Department of the Treasury 11-15-12

Addendum to the 2012 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan:

Responding to the President’s Memorandum on Promotion of Biobased Markets

On February 21, 2012, President Obama signed a Memorandum, Driving Innovation and 

Creating Jobs in Rural America through Biobased and Sustainable Product Procurement. The 

memorandum requires all federal agencies to undertake a number of activities to increase their 

purchase of biobased products. The Department of the Treasury is moving aggressively to 

implement the Presidential Memorandum requirements. 

Accomplishments to date include:

 The Department of the Treasury revised the Green purchasing review template to state: 

Indicate any corrective actions if 95% was not achieved and if compliance for including 

biobased clauses in relevant contracts is currently less than 50 percent;

 Revised the Green purchasing review template to state: Bureaus shall focus acquisition 

compliance reviews on biobased contract actions such as Design and/or Construction, 

Operations and Maintenance, Janitorial Products/Services, Office Supplies, Furniture, 

Cafeteria ware/Service, Fleet Management, Hospitality: Uniforms, Bedding, Linen, 

Meeting and Conference Services, and Information Technology Equipment; and

 Added Green Purchasing and Biobased compliance metrics to our Department and 

Bureau scorecards which are tracked through our ProcureSTAT Sessions with upper level 

management.

 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made progress in adding green clauses and 

requirements to contracts such as custodial, construction, landscaping and grounds 

maintenance; 

 Required contracting staff to modify applicable contracts to add or update 

Clause 52.223-2, Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products Under Service and 

Construction Contracts (Jul 2012);

 Had acquisition workforce including procurement officials, non-procurement personnel 

such as Contracting Officer Representatives (CORs), and purchase cardholders complete

the IRS on-line buying green training course which included biobased requirements. 

85% of Procurement officials and CORs completed the fiscal year (FY) 2012 training; 

 Updated in FY2012 the Affirmative Procurement Plan (APP) known as the Green 

procurement plan (GPP) to address current biobased requirements;

 Monitored biobased contract compliance through quarterly contract reviews;

 Deployed in October 2012 an enhancement to the Procurement contract writing system to 

track purchases of green products at the line item level, including EPEAT-registered 

products and associated rating for the EPEAT-registered item being purchased. When 

the Product or Service Code (PSC) is entered in the Procurement system by the buyer, the 

system recognizes the PSC for green products and alerts the buyer of the next steps. If an 

exception to buying green applies, the buyer is instructed to include a justification in the 

contract file; and

 Discussed the Federal buying green mandate during small business counseling sessions. 

 The Bureau of Public Debt (BPD) are having acquisition workforce (71 employees) take 

web-based training on www.biopreferred.gov;

 Incorporating the referencing the Sustainable Facilities Tool on GSA’s “Green Products 

Compilation” webpage for biobased purchases; and
Department of the Treasury 11-15-12

 Including biobased clauses and requirements in all janitorial and construction contracts.

Baseline for Biobased Contracting:

Prior to the issuance of the President’s February 2012 Memo on Biobased Procurement, The 

Department of the Treasury included requirements and clauses for biobased products in 9 percent 

of appropriate contracts during the first two quarters of FY 2012 (based on quarterly review of a 

five percent sample). However, this is not an accurate baseline due to the fact that all actions 

may not have been eligible to include biobased requirements.

To get an accurate percentage the FY12 3rd and 4th quarter Green purchasing review template 

was modified to include a drop down field for Biobased actions with Yes, No, and N/A as 

mandatory options. This allowed the Department of Treasury to accurately measure the 

percentage of eligible biobased actions that are in compliance. The Department of the Treasury 

included requirements and clauses for biobased products in 66 percent of appropriate contracts 

during the last two quarters of FY 2012 (based on quarterly review of a five percent sample).

FY 2013 Target/Compliance Goal:

 The Department of the Treasury plans to meet a level of 50 percent for all relevant 

acquisitions in the first two quarters of FY 2013. 

 The Department of the Treasury plans to achieve an annual goal of 70 percent 

compliance by the end of FY 2013. 

 The Department of the Treasury plans to achieve full compliance of the 95 percent 

sustainable acquisition goal in E.O. 13514 for biobased products by the end of FY 2014. 

