use of biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

28 dishwashing products. An analysis of 

the environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased dishwashing products was 

performed for one of the products using 

the BEES analytical tool. The results of 

that analysis are presented in the TSD 

for the Round 7 items, which can be 

found on the BioPreferred Web site. 

8. Erosion Control Materials (Minimum 

Biobased Content 77 Percent) 

Erosion control materials are woven 

or non-woven fiber materials 

manufactured for use on construction, 

demolition, or other sites to prevent 

wind or water erosion of loose earth 

surfaces, and may be combined with 

seed and/or fertilizer to promote growth. 

USDA identified 30 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 169 erosion control 

materials. These 30 manufacturers and 

suppliers do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers and suppliers of biobased 

erosion control materials, merely those 

identified during USDA information 

gathering activities. Information 

supplied by these manufacturers and 

suppliers indicates that these products 

are being used commercially. In 

addition, manufacturers and 

stakeholders identified 21 test methods 

(as shown below) used in evaluating 

products within this item. While other 

test methods and measures of 

performance, as well as performance 

standards, applicable to products within 

this item may exist, the 21 test methods 

identified by manufacturers of products 

within this item and by others are: 

Test Methods: 

• American Association of State 

Highway Transportation Officials 

M288–96 Geotextile Specifications; 

• ASTM International D1388 

Standard Test Method for Stiffness of 

Fabrics; 

• ASTM International D1777 

Standard Test Method for Thickness of 

Textile Materials; 

• ASTM International D2974 

Standard Test Method for Moisture, 

Ash, and Organic Matter of Peat and 

Other Organic Soils; 

• ASTM International D3776 

Standard Test Methods for Mass per 

Unit Area (Weight) of Fabric; 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71502 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

• ASTM International D4354 

Standard Test Practice for Sampling of 

Geosynthetics for Testing; 

• ASTM International D4595 

Standard Test Method for Tensile 

Properties of Geotextiles by the WideWidth Strip Method; 

• ASTM International D5035 

Standard Test Method for Breaking 

Force and Elongation of Textile Fabrics 

(Strip Method); 

• ASTM International D5261 

Standard Test Method for Measuring 

Mass per Unit Area of Geotextiles; 

• ASTM D586 Standard Test Method 

for Ash in Pulp, Paper and Paper 

Products; 

• ASTM International D6400 

Standard Specification for Compostable 

Plastics; 

• ASTM International D6459 

Standard Test Method for Determination 

of Erosion Control Blanket (ECB) 

Performance in Protecting Hillslopes 

from Rainfall-Induced Erosion; 

• ASTM International D6460 

Standard Test Method for Determination 

of Rolled Erosion Control Product 

(RECP) Performance in Protecting 

Earthen Channels from StormwaterInduced Erosion; 

• ASTM International D6475 

Standard Test Method for Measuring 

Mass per Unit Area of Erosion Control 

Blankets; 

• ASTM International D6524 

Standard Test Method for Measuring the 

Resiliency of Turf Reinforcement Mats 

(TRMs); 

• ASTM International D6525 

Standard Test Method for Measuring 

Nominal Thickness of Permanent Rolled 

Erosion Control Products; 

• ASTM International D6566 

Standard Test Method for Measuring 

Mass per Unit of Area of Turf 

Reinforcement Mats; 

• ASTM International D6567 

Standard Test Method for Measuring the 

Light Penetration of a Turf 

Reinforcement Mat (TRM); 

• ASTM International D6575 

Standard Test Method for Determining 

Stiffness of Geosynthetics Used as Turf 

Reinforcement Mats (TRMs); 

• ASTM International D6818 

Standard Test Method for Ultimate 

Tensile Properties of Turf 

Reinforcement Mats; and 

• Erosion Control Technology 

Council Technical Guidance Manual: 

TASC 00197. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for erosion control 

materials within the Federal 

government as discussed in the section 

on animal repellents. These attempts 

were largely unsuccessful. However, 

many Federal agencies routinely 

perform, or procure contract services to 

perform construction, demolition or 

other site work or maintenance that 

requires the use of erosion control 

materials. Thus, they have a need for 

these products. Designation of erosion 

control materials will promote the use 

of biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

15 erosion control materials. Analyses 

of the environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased erosion control materials were 

performed for two of the products using 

the BEES analytical tool. The results of 

those analyses are presented in the TSD 

for the Round 7 items, which can be 

found on the BioPreferred Web site. 

9. Floor Cleaners and Protectors 

(Minimum Biobased Content 77 

Percent) 

Floor cleaners and protectors are 

cleaning solutions for either direct 

application or use in floor scrubbers for 

wood, vinyl, tile, or similar hard surface 

floors. 

USDA identified 25 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 39 floor cleaners and 

protectors. These 25 manufacturers and 

suppliers do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers and suppliers of biobased 

floor cleaners and protectors, merely 

those identified during USDA 

information gathering activities. 

Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. In addition, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

identified several test methods and 

other measures of performance (as 

shown below) used in evaluating 

products within this item. While other 

test methods and other measures of 

performance, as well as performance 

standards, applicable to products within 

this item may exist, those test methods 

and other measures of performance 

identified by manufacturers of products 

within this item and by others are: 

Test Methods: 

• ASTM International D4488 

Standard guide for testing cleaning 

performance of products intended for 

use on resilient flooring and washable 

walls; and 

• ASTM International D5343 

Standard guide for evaluating cleaning 

performance of ceramic tile cleaners. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for floor cleaners and 

protectors within the Federal 

government as discussed in the section 

on animal repellents. These attempts 

were largely unsuccessful. However, 

many Federal agencies routinely 

perform, or procure contract services to 

perform, activities that use floor 

cleaners and protectors. Thus, they have 

a need for these products. Designation 

of floor cleaners and protectors will 

promote the use of biobased products, 

furthering the objectives of this 

program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

14 floor cleaners and protectors. 

Analyses of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased floor cleaners and 

protectors were performed for two of the 

products using the BEES analytical tool. 

The results of those analyses are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

10. Hair Care Products (Minimum 

Biobased Content: 66 Percent for 

Shampoos; 78 Percent for Conditioners) 

Hair care products are products that 

are specifically formulated for hair 

cleaning and treatment applications, 

including shampoos and conditioners. 

USDA identified 58 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 265 hair care products. 

Of these 265 products, 147 were 

identified as providing products 

designed specifically as shampoos and 

118 were identified as providing 

products designed as conditioners. 

Based on the information available to it, 

USDA believes that it is appropriate to 

subcategorize this item into shampoo 

products and conditioner products. For 

the purpose of this rulemaking, 

products that contain a combination of 

shampoo and conditioner are 

considered to be shampoos because the 

primary purpose of these products is 

believed to be cleaning the hair. 

The 58 manufacturers and suppliers 

do not necessarily include all 

manufacturers and suppliers of hair care 

products, merely those identified during 

USDA information gathering activities. 

Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. However, manufacturers 

and stakeholders contacted by USDA 

did not identify any performance 

standards, test methods, or applicable 

industry measures of performance 

against which these products have been 

tested. As noted earlier in this preamble, 

the lack of identified performance 

standards is not relevant to the 

designation of an item for preferred 

procurement because it is not one of the 

criteria section 9002 requires USDA to 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71503 

consider in order to designate an item 

for preferred procurement. If and when 

performance standards, test methods, 

and other relevant measures of 

performance are identified for this item, 

USDA will provide such information on 

the BioPreferred Web site. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for hair care products 

within the Federal government as 

discussed in the section on animal 

repellents. These attempts were largely 

unsuccessful. However, some Federal 

agencies routinely procure hair care 

products, or procure services that use 

these products. Thus, they have a need 

for hair care products and for services 

that require the use of hair care 

products. Designation of hair care 

products will promote the use of 

biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

106 hair care products. Analyses of the 

environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased hair care products were 

performed for two of the shampoo 

products using the BEES analytical tool. 

The results of those analyses are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

11. Interior Paints and Coatings 

(Minimum Biobased Content 67 

Percent) 

Interior paints and coatings are 

products used to protect and add color 

to an object or surface by covering it 

with a pigmented coating specifically 

formulated to provide protection in 

indoor applications. 

USDA identified 15 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 114 different biobased 

interior paints and coatings. These 15 

manufacturers and suppliers do not 

necessarily include all manufacturers 

and suppliers of biobased interior paints 

and coatings, merely those identified 

during USDA information gathering 

activities. Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. In addition, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

identified three test methods (as shown 

below) used in evaluating products 

within this item. While other test 

methods and other measures of 

performance, as well as performance 

standards, applicable to products within 

this item may exist, those test methods 

and other measures of performance 

identified by manufacturers of products 

within this item and by others are: 

Test Methods: 

• ASTM International D2486 

Standard Test Method for Scrub 

Resistance of Wall Paint; 

• ASTM International 4828–91 Stain 

Resistance; and 

• ASTM International D2805–88 

Standard Test Method for Opacity. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for interior paints and 

coatings within the Federal government 

as discussed in the section on animal 

repellents. These attempts were largely 

unsuccessful. However, Federal 

agencies have residential and office 

buildings that requires the use of 

interior paints and coatings. In addition, 

Federal agencies may procure contract 

maintenance services that require the 

use of interior paints and coatings. 

Thus, they have a need for interior 

paints and coatings and for services that 

require the use of such products. 

Designation of interior paints and 

coatings will promote the use of 

biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

10 interior paints and coatings. 

Analyses of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased interior paints and 

coatings were performed for two of the 

products using the BEES analytical tool. 

The results of those analyses are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

12. Oven and Grill Cleaners (Minimum 

Biobased Content 66 Percent) 

Oven and grill cleaners are cleaning 

agents used on high temperature 

cooking surfaces such as barbeques, 

smokers, grills, stoves, and ovens to 

soften and loosen charred food, grease, 

and residue. 

USDA identified 11 manufacturers 

and suppliers of 13 oven and grill 

cleaner products. These 11 

manufacturers and suppliers do not 

necessarily include all manufacturers of 

oven and grill cleaners, merely those 

identified during USDA information 

gathering activities. Information 

supplied by the manufacturers and 

suppliers indicates that these products 

are being used commercially. However, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

contacted by USDA did not identify any 

applicable performance standards, test 

methods, or other industry measures of 

performance against which these 

products have been tested. USDA points 

out that the lack of identified 

performance standards is not relevant to 

the designation of an item for preferred 

procurement because it is not one of the 

criteria section 9002 requires USDA to 

consider in order to designate an item 

for preferred procurement. If and when 

performance standards, test methods, 

and other relevant measures of 

performance are identified for this item, 

USDA will provide such information on 

the BioPreferred Web site. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for oven and grill 

cleaners within the Federal government 

using the procedure described in the 

section on animal repellents. These 

attempts were largely unsuccessful. 

However, Federal agencies routinely 

engage in operations where oven and 

grill cleaners are used. In addition, 

many Federal agencies contract for food 

service activities involving the use of 

such products. Thus, they have a need 

for oven and grill cleaners and for 

services that use oven and grill cleaners. 

Designation of oven and grill cleaners 

will promote the use of biobased 

products, furthering the objectives of 

this program. 

Specific product information 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

nine oven and grill cleaners. Analyses of 

the environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased oven and grill cleaners were 

performed for three of the products 

using the BEES analytical tool. The 

results of those analyses are presented 

in the TSD for the Round 7 items, which 

can be found on the BioPreferred Web 

site. 

13. Slide Way Lubricants (Minimum 

Biobased Content 74 Percent) 

Slide way lubricants are products 

used to provide lubrication between the 

mating surfaces, or slides, found in 

machine tools. These lubricants 

eliminate stick-slip or table chatter by 

reducing friction between mating 

surfaces. 

USDA identified three manufacturers 

and suppliers of four different biobased 

slide way lubricants. These three 

manufacturers and suppliers do not 

necessarily include all manufacturers 

and suppliers of biobased slide way 

lubricants, merely those identified 

during USDA information gathering 

activities. Information supplied by these 

manufacturers and suppliers indicates 

that these products are being used 

commercially. In addition, 

manufacturers and stakeholders 

identified 10 test methods (as shown 

below) used in evaluating products 

within this item. While there may be 

additional test methods, as well as 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71504 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

performance standards and other 

measures of performance, applicable to 

products within this item, the 10 test 

methods identified by the 

manufacturers of products within this 

item are: 

Test Methods: 

• ASTM International D2161 

Standard Practice for Conversion of 

Kinematic Viscosity to Saybolt 

Universal Viscosity or to Saybolt Furol; 

• ASTM International D2270 

Standard Practice for Calculating 

Viscosity Index from Kinematic 

Viscosity at 40 and 100 °C; 

• ASTM International D2782 

Standard Test Method for Measurement 

of Extreme-Pressure Properties of 

Lubricating Fluids (Timken Method); 

• ASTM International D2783 

Standard Test Method for Measurement 

of Extreme-Pressure Properties of 

Lubricating Fluids (Four-Ball Method); 

• ASTM International D287 Standard 

Test Method for API Gravity of Crude 

Petroleum and Petroleum Products 

(Hydrometer Method); 

• ASTM International D445 Standard 

Test Method for Kinematic Viscosity of 

Transparent and Opaque Liquids (and 

Calculation of Dynamic Viscosity); 

• ASTM International D5864 

Standard Test Method for Determining 

Aerobic Aquatic Biodegradation of 

Lubricants or Their Components; 

• ASTM International D665 Standard 

Test Method for Rust-Preventing 

Characteristics of Inhibited Mineral Oil 

in the Presence of Water; 

• ASTM International D92 Standard 

Test Method for Flash and Fire Points 

by Cleveland Open Cup Tester; and 

• ASTM International D97 Standard 

Test Method for Pour Point of Petroleum 

Products. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for slide way lubricants 

within the Federal government as 

discussed in the section on animal 

repellents. These attempts were largely 

unsuccessful. However, Federal 

agencies have machinery and 

equipment that requires the use of slide 

way lubricants. In addition, Federal 

agencies may procure contract services 

that have machinery that requires the 

use of slide way lubricants. Thus, they 

have a need for slide way lubricants and 

for services that require the use of such 

lubricants. Designation of slide way 

lubricants will promote the use of 

biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

two slide way lubricants. An analysis of 

the environmental and human health 

benefits and the life-cycle costs of 

biobased slide way lubricants was 

performed for one of the products using 

the BEES analytical tool. The results of 

that analysis are presented in the TSD 

for the Round 7 items, which can be 

found on the BioPreferred Web site. 

