[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2012)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 10939-10942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4468]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 37 / Friday, February 24, 2012 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 10939]]

                Memorandum of February 21, 2012

                
Driving Innovation and Creating Jobs in Rural 
                America Through Biobased and Sustainable Product 
                Procurement

                Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
                Agencies

                The BioPreferred program--established by the Farm 
                Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Public Law 
                107-171)(2002 Farm Bill), and strengthened by the Food, 
                Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-
                234)(2008 Farm Bill)--is intended to increase Federal 
                procurement of biobased products to promote rural 
                economic development, create new jobs, and provide new 
                markets for farm commodities. Biobased and sustainable 
                products help to increase our energy security and 
                independence.

                The Federal Government, with leadership from the 
                Department of Agriculture (USDA), has made significant 
                strides in implementing the BioPreferred program. It is 
                one of the key elements in my efforts to promote 
                sustainable acquisition throughout the Government under 
                Executive Order 13514 of October 5, 2009 (Federal 
                Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic 
                Performance). Further efforts will drive innovation and 
                economic growth and create jobs at marginal cost to the 
                American public.

                The goal of this memorandum is to ensure that executive 
                departments and agencies (agencies) effectively execute 
                Federal procurement requirements for biobased products, 
                including those requirements identified in Executive 
                Order 13514 and prescribed in the 2002 Farm Bill, as 
                amended by the 2008 Farm Bill. It is vital that these 
                efforts are in accord and carefully coordinated with 
                other Federal procurement requirements.

                Therefore, I direct that agencies take the following 
                steps to significantly increase Federal procurement of 
                biobased and other sustainable products.

                Section 1. Actions Related to Executive Order 13514. 
                (a) Agencies shall include and report on biobased 
                acquisition as part of the sustainable acquisition 
                goals and milestones in the Strategic Sustainability 
                Performance Plan required by section 8 of Executive 
                Order 13514.

                    (b) As required by section 2(h) of Executive Order 
                13514, agencies shall ensure that 95 percent of 
                applicable new contract actions for products and 
                services advance sustainable acquisition, including 
                biobased acquisition, where such products and services 
                meet agency performance requirements. In doing so, 
                agencies shall:

(i) include acquisition of biobased products in their Affirmative 
Procurement Programs and Preferable Purchasing Programs, as applicable (as 
originally required by Executive Order 13101 of September 14, 1998 
(Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal 
Acquisition) and reinforced by Executive Order 13423 of January 24, 2007 
(Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation 
Management) and Executive Order 13514);

(ii) include biobased products as part of their procurement review and 
monitoring program required by section 9002(a) of the 2008 Farm Bill, 
incorporating data collection and reporting requirements as part of their 
program evaluation; and

(iii) provide appropriate training on procurement of biobased products for 
all acquisition personnel including requirements and procurement staff.

[[Page 10940]]

                    (c) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall 
                emphasize biobased purchasing in the fiscal year 2012 
                and 2013 Sustainability/Energy scorecard, which is the 
                periodic evaluation of agency performance on 
                sustainable acquisition pursuant to section 4 of 
                Executive Order 13514.

                Sec. 2. Biobased Product Designations. The USDA has 
                already designated 64 categories of biobased products 
                for preferred Federal procurement. Although these 
                categories represent an estimated 9,000 individual 
                products, less than half of the known biobased products 
                are currently included in the preference program. 
                Increasing the number of products subject to the 
                Federal procurement preference will increase 
                procurement of biobased products. Therefore, I direct 
                the Secretary of Agriculture to:

                    (a) increase both the number of categories of 
                biobased products designated and individual products 
                eligible for preferred purchasing by 50 percent within 
                1 year of the date of this memorandum; and
                    (b) establish a web-based process whereby biobased 
                product manufacturers can request USDA to establish a 
                new product category for designation. The USDA shall 
                determine the merit of the request and, if the product 
                category is deemed eligible, propose designation within 
                180 days of the request.

                Sec. 3. Changes in Procurement Mechanisms. Several 
                actions can be taken to facilitate improvement in and 
                compliance with the requirements to purchase biobased 
                products. To achieve these changes, I direct:

                    (a) the Senior Sustainability Officers and Chief 
                Acquisition Officers of all agencies to randomly sample 
                procurement actions (such as solicitations and awards) 
                to verify that biobased considerations are included as 
                appropriate. Agencies shall include results of these 
                sampling efforts in the Sustainability/Energy scorecard 
                reported to OMB;
                    (b) the Secretary of Agriculture to work with 
                relevant officials in agencies that have electronic 
                product procurement catalogs to identify and implement 
                solutions to increase the visibility of biobased and 
                other sustainable products;
                    (c) the Senior Sustainability Officers of all 
                agencies that have established agency-specific product 
                specifications, in coordination with any other 
                appropriate officials, to review and revise all 
                specifications under their control to assure that, 
                wherever possible and appropriate, such specifications 
                require the use of sustainable products, including 
                USDA-designated biobased products, and that any 
                language prohibiting the use of biobased products is 
                removed. The review shall be on a 4-year cycle. 
                Significant review should be completed within 1 year of 
                the date of this memorandum, and the results of the 
                reviews shall be annually reported to OMB and the 
                Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP); and
                    (d) the Secretary of Agriculture to amend USDA's 
                automated contract writing system, the Integrated 
                Acquisition System, to serve as a model for biobased 
                product procurement throughout the Federal Government 
                by adding elements related to acquisition planning, 
                evaluation factors for source selection, and 
                specifications and requirements. Once completed, USDA 
                shall share the model with all agencies and, as 
                appropriate, assist any agency efforts to adopt similar 
                mechanisms.