Strategies for Improving Compliance:

The Department of the Treasury’s strategy for improving compliance--full incorporation of 

requirements and clauses for biobased products in relevant and appropriate contracts and follow 

on activities to ensure compliance is achieved--includes the following elements:

 IRS will monitor compliance through quarterly reviews of eligible sustainable acquisitions. 

A report generated from the Federal Procurement Data System and the IRS Integrated 

Procurement System (IPS) will be used to conduct the quarterly reviews. The IPS alerts the 

contract specialists/contracting officers (CSs/COs) when a green product or service code is 

entered in the system. The appropriate green FAR clauses are automatically inserted in the 

solicitation and contract. The IPS also alerts the CSs/COs when a product that should be 

EPEAT-registered is being purchased. The CSs/COs is instructed to search the EPEAT 

database and enter the EPEAT rating in the IPS, at the line item level. 

 IRS encourages the use of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) sample bio-based 

statements of work templates from the BioPreferred website by including the hyperlinks in 

the Green Procurement Plan and the annual buying green training.

 The IRS will conduct a review of its active facilities operations and maintenance contracts in 

FY 2013 to monitor biobased compliance. The IRS FY2013 and beyond goal is that 100 

percent of its facilities operations and maintenance solicitations and contracts include 

biobased contract language in the performance work statement and current Federal 
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Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 23 green clauses and provisions. In FY2013, the 

contracting staff was asked to modify facilities operations and maintenance contracts to 

include the FAR clause 52.223-2, Affirmative Procurement of Bio-based Products Under 

Service and Construction Contracts (Jul 2012 version), requiring IRS contractors to submit 

the FY2012 Bioreport, as specified in clause 52.223-2. Contracting staff was provided 

instructions to incorporate, in full text, a copy of the USDA Biobased Products Reporting 

Template in contract modifications. They will also instruct contractors to use the USDA 

template to submit the required Bioreport. IRS facilities operation and maintenance contracts 

provide a wide range of services including but are not limited to facilities management, 

operation, maintenance, custodial services, repair, minor alterations/construction services for 

buildings, structures and related support systems and equipment, snow and ice removal. The 

IRS currently has ten active facilities operations and maintenance contracts in the following 

locations: 

Washington, D.C. - Main IRS headquarters building;

Ogden, UT Campus; 

Fresno, CA Campus;

Kearneysville, WV - Enterprise Computing Center;

Covington, KY Campus; 

Holtsville, N.Y - Brookhaven Campus; 

Austin, TX Campus;

Andover, MA Campus;

Atlanta, GA Submission Processing Center; and

Memphis, TN Campus.

The three facilities operations and maintenance contracts that support Memphis, Andover 

and Atlanta campuses respectively will be re-competed and awarded in FY2013.

The IRS plans to increase purchasing and tracking of biobased products by it contractors 

in FY2013 and beyond by modifying at least 50% of existing janitorial and grounds 

maintenance contracts that have option years to update or add the recent green clauses 

and provisions, including FAR clause 52.223-2. The IRS will re-compete and award the 

grounds maintenance and custodial/pest control contracts for the Memphis Campus in 

FY2013. The IRS will conduct on-going compliance reviews of other service and supply 

contracts such as cafeteria food service, toner/developer, and construction/alteration 

services to reinforce including biobased language and terms and conditions in the 

contracts.

 BPD will publish biobased compliance guidance and train purchasing personnel in its 

use.

 BPD will review all solicitation announcements to ensure that biobased language and 

requirements are incorporated as appropriate.

 BPD will include biobased requirements in at least 50% of its cafeteria, fleet 

maintenance and construction contracts and will attempt to include requirements and 
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performance standards for biobased products in 100% of newly awarded janitorial 

contracts.

 The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) will notify the Pre-Award Team 

Leader and CO's of the missed clauses from the quarterly reviews to ensure future 

reviews include validating.

 The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) will ensure contract specialists are using 

the clause templates containing the applicable Green Purchasing/Biobased Product 

clauses available in their contract writing system.

 

Required Specification Reviews (for all agencies that control specification standards):

The President’s Memorandum requires that wherever possible and appropriate, agency 

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 and a significant number of reviews should be completed 

by the end of calendar year 2012. Results of these reviews must be reported annually to 

OMB and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The Department of the Treasury does not have an action item related to specification 

reviews on our July 2012 OMB sustainability scorecard.