14. Thermal Shipping Containers 

(Minimum Biobased Content: 21 Percent 

for Durable Containers; 82 Percent for 

Non-Durable Containers) 

Thermal shipping containers are 

insulated containers for shipping 

temperature sensitive materials. 

USDA identified two manufacturers 

of three biobased thermal shipping 

container products. Of these 

manufacturers, one was identified as 

providing two products designed for 

single, short term use (non-durable) and 

the other manufacturer was identified as 

providing a durable product intended 

for long term use. 

The two manufacturers do not 

necessarily include all manufacturers of 

biobased thermal shipping containers, 

merely those identified during USDA 

information gathering activities. 

Information supplied by these 

manufacturers indicates that these 

products are being used commercially. 

In addition, manufacturers and 

stakeholders identified four methods (as 

shown below) used in evaluating 

products within this item. While other 

test methods and other measures of 

performance, as well as performance 

standards, applicable to products within 

this item may exist, those test methods 

and other measures of performance 

identified by manufacturers of products 

within this item and by others are: 

Test Methods: 

• ASTM International D4236 

Standard Practice for Labeling Art 

Materials for Chronic Health Hazards; 

• ASTM International D963 

Specification for Copper Phthalcoyanine 

Blue Pigment; 

• ASTM International D5338 

Standard Test Method for Determining 

Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastic 

Materials Under Controlled Composting 

Conditions; and 

• ASTM International D6868 

Standard Specification for 

Biodegradable Plastics Used as Coatings 

on Paper and Other Compostable 

Substrates. 

USDA attempted to gather data on the 

potential market for thermal shipping 

containers within the Federal 

government as discussed in the section 

on animal repellents. These attempts 

were largely unsuccessful. However, 

many Federal agencies routinely use 

such containers, and procure services 

that use thermal shipping containers. 

Thus, they have a need for thermal 

shipping containers and for services that 

require the use of thermal shipping 

containers. Designation of thermal 

shipping containers will promote the 

use of biobased products, furthering the 

objectives of this program. 

Specific product information, 

including company contact, intended 

use, biobased content, and performance 

characteristics have been collected on 

two thermal shipping containers. 

Analyses of the environmental and 

human health benefits and the life-cycle 

costs of biobased thermal shipping 

containers were performed for two of 

the products using the BEES analytical 

tool. The results of those analyses are 

presented in the TSD for the Round 7 

items, which can be found on the 

BioPreferred Web site. 

C. Minimum Biobased Contents 

USDA has determined that setting a 

minimum biobased content for 

designated items is appropriate. 

Establishing a minimum biobased 

content will encourage competition 

among manufacturers to develop 

products with higher biobased contents 

and will prevent products with de 

minimis biobased content from being 

purchased as a means of satisfying the 

requirements of section 9002. USDA 

believes that it is in the best interest of 

the preferred procurement program for 

minimum biobased contents to be set at 

levels that will realistically allow 

products to possess the necessary 

performance attributes and allow them 

to compete with non-biobased products 

in performance and economics. Setting 

the minimum biobased content for an 

item at a level met by several of the 

tested products will provide more 

products from which procurement 

officials may choose, will encourage the 

most widespread usage of biobased 

products by procuring agencies, and is 

expected to accomplish the objectives of 

section 9002. 

As discussed in Section IV.A of this 

preamble, USDA relied entirely on 

manufacturers’ voluntary submission of 

samples to support the proposed 

designation of these items. The data 

presented in the following paragraphs 

are the test results from all of the 

product samples that were submitted for 

analysis. 

As a result of public comments 

received on the first designated items 

rulemaking proposal, USDA decided to 

account for the slight imprecision in the 

analytical method used to determine 

biobased content of products when 

establishing the minimum biobased 

content. Thus, rather than establishing 

the minimum biobased content for an 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71505 

2ASTM D6866, ‘‘Standard Test Methods for 

Determining the Biobased Content of Solid, Liquid, 

and Gaseous Samples Using Radiocarbon Analysis,’’ 

is used to distinguish between carbon from fossil 

resources (non-biobased carbon) and carbon from 

renewable sources (biobased carbon). The biobased 

content is expressed as the percentage of total 

carbon that is biobased carbon. 

item at the tested biobased content of 

the product selected as the basis for the 

minimum value, USDA is establishing 

the minimum biobased content at a 

level three (3) percentage points less 

than the tested value. USDA believes 

that this adjustment is appropriate to 

account for the expected variations in 

analytical results. 

USDA encourages procuring agencies 

to seek products with the highest 

biobased content that is practicable in 

all of the proposed designated items and 

subcategories. To assist the procuring 

agencies in determining which products 

have the highest biobased content, 

USDA will update the information in 

the biobased products catalog to include 

the biobased content of each product. 

Those products within each designated 

item that have the highest biobased 

content will be listed first and others 

will be listed in descending order. 

USDA is specifically requesting 

comments on the proposed minimum 

biobased contents of designated items 

and also requests additional data that 

can be used to re-evaluate the 

appropriateness of the proposed 

minimum biobased contents. As the 

market for biobased products develops 

and USDA obtains additional biobased 

content data, it will re-evaluate the 

established minimum biobased contents 

of designated items and consider raising 

them whenever justified. 

The following paragraphs summarize 

the information that USDA used to 

propose minimum biobased contents 

within each proposed designated item. 

1. Animal Repellents 

Six of the 109 biobased animal 

repellents have been tested for biobased 

content using ASTM D6866.2 The 

biobased contents of these six biobased 

animal repellents range from 22 to 100 

percent, as follows: 22, 28, 82, 98, 100, 

and 100. There is a wide range of tested 

biobased contents, and a significant 

break between the values for the two 

products with the lowest biobased 

contents and the values for the four 

products with the highest biobased 

contents. Because USDA found that the 

two products with the 22 and 28 percent 

biobased content did not claim to offer 

any unique performance or applicability 

features not offered by the products 

with 100 percent biobased content, and 

because we have data showing that at 

least two different products are 

available with a biobased content of 100 

percent, we are proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for this item 

at 79 percent based on the product with 

a tested biobased content of 82 percent. 

2. Bath Products 

Thirteen of the 850 biobased bath 

products have been tested for biobased 

content using ASTM D6866. The 

biobased contents of these 13 biobased 

bath products range from 21 to 100 

percent, as follows: 21, 43, 64, 66, 67, 

70, 74, 76, 83, 96, and 100 (three 

products). Because there is a wide range 

of tested biobased contents, and because 

there are significant breaks among the 

values for the three products with the 

lowest biobased contents, USDA 

considered the need to subcategorize 

this item. USDA found that there was 

not sufficient information on the 

performance or applicability of the 

products to justify subcategorization. 

USDA also found that the two products 

with the 21 and 43 percent biobased 

contents did not claim to offer any 

unique performance features. The 

biobased contents of these two products 

are also significantly below the content 

of the next highest (64 percent) product. 

In addition, seven of the 13 tested 

products had biobased contents in the 

narrow range between 64 and 83 

percent. Therefore, USDA is proposing 

to set the minimum biobased content for 

this item at 61 percent, based on the 

product with a tested biobased content 

of 64 percent. 

3. Bioremediation Materials 

Three of the 53 biobased 

bioremediation materials identified 

have been tested for biobased content 

using ASTM D6866. The biobased 

contents of these three biobased 

bioremediation materials are 24, 89, and 

100 percent. Because there is a 

significant gap in the data between the 

24 and the 89 percent biobased 

products, USDA investigated the 24 

percent product to determine if there 

was justification in considering it when 

setting the minimum biobased content. 

