Opinion ID: 599244
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retread Tires

Text: 13 The EPA issued the proposed retread tire guideline in May 1988 which, like the re-refined oil guideline, included an incidental purchases exception. 14 An example of a tire purchase unrelated or incidental to the Federal funding is where a contractor purchases tires for equipment under a grant for construction of a public works project. 15 Guideline for Federal Procurement of Retread Tires (Proposed Rule), 53 Fed.Reg. 15,624, 15,627 (1988). After notice and comment, the EPA issued a final regulation which retained the incidental purchases exception, but did not include any examples of incidental purchases. Guideline for Federal Procurement of Retread Tires (Final Rule), 53 Fed.Reg. 46,558 (1988) (codified at 40 C.F.R. § 252.1 et seq. (1992)). The preamble to the final tire guideline states: 16 Several commenters disagreed with EPA's interpretation [of RCRA to exclude incidental purchases], noting that RCRA section 6002(a) states simply that section 6002 applies to any purchase or acquisition of a procurement item (emphasis added) when the $10,000 threshold is reached. These commenters raise an issue of general applicability to all the procurement guidelines. The Agency plans further review and consideration of this issue and will publish detailed guidance on this subject within the near term. However, at this time, EPA is retaining the proposed language ... which provided that the guideline did not apply to purchases which were not the direct result of a Federal grant, loan, or funds disbursement. 17 Id. at 46,562. The EPA has not as yet published detailed guidance on the subject. 18 In addition, the final tire guideline does not include information on price or availability. The EPA explained that publishing such information would not be cost effective and that the information would be constantly changing, rendering the information published in the Federal Register obsolete. Id. at 46,569. The EPA stated that it therefore intended to use other, less formal, highly available mechanisms to disseminate and update price, performance, and availability information. Id.