                Sec. 4. Small Business Assistance. A majority of the 
                biobased product manufacturers and vendors selling 
                biobased products and services that use biobased 
                products to the Federal Government are small 
                businesses. To improve the ability of small businesses 
                to sell these products and services to the Federal 
                Government, I direct:

                    (a) the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 
                the Secretary of Agriculture, to use relevant programs 
                of the Department, such as the Manufacturing Extension 
                Partnership network, to improve the performance and 
                competitiveness of biobased product manufacturers;
                    (b) the Secretary of Agriculture to work 
                cooperatively with Procurement Technical Assistance 
                Center programs located across the Nation to provide

[[Page 10941]]

                training and assistance to biobased product companies 
                to make these companies aware of the BioPreferred 
                program and opportunities to sell biobased products to 
                Federal, State, and local government agencies; and
                    (c) the Secretary of Agriculture to develop 
                training within 6 months of the date of this memorandum 
                for small businesses on the BioPreferred program and 
                the opportunities it presents, and the Administrator of 
                the Small Business Administration (SBA) to disseminate 
                that training to Small Business Development Centers and 
                feature it on the SBA website.

                Sec. 5. Reporting. The Federal Government should obtain 
                the most reliable information to gauge its progress in 
                purchasing biobased products, including measuring the 
                annual number of procurements that include direct 
                purchase of biobased products, the annual number of 
                construction and service contracts that include the 
                purchase of biobased products, and the annual volume 
                and type of biobased products the Federal Government 
                purchases. I direct that:

                    (a) within 1 year of the date of this memorandum, 
                the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall 
                propose an amendment to the Federal Acquisition 
                Regulation to require reporting of biobased product 
                purchases, to be made public on an annual basis; and
                    (b) following the promulgation of the proposed 
                amendment referenced in subsection (a) of this section, 
                the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the 
                Chief Acquisition Officers Council, shall develop a 
                reporting template to facilitate the annual reporting 
                requirement.

                Sec. 6. Jobs Creation Research. Biobased products are 
                creating jobs across America. These innovative products 
                are creating new markets for agriculture and expanding 
                opportunities in rural America. Therefore, I direct the 
                Secretary of Agriculture to prepare a report on job 
                creation and the economic impact associated with the 
                biobased product industry to be submitted to the 
                President through the Domestic Policy Council and OSTP 
                within 2 years of the date of this memorandum. The 
                study shall include:

                    (a) the number of American jobs originating from 
                the biobased product industry annually over the last 10 
                years, including the job changes in specific sectors;
                    (b) the dollar value of the current domestic 
                biobased products industry, including intermediates, 
                feedstocks, and finished products, but excluding 
                biofuels;
                    (c) a forecast for biobased job creation potential 
                over the next 10 years;
                    (d) a forecast for growth in the biobased industry 
                over the next 10 years; and
                    (e) jobs data for both biofuels and biobased 
                products, but shall generate separate data for each 
                category.

                Sec. 7. Education and Outreach. In compliance with the 
                2002 Farm Bill, several agencies established agency 
                promotion programs to support the biobased products 
                procurement preference. The Federal Acquisition 
                Institute has added biobased procurement training to 
                its course offerings. To assure both formal and 
                informal educational and outreach instruction on the 
                BioPreferred program are in place and being implemented 
                by each agency, I direct:

                    (a) the Secretary of Agriculture to update all 
                existing USDA BioPreferred and related sustainable 
                acquisition training materials within 1 year of the 
                date of this memorandum;
                    (b) the Senior Sustainability Officers and Chief 
                Acquisition Officers of agencies to work cooperatively 
                with the Secretary of Agriculture to immediately 
                implement such BioPreferred program agency education 
                and outreach programs as are necessary to meet the 
                requirements of this memorandum and relevant statutes; 
                and
                    (c) the Secretary of Agriculture to work actively 
                with the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are 
                Blind or Severely Disabled to promote

[[Page 10942]]

                education and outreach to program, technical, and 
                contracting personnel, and to purchase card holders on 
                BioPreferred AbilityOne products.

                Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) This memorandum shall 
                apply to an agency with respect to the activities, 
                personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that 
                are located within the United States. The head of an 
                agency may provide that this memorandum shall apply in 
                whole or in part with respect to the activities, 
                personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that 
                are not located within the United States, if the head 
                of the agency determines that such application is in 
                the interest of the United States.

                    (b) The head of an agency shall manage activities, 
                personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that 
                are not located within the United States, and with 
                respect to which the head of the agency has not made a 
                determination under subsection (a) of this section, in 
                a manner consistent with the policies set forth in this 
                memorandum, to the extent the head of the agency 
                determines practicable.
                    (c) For purposes of this memorandum, ``biobased 
                product'' shall have the meaning set forth in section 
                8101(4) of title 7, United States Code.
                    (d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does 
                not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 
                party against the United States, its departments, 
                agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
                agents, or any other person.
                    (e) The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby 
                authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in 
                the Federal Register.
                <GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, February 21, 2012

[FR Doc. 2012-4468
Filed 2-23-12; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3410-10-P