USDA did not find any performance or 

applicability claims that would justify 

setting the minimum biobased content 

for the item at that level. Therefore, 

USDA is proposing to set the minimum 

biobased content for this item at 86 

percent, based on the product with the 

tested biobased content of 89 percent. 

4. Compost Activators and Accelerators 

Two of the 32 biobased compost 

activators and accelerators identified 

have been tested for biobased content 

using ASTM D6866. The biobased 

contents of these two biobased compost 

activators and accelerators are 98, and 

100 percent. Because of the narrow 

range of these products, USDA is 

proposing to set the minimum biobased 

content for compost activators and 

accelerators at 95 percent, based on the 

product with a tested biobased content 

of 98 percent. 

5. Concrete and Asphalt Cleaners 

Five of the 37 biobased concrete and 

asphalt cleaners identified have been 

tested for biobased content using ASTM 

D6866. The biobased contents of these 

five biobased concrete and asphalt 

cleaners range from 1 percent to 91 

percent, as follows: 1, 11, 28, 73, and 91 

percent. 

USDA found that the products with 

1 percent and 11 percent biobased 

contents are products that use microbial 

organisms as the active cleaning agents. 

As discussed earlier in this preamble, 

USDA is considering creating a separate 

designated item for microbial cleaners. 

As a result, USDA decided not to 

include these products when proposing 

the minimum biobased content for the 

concrete and asphalt cleaners item. 

USDA requests that manufacturers of 

these two microbial cleaning products, 

and manufacturers of any other 

microbial cleaners, provide comments 

and information on the creation of a 

separate category for microbial cleaners. 

The three remaining concrete and 

asphalt cleaners had biobased contents 

of 28, 73, and 91 percent. Because there 

is a significant break between the 28 

percent biobased product and the 73 

percent biobased product, and there is 

no product information to suggest that 

the 28 percent product offers any 

unique performance or applicability 

features, USDA is proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for this item 

at 70 percent, based on the product with 

a tested biobased content of 73 percent. 

6. Cuts, Burns, and Abrasions 

Ointments 

Eight of the 71 identified biobased 

cuts, burns, and abrasions ointments 

identified have been tested for biobased 

content using ASTM D6866. The 

biobased contents of these eight 

biobased cuts, burns, and abrasions 

ointments range from 87 percent to 100 

percent, as follows: 87, 91, 93, 94, 97, 

100, 100, and 100 percent. Because of 

the narrow range of these products, 

USDA is proposing to set the minimum 

biobased content for this item at 84 

percent, based on the product with the 

87 percent biobased content. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71506 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

7. Dishwashing Products 

Five of the 66 identified biobased 

dishwashing products identified have 

been tested for biobased content using 

ASTM D6866. The biobased contents of 

these five biobased dishwashing 

products range from 30 percent to 95 

percent, as follows: 30, 41, 61, 75, and 

95 percent. 

There are two significant breaks in the 

range of data, one between the 41 and 

61 percent biobased products and 

another between the 75 and 95 percent 

biobased products. Considering these 

breaks, the tested products within the 

item fall into three groups. USDA 

evaluated the available product 

information to determine if there were 

sufficient differences in formulation, 

performance, or applicability between 

these product groups to justify 

subcategorization. However, USDA did 

not find sufficient information to justify 

subcategories within the item. USDA 

also did not find any features of the 30 

or 41 percent biobased content products 

that would justify setting the minimum 

biobased content at a level that would 

include these products. Therefore, 

USDA is proposing to set the minimum 

biobased content for this item at 58 

percent, based on the product with the 

tested biobased content of 61 percent. 

USDA does not believe that it is 

reasonable to consider the break 

between the 75 percent biobased 

content product and the 95 percent 

biobased content product when setting 

the minimum biobased content because 

only one of the products would qualify 

if the minimum biobased content were 

set at this higher level. 

USDA will continue to gather 

information on products within this 

item, and if sufficient supporting 

information becomes available, will 

consider establishing subcategories 

based on formulation (detergents versus 

soaps, liquids versus powders, etc.), 

performance, or applicability. 

8. Erosion Control Materials 

Eight of the 169 biobased erosion 

control materials identified have been 

tested for biobased content using ASTM 

D6866. The biobased contents of these 

eight biobased erosion control materials 

ranged from 80 percent to 100 percent 

as follows: 80, 81, 96, 98, 99, 100, 100, 

and 100 percent. Because of the narrow 

range of these products, USDA is 

proposing to set the minimum biobased 

content for erosion control materials at 

77 percent, based on the product with 

a tested biobased content of 80 percent. 

9. Floor Cleaners and Protectors 

Seven of the 39 biobased floor 

cleaners and protectors identified have 

been tested for biobased content using 

ASTM D6866. The biobased contents of 

these seven biobased floor cleaners and 

protectors ranged from 40 percent to 99 

percent as follows: 40, 57, 80, 80, 91, 97, 

and 99 percent. 

There is a significant break in the 

range of data between the 57 and the 80 

percent biobased content products, but 

the available product information does 

not justify creating subcategories within 

this item. The manufacturers of the two 

products with biobased contents of 40 

and 57 do not make any performance or 

applicability claims for these products 

that would distinguish them from the 

other products. Therefore, USDA is 

proposing to set the minimum biobased 

content for biobased floor cleaners and 

protectors at 77 percent, based on the 

product with a tested biobased content 

of 80 percent. 

10. Hair Care Products 

Ten of the 263 biobased hair care 

products identified have been tested for 

biobased content using ASTM D6866. 

The biobased contents of these 10 

biobased hair care products range from 

38 percent to 89 percent as follows: 38, 

40, 43, 69, 75, 76, 81, 82, 83, and 89 

percent. 

As noted earlier in this preamble, 

USDA is proposing to subcategorize this 

item into two subcategories: 

‘‘Shampoos’’ and ‘‘Conditioners.’’ The 

following paragraphs discuss the 

minimum biobased content for the two 

subcategories. 

Shampoos. The biobased contents of 

the seven tested shampoos range from 

38 percent to 83 percent, as follows: 38, 

40, 43, 69, 75, 76, and 83. There is a 

significant break between the 43 percent 

biobased product and the 69 percent 

product, and USDA found no 

performance features claimed for the 38, 

40, or 43 percent products that justified 

setting the minimum biobased content 

based on any of these products. Because 

the biobased contents of the remaining 

four products are within a narrow range, 

and there is no performance information 

to distinguish any one product from the 

others, USDA is proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for 

shampoos at 66 percent, based on the 

product with a tested biobased content 

of 69 percent. 

Conditioners. The biobased contents 

of the three tested conditioners range 

from 81 to 89 percent, as follows: 81, 82, 

and 89. Because of the narrow range of 

these products, USDA is proposing to 

set the minimum biobased content for 

conditioners at 78 percent, based on the 

product with a tested biobased content 

of 81 percent. 

11. Interior Paints and Coatings 

Five of the 114 biobased interior 

paints and coatings identified have been 

tested for biobased content using ASTM 

D6866. The biobased contents of these 

five biobased interior paints and 

coatings range from 70 to 100 percent, 

as follows: 70, 83, 90, 91, and 100 

percent. Because the range of these five 

values is relatively narrow and there are 

no significant breaks in the range of the 

data, USDA is proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for this item 

at 67 percent, based on the product with 

a tested biobased content of 70 percent. 

12. Oven and Grill Cleaners 

Four of the 13 biobased oven and grill 

cleaners identified have been tested for 

biobased content using ASTM D6866. 

The biobased contents of these four 

biobased oven and grill cleaners ranged 

from 22 percent to 91 percent, as 

follows: 22, 69, 88, and 91. 

As shown, the tested biobased 

contents cover a wide range and there 

is a significant break between the 22 

percent biobased product and the 69 

percent biobased product. The one oven 

and grill cleaner whose tested biobased 

content was 22 percent was eliminated 

from consideration because USDA 

found no performance characteristics 

that set this product apart from other 

products in this item. Further, this 

product’s tested biobased content is 

substantially lower than the next lowest 

oven and grill cleaner tested (69 

percent). Therefore, USDA is proposing 

to set the minimum biobased content for 

oven and grill cleaners at 66 percent, 

based on the product with a tested 

biobased content of 69 percent. 

13. Slide Way Lubricants 

All of the four biobased slide way 

lubricants identified have been tested 

for biobased content using ASTM 

D6866. The biobased contents of these 

four biobased slide way lubricants are 

77, 99, 100, and 100 percent. Because 

the range of these four values is 

relatively narrow and eliminating the 

product with the 77 percent biobased 

content would result in an extremely 

high minimum biobased content for this 

item, USDA is proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for this item 

at 74 percent, based on the product with 

a tested biobased content of 77 percent. 

14. Thermal Shipping Containers 

Two of the three biobased thermal 

shipping containers identified have 

been tested for biobased content using 

ASTM D6866. The biobased contents of 

these two biobased thermal shipping 

containers were 24 percent and 85 

percent. As noted earlier in this 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71507 

preamble, USDA is proposing to 

subcategorize this item into two 

subcategories: ‘‘Durable thermal 

shipping containers’’ and ‘‘Non-durable 

thermal shipping containers.’’ The 

following paragraphs discuss the 

minimum biobased content for the two 

subcategories. 

Durable thermal shipping containers. 

USDA is proposing to set the minimum 

biobased content for durable thermal 

containers at 21 percent, based on the 

product with a tested biobased content 

of 24 percent. USDA will continue to 

gather additional biobased content 

information for this subcategory and, if 

sufficient data are obtained, will 

consider increasing the minimum 

biobased content for the final rule. 

Non-durable thermal shipping 

containers. USDA is proposing to set the 

minimum biobased content for nondurable thermal containers at 82 

percent, based on the product with a 

tested biobased content of 85 percent. 

D. Compliance Date for Procurement 

Preference and Incorporation Into 

Specifications 

USDA intends for the final rule to 

take effect thirty (30) days after 

publication of the final rule. However, 

as proposed, procuring agencies would, 

with the exception of one designated 

item discussed below, have a one-year 

transition period, starting from the date 

of publication of the final rule, before 

the procurement preference for biobased 

products within a designated item 

would take effect. 

USDA is proposing a one-year period 

before the procurement preferences 

would take effect, because it recognizes 

that Federal agencies will need time to 

incorporate the preferences into 

procurement documents and to revise 

existing standardized specifications. 

Both section 9002(a)(3) and 7 CFR 

2902(c) explicitly acknowledge the need 

for Federal agencies to have sufficient 

time to revise the affected specifications 

to give preference to biobased products 

when purchasing the designated items. 

Procuring agencies will need time to 

evaluate the economic and 

technological feasibility of the available 

biobased products for their agencyspecific uses and for compliance with 

agency-specific requirements, including 

manufacturers’ warranties for 

machinery in which the biobased 

products would be used. 

By the time these items are 

promulgated for designation, Federal 

agencies will have had a minimum of 18 

months (from the date of this Federal 

Register notice), and much longer 

considering when the Guidelines were 

first proposed and these requirements 

were first laid out, to implement these 

requirements. 

For these reasons, USDA proposes 

that the mandatory preference for 

biobased products under the designated 

items take effect one year after 

promulgation of the final rule. The oneyear period provides these agencies 

with ample time to evaluate the 

economic and technological feasibility 

of biobased products for a specific use 

and to revise the specifications 

accordingly. However, some agencies 

may be able to complete these processes 

more expeditiously, and not all uses 

will require extensive analysis or 

revision of existing specifications. 

Although it is allowing up to one year, 

USDA encourages procuring agencies to 

implement the procurement preferences 

as early as practicable for procurement 

actions involving any of the designated 

items. 

Only one manufacturer within each 

subcategory of the thermal shipping 

containers designated item has been 

identified. Therefore, USDA is 

proposing to defer the procurement 

compliance date for the subcategories 

within this designated item until two or 

more manufacturers of products within 

the subcategories are identified. When 

USDA identifies two or more 

manufacturers, USDA will publish a 

document in the Federal Register 

announcing that Federal agencies will 

have one year from the date of 

publication of that announcement to 

give procurement preference to biobased 

durable and non-durable thermal 

shipping containers, as appropriate. 

V. Where can agencies get more 

information on these USDA-designated 

items? 

Information used to develop this 

proposed rule can be found in the TSD, 

which can be accessed on the 

BioPreferred Web site, which is located 

at: http://www.biopreferred.gov. At the 

BioPreferred Web site, click on the 

Proposed and Final Regulations link on 

the right side of the page. At the next 

screen, click on the Supporting 

Documentation link under Round 7 

Designation under the Proposed 

Regulations section. 

Further, once the item designations in 

today’s proposal become final, 

manufacturers and vendors voluntarily 

may make available information on 

specific products, including product 

and contact information, for posting by 

the Agency on the BioPreferred Web 

site. USDA has begun performing 

periodic audits of the information 

displayed on the BioPreferred Web site 

and, where questions arise, is contacting 

the manufacturer or vendor to verify, 

correct, or remove incorrect or out-ofdate information. Procuring agencies 

should contact the manufacturers and 

vendors directly to discuss specific 

needs and to obtain detailed 

information on the availability and 

prices of biobased products meeting 

those needs. 

By accessing the BioPreferred Web 

site, agencies will also be able to obtain 

the voluntarily-posted information on 

each product concerning: Relative price; 

life-cycle costs; hot links directly to a 

manufacturer’s or vendor’s Web site (if 

available); performance standards 

(industry, government, military, ASTM/ 

ISO) that the product has been tested 

against; and environmental and public 

health information from the BEES 

analysis or the alternative analysis 

embedded in the ASTM Standard 

D7075, ‘‘Standard Practice for 

Evaluating and Reporting 

Environmental Performance of Biobased 

Products.’’ 

USDA has linked the BioPreferred 

Web site to DoD’s list of specifications 

and standards, which can be used as 

guidance when procuring products. To 

access this list, go to the BioPreferred 

Web site and click on the ‘‘Selling to 

Federal Government’’ tab and look for 

the DoD Specifications link. 

VI. Regulatory Information 

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory 

Planning and Review 

Executive Order 12866 requires 

agencies to determine whether a 

regulatory action is ‘‘significant.’’ The 

Order defines a ‘‘significant regulatory 

action’’ as one that is likely to result in 

a rule that may: ‘‘(1) Have an annual 

effect on the economy of $100 million 

or more or adversely affect, in a material 

way, the economy, a sector of the 

economy, productivity, competition, 

jobs, the environment, public health or 

safety, or State, local, or Tribal 

governments or communities; (2) Create 

a serious inconsistency or otherwise 

interfere with an action taken or 

planned by another agency; (3) 

Materially alter the budgetary impact of 

entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan 

programs or the rights and obligations of 

recipients thereof; or (4) Raise novel 

legal or policy issues arising out of legal 

mandates, the President’s priorities, or 

the principles set forth in this Executive 

Order.’’ 

Today’s proposed rule has been 

determined to be significant for 

purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, 

therefore, has been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget. We 

are not able to quantify the annual 

economic effect associated with today’s 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71508 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

proposed rule. As discussed earlier in 

this preamble, USDA made extensive 

efforts to obtain information on the 

Federal agencies’ usage within the 14 

designated items, including their 

subcategories. These efforts were largely 

unsuccessful. Therefore, attempts to 

determine the economic impacts of 

today’s proposed rule would require 

estimation of the anticipated market 

penetration of biobased products based 

upon many assumptions. In addition, 

because agencies have the option of not 

purchasing designated items if price is 

‘‘unreasonable,’’ the product is not 

readily available, or the product does 

not demonstrate necessary performance 

characteristics, certain assumptions may 

not be valid. While facing these 

quantitative challenges, USDA relied 

upon a qualitative assessment to 

determine the impacts of today’s 

proposed rule. Consideration was also 

given to the fact that agencies may 

choose not to procure designated items 

due to unreasonable price. 

1. Summary of Impacts 

Today’s proposed rule is expected to 

have both positive and negative impacts 

to individual businesses, including 

small businesses. USDA anticipates that 

the biobased preferred procurement 

program will provide additional 

opportunities for businesses and 

manufacturers to begin supplying 

products under the proposed designated 

biobased items to Federal agencies and 

their contractors. However, other 

businesses and manufacturers that 

supply only non-qualifying products 

and do not offer biobased alternatives 

may experience a decrease in demand 

from Federal agencies and their 

contractors. USDA is unable to 

determine the number of businesses, 

including small businesses, that may be 

adversely affected by today’s proposed 

rule. The proposed rule, however, will 

not affect existing purchase orders, nor 

will it preclude businesses from 

modifying their product lines to meet 

new requirements for designated 

biobased products. Because the extent to 

which procuring agencies will find the 

performance, availability and/or price of 

biobased products acceptable is 

unknown, it is impossible to quantify 

the actual economic effect of the rule. 

As discussed in Section III of this 

preamble, USDA is requesting comment 

on how many small entities may be 

affected by this rule and on the nature 

and extent of that effect. 

2. Benefits of the Proposed Rule 

The designation of these items 

provides the benefits outlined in the 

objectives of section 9002; to increase 

domestic demand for many agricultural 

commodities that can serve as 

feedstocks for production of biobased 

products, and to spur development of 

the industrial base through value-added 

agricultural processing and 

manufacturing in rural communities. On 

a national and regional level, today’s 

proposed rule can result in expanding 

and strengthening markets for biobased 

materials used in these items. 

3. Costs of the Proposed Rule 

Like the benefits, the costs of today’s 

proposed rule have not been quantified. 

Two types of costs are involved: Costs 

to producers of products that will 

compete with the preferred products 

and costs to Federal agencies to provide 

procurement preference for the 

preferred products. 

Producers of competing products may 

face a decrease in demand for their 

products to the extent Federal agencies 

refrain from purchasing their products. 

However, it is not known to what extent 

this may occur. Pre-award procurement 

costs for Federal agencies may rise 

minimally as the contracting officials 

conduct market research to evaluate the 

performance, availability and price 

reasonableness of preferred products 

before making a purchase. 

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

The RFA, 5 U.S.C. 601–602, generally 

requires an agency to prepare a 

regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule 

subject to notice and comment 

rulemaking requirements under the 

Administrative Procedure Act or any 

other statute unless the agency certifies 

that the rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. Small entities 

include small businesses, small 

organizations, and small governmental 

jurisdictions. 

USDA evaluated the potential impacts 

of its proposed designation of these 

items to determine whether its actions 

would have a significant impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

Because the preferred procurement 

program established under section 9002 

applies only to Federal agencies and 

their contractors, small governmental 

(city, county, etc.) agencies are not 

affected. Thus, the proposal, if 

promulgated, will not have a significant 

economic impact on small governmental 

jurisdictions. 

USDA anticipates that this program 

will affect entities, both large and small, 

that manufacture or sell biobased 

products. For example, the designation 

of items for preferred procurement will 

provide additional opportunities for 

businesses to manufacture and sell 

biobased products to Federal agencies 

and their contractors. Similar 

opportunities will be provided for 

entities that supply biobased materials 

to manufacturers. 

The intent of section 9002 is largely 

to stimulate the production of new 

biobased products and to energize 

emerging markets for those products. 

Because the program is still in its 

infancy, however, it is unknown how 

many businesses will ultimately be 

affected. While USDA has no data on 

the number of small businesses that may 

choose to develop and market biobased 

products within the items designated by 

this rulemaking, the number is expected 

to be small. Because biobased products 

represent a small emerging market, only 

a small percentage of all manufacturers, 

large or small, are expected to develop 

and market biobased products. Thus, 

the number of small businesses 

manufacturing biobased products 

affected by this rulemaking is not 

expected to be substantial. 

The preferred procurement program 

may decrease opportunities for 

businesses that manufacture or sell nonbiobased products or provide 

components for the manufacturing of 

such products. Most manufacturers of 

non-biobased products within the items 

being proposed for designation for 

preferred procurement in this rule are 

expected to be included under the 

following NAICS codes: 324191 

(petroleum lubricating oil and grease 

manufacturing), 325320 (pesticide and 

other agricultural chemical 

manufacturing), 325412 (pharmaceutical 

preparation manufacturing), 325510 

(paint and coating manufacturing), 

325611 (soap and other detergent 

manufacturing), 325612 (polish and 

other sanitation goods manufacturing), 

325620 (toilet preparation 

manufacturing), 325998 (other 

miscellaneous chemical products and 

preparation manufacturing), 326150 

(urethane and other foam product 

manufacturing), and 314999 (other 

miscellaneous textile mill products). 

USDA obtained information on these 10 

NAICS categories from the U.S. Census 

Bureau’s Economic Census database. 

USDA found that the Economic Census 

reports about 8,092 companies within 

these 10 NAICS categories and that 

these companies own a total of about 

9,255 establishments. Thus, the average 

number of establishments per company 

is about 1.1. The Census data also 

reported that of the 9,255 individual 

establishments, about 9,119 (98.5 

percent) have fewer than 500 

employees. USDA also found that the 

overall average number of employees 

per company among these industries is 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71509 

about 58, with only one segment 

reporting an average of more than 100 

employees (the pharmaceutical 

preparation industry segment at about 

250 employees per company). Thus, 

nearly all of the businesses fall within 

the Small Business Administration’s 

definition of a small business (fewer 

than 500 employees, in most NAICS 

categories). 

USDA does not have data on the 

potential adverse impacts on 

manufacturers of non-biobased products 

within the items being designated, but 

believes that the impact will not be 

significant. Most of the items being 

proposed for designation in this 

rulemaking are typical consumer 

products widely used by the general 

public and by industrial/commercial 

establishments that are not subject to 

this rulemaking. Thus, USDA believes 

that the number of small businesses 

manufacturing non-biobased products 

within the items being designated and 

selling significant quantities of those 

products to government agencies 

affected by this rulemaking to be 

relatively low. Also, this proposed rule 

will not affect existing purchase orders 

and it will not preclude procuring 

agencies from continuing to purchase 

non-biobased items when biobased 

items do not meet the availability, 

performance, or reasonable price 

criteria. This proposed rule will also not 

preclude businesses from modifying 

their product lines to meet new 

specifications or solicitation 

requirements for these products 

containing biobased materials. 

After considering the economic 

impacts of this proposed rule on small 

entities, USDA certifies that this action 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. 

While not a factor relevant to 

determining whether the proposed rule 

will have a significant impact for RFA 

purposes, USDA has concluded that the 

effect of the rule will be to provide 

positive opportunities to businesses 

engaged in the manufacture of these 

biobased products. Purchase and use of 

these biobased products by procuring 

agencies increase demand for these 

products and result in private sector 

development of new technologies, 

creating business and employment 

opportunities that enhance local, 

regional, and national economies. 

C. Executive Order 12630: 

Governmental Actions and Interference 

With Constitutionally Protected Property 

Rights 

This proposed rule has been reviewed 

in accordance with Executive Order 

12630, Governmental Actions and 

Interference with Constitutionally 

Protected Property Rights, and does not 

contain policies that would have 

implications for these rights. 

D. Executive Order 13132: Federalism 

This proposed rule does not have 

sufficient federalism implications to 

warrant the preparation of a Federalism 

Assessment. Provisions of this proposed 

rule will not have a substantial direct 

effect on States or their political 

subdivisions or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities among the 

various government levels. 

E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 

1995 

This proposed rule contains no 

Federal mandates under the regulatory 

provisions of Title II of the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), 

2 U.S.C. 1531–1538, for State, local, and 

Tribal governments, or the private 

sector. Therefore, a statement under 

section 202 of UMRA is not required. 

F. Executive Order 12372: 

Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs 

For the reasons set forth in the Final 

Rule Related Notice for 7 CFR part 3015, 

subpart V (48 FR 29115, June 24, 1983), 

this program is excluded from the scope 

of Executive Order 12372, which 

requires intergovernmental consultation 

with State and local officials. This 

program does not directly affect State 

and local governments. 

G. Executive Order 13175: Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

Today’s proposed rule does not 

significantly or uniquely affect ‘‘one or 

more Indian tribes, * * * the 

relationship between the Federal 

Government and Indian tribes, or * * * 

the distribution of power and 

responsibilities between the Federal 

Government and Indian tribes.’’ Thus, 

no further action is required under 

Executive Order 13175. 

H. Paperwork Reduction Act 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 

through 3520), the information 

collection under this proposed rule is 

currently approved under OMB control 

number 0503–0011. 

I. E-Government Act Compliance 

USDA is committed to compliance 

with the E-Government Act, which 

requires Government agencies, in 

general, to provide the public the option 

of submitting information or transacting 

business electronically to the maximum 

extent possible. USDA is implementing 

an electronic information system for 

posting information voluntarily 

submitted by manufacturers or vendors 

on the products they intend to offer for 

preferred procurement under each 

designated item. For information 

pertinent to E-Government Act 

compliance related to this rule, please 

contact Ron Buckhalt at (202) 205–4008. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 2902 

Biobased products, Procurement. 

For the reasons stated in the 

preamble, the Department of Agriculture 

proposes to amend 7 CFR chapter XXIX 

as follows: 

CHAPTER XXIX—OFFICE OF ENERGY 

POLICY AND NEW USES 

PART 2902—GUIDELINES FOR 

DESIGNATING BIOBASED PRODUCTS 

FOR FEDERAL PROCUREMENT 

1. The authority citation for part 2902 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 8102. 

2. Add §§ 2902.61 through 2902.74 to 

subpart B to read as follows: 

Sec. 

2902.61 Animal repellents. 

2902.62 Bath products. 

2902.63 Bioremediation materials. 

2902.64 Compost activators and 

accelerators. 

2902.65 Concrete and asphalt cleaners. 

2902.66 Cuts, burns, and abrasions 

ointments. 

2902.67 Dishwashing products. 

2902.68 Erosion control materials. 

2902.69 Floor cleaners and protectors. 

2902.70 Hair care products. 

2902.71 Interior paints and coatings. 

2902.72 Oven and grill cleaners. 

2902.73 Slide way lubricants. 

2902.74 Thermal shipping containers. 

§ 2902.61 Animal repellents. 

(a) Definition. Products used to aid in 

deterring animals that cause destruction 

to plants and/or property. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 79 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

animal repellents. By that date, Federal 

agencies that have the responsibility for 

drafting or reviewing specifications for 

items to be procured shall ensure that 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71510 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

the relevant specifications require the 

use of biobased animal repellents. 

§ 2902.62 Bath products. 

(a) Definition. Personal hygiene 

products including bar soaps, liquids, or 

gels that are referred to as body washes, 

body shampoos, or cleansing lotions. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 61 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased bath 

products. By that date, Federal agencies 

that have the responsibility for drafting 

or reviewing specifications for items to 

be procured shall ensure that the 

relevant specifications require the use of 

biobased bath products. 

§ 2902.63 Bioremediation materials. 

(a) Definition. Dry or liquid solutions 

(including those containing bacteria or 

other microbes but not including 

sorbent materials) used to clean oil, fuel, 

and other hazardous spill sites. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 86 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

bioremediation materials. By that date, 

Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased bioremediation materials. 

§ 2902.64 Compost activators and 

accelerators. 

(a) Definition. Products in liquid or 

powder form designed to be applied to 

compost piles to aid in speeding up the 

composting process and to ensure 

successful compost that is ready for 

consumer use. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 95 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

compost activators and accelerators. By 

that date, Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased compost activators and 

accelerators. 

§ 2902.65 Concrete and asphalt cleaners. 

(a) Definition. Chemicals used in 

concrete etching as well as to remove 

petroleum-based soils, lubricants, 

paints, mastics, organic soils, rust, and 

dirt from concrete, asphalt, stone and 

other hard porous surfaces for 

commercial, industrial, or residential 

use. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 70 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

concrete and asphalt cleaners. By that 

date, Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased concrete and asphalt cleaners. 

§ 2902.66 Cuts, burns, and abrasions 

ointments. 

(a) Definition. Products designed to 

aid in the healing and sanitizing of 

scratches, cuts, bruises, abrasions, sun 

damaged skin, tattoos, rashes and other 

skin conditions. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 84 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased cuts, 

burns, and abrasions ointments. By that 

date, Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased cuts, burns, and abrasions 

ointments. 

§ 2902.67 Dishwashing products. 

(a) Definition. Soaps and detergents 

used for cleaning and clean rinsing of 

tableware in either hand washing or 

dishwashing. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 58 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

dishwashing products. By that date, 

Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased dishwashing products. 

§ 2902.68 Erosion control materials. 

(a) Definition. Woven or non-woven 

fiber materials manufactured for use on 

construction, demolition, or other sites 

to prevent wind or water erosion of 

loose earth surfaces, which may be 

combined with seed and/or fertilizer to 

promote growth. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 77 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

erosion control materials. By that date, 

Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased erosion control materials. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 71511 

§ 2902.69 Floor cleaners and protectors. 

(a) Definition. Cleaning solutions for 

either direct application or use in floor 

scrubbers for wood, vinyl, tile, or 

similar hard surface floors. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 77 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased floor 

cleaners and protectors. By that date, 

Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased floor cleaners and protectors. 

§ 2902.70 Hair care products. 

(a) Definitions. (1) Personal hygiene 

products specifically formulated for hair 

cleaning and treating applications, 

including shampoos and conditioners. 

(2) Hair care products for which 

preferred procurement applies are: 

(i) Shampoos. These are products 

whose primary purpose is cleaning hair. 

Products that contain both shampoos 

and conditioners are included in this 

subcategory because the primary 

purpose of these products is cleaning 

the hair. 

(ii) Conditioners. These are products 

whose primary purpose is treating hair 

to improve the overall condition of hair. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

minimum biobased content for all hair 

care products shall be based on the 

amount of qualifying biobased carbon in 

the product as a percent of the weight 

(mass) of the total organic carbon in the 

finished product. The applicable 

minimum biobased contents for the 

preferred procurement products are: 

(1) Shampoos—66 percent. 

(2) Conditioners—78 percent. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased hair 

care products. By that date, Federal 

agencies that have the responsibility for 

drafting or reviewing specifications for 

items to be procured shall ensure that 

the relevant specifications require the 

use of biobased hair care products. 

§ 2902.71 Interior paints and coatings. 

(a) Definition. Pigmented liquids, 

formulated for use indoors, that dry to 

form a film and provide protection and 

added color to the objects or surfaces to 

which they are applied. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 67 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased 

interior paints and coatings. By that 

date, Federal agencies that have the 

responsibility for drafting or reviewing 

specifications for items to be procured 

shall ensure that the relevant 

specifications require the use of 

biobased interior paints and coatings. 

(d) Determining overlap with an EPAdesignated recovered content product. 

Qualifying biobased products within 

this item may, in some cases, overlap 

with the EPA-designated recovered 

content products: Reprocessed latex 

paints and consolidated latex paints. 

USDA is requesting that manufacturers 

of these qualifying biobased products 

provide information on the USDA Web 

site of qualifying biobased products 

about the intended uses of the product, 

information on whether or not the 

product contains any recovered 

material, in addition to biobased 

ingredients, and performance standards 

against which the product has been 

tested. This information will assist 

Federal agencies in determining 

whether or not a qualifying biobased 

product overlaps with EPA-designated 

reprocessed latex paints and 

consolidated latex paints and which 

product should be afforded the 

preference in purchasing. 

Note to paragraph (d): Biobased interior 

paints and coating products within this 

designated item can compete with similar 

reprocessed latex paint and consolidated 

latex paint products with recycled content. 

Under the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act of 1976, section 6002, the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency designated 

reprocessed latex paints and consolidated 

latex paints containing recovered materials as 

items for which Federal agencies must give 

preference in their purchasing programs. The 

designation can be found in the 

Comprehensive Procurement Guideline, 40 

CFR 247.12. 

§ 2902.72 Oven and grill cleaners. 

(a) Definition. Liquid or gel cleaning 

agents used on high temperature 

cooking surfaces such as barbeques, 

smokers, grills, stoves, and ovens to 

soften and loosen charred food, grease, 

and residue. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 66 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased oven 

and grill cleaners. By that date, Federal 

agencies that have the responsibility for 

drafting or reviewing specifications for 

items to be procured shall ensure that 

the relevant specifications require the 

use of biobased oven and grill cleaners. 

§ 2902.73 Slide way lubricants. 

(a) Definition. Products used to 

provide lubrication and eliminate stickslip and table chatter by reducing 

friction between mating surfaces, or 

slides, found in machine tools. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

preferred procurement product must 

have a minimum biobased content of at 

least 74 percent, which shall be based 

on the amount of qualifying biobased 

carbon in the product as a percent of the 

weight (mass) of the total organic carbon 

in the finished product. 

(c) Preference compliance date. No 

later than [date one year after the date 

of publication of the final rule], 

procuring agencies, in accordance with 

this part, will give a procurement 

preference for qualifying biobased slide 

way lubricants. By that date, Federal 

agencies that have the responsibility for 

drafting or reviewing specifications for 

items to be procured shall ensure that 

the relevant specifications require the 

use of biobased slide way lubricants. 

(d) Determining overlap with an EPAdesignated recovered content product. 

Qualifying biobased products within 

this item may, in some cases, overlap 

with the EPA-designated recovered 

content product: Re-refined lubricating 

oils. USDA is requesting that 

manufacturers of these qualifying 

biobased products provide information 

on the USDA Web site of qualifying 

biobased products about the intended 

uses of the product, information on 

whether or not the product contains any 

recovered material, in addition to 

biobased ingredients, and performance 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2
71512 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

standards against which the product has 

been tested. This information will assist 

Federal agencies in determining 

whether or not a qualifying biobased 

product overlaps with EPA-designated 

re-refined lubricating oils and which 

product should be afforded the 

preference in purchasing. 

Note to paragraph (d): Biobased slide way 

lubricant products within this designated 

item can compete with similar slide way 

lubricant products with recycled content. 

Under the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act of 1976, section 6002, the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency designated 

re-refined lubricating oils containing 

recovered materials as items for which 

Federal agencies must give preference in 

their purchasing programs. The designation 

can be found in the Comprehensive 

Procurement Guideline, 40 CFR 247.11(a). 

§ 2902.74 Thermal shipping containers. 

(a) Definitions. (1) Insulated 

containers designed for shipping 

temperature-sensitive materials. 

(2) Thermal shipping containers for 

which preferred procurement applies 

are: 

(i) Durable thermal shipping 

container. These are thermal shipping 

containers that are designed to be 

reused over an extended period of time. 

(ii) Non-durable thermal shipping 

containers. These are thermal shipping 

containers that are designed to be used 

once. 

(b) Minimum biobased content. The 

minimum biobased content for all 

thermal shipping container products 

shall be based on the amount of 

qualifying biobased carbon in the 

product as a percent of the weight 

(mass) of the total organic carbon in the 

finished product. The applicable 

minimum biobased contents for the 

preferred procurement products are: 

(1) Durable thermal shipping 

containers—21 percent. 

(2) Non-durable thermal shipping 

containers—82 percent. 

(c) Preference compliance date. 

(1) Durable thermal shipping 

containers. Determination of the 

preference compliance date for durable 

thermal shipping containers is deferred 

until USDA identifies two or more 

manufacturers of biobased durable 

thermal shipping containers. At that 

time, USDA will publish a document in 

the Federal Register announcing that 

Federal agencies have one year from the 

date of publication to give procurement 

preference to biobased durable thermal 

shipping containers. 

(2) Non-durable thermal shipping 

containers. Determination of the 

preference compliance date for nondurable thermal shipping containers is 

deferred until USDA identifies two or 

more manufacturers of biobased nondurable thermal shipping containers. At 

that time, USDA will publish a 

document in the Federal Register 

announcing that Federal agencies have 

one year from the date of publication to 

give procurement preference to biobased 

non-durable thermal shipping 

containers. 

Pearlie S. Reed, 

Assistant Secretary for Administration, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture. 

[FR Doc. 2010–29191 Filed 11–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–93–P 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS2