[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 2, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 52127-52129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-22239]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

48 CFR Parts 538 and 552

[GSAR Case No. 2002-G506; GSAR Change 6]
RIN 3090-AH25


General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; 
Identification of Products That Have Environmental Attributes

AGENCIES: General Services Administration (GSA), Office of Acquisition 
Policy.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The General Services Administration (GSA) is amending the 
General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) by 
revising the clause concerning identification of energy-efficient 
office equipment and supplies containing recovered materials or other 
environmental attributes for consistency with the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation (FAR) and issuance of Executive Order 13101, Greening the 
Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal 
Acquisition, and Executive Order 13123, Greening the Government Through 
Efficient Energy Management.

[[Page 52128]]


DATES: Effective Date: September 2, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Laurie Duarte, Regulatory 
Secretariat, Room 4035, GS Building, Washington, DC 20405, (202) 501-
4225, for information pertaining to status or publication schedules. 
For clarification of content, contact Ms. Laura Auletta, GSA 
Acquisition Policy Division, at (202) 208-7279. Please cite GSAR case 
2002-G506.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    GSAR 538.273(a)(3) is revised to reflect the new clause title for 
GSAR clause 552.238-72, ``Identification of Products that have 
Environmental Attributes.'' The clause has been revised to update 
environmental definitions and to reflect language consistent with the 
FAR and with Executive Orders 13101 and 13123. GSA published a proposed 
rule, Identification of Energy-Efficient Office Equipment and Supplies 
Containing Recovered Materials or Other Environmental Attributes, in 
the Federal Register at 65 FR 44508, July 18, 2000. One respondent 
submitted comments in response to the proposed rule. GSA considered the 
comments in developing the final rule by revising the clause 552.238-72 
to make editorial changes for consistency and clarification with 
respect to the definition of ``energy-efficient product.'' The clause 
was also revised to clarify the requirement to identify products 
designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their 
Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPGs) that meet EPA purchasing 
recommendations for recovered and post-consumer material content. These 
specifically designated products should be identified separate from the 
umbrella category of products containing recovered materials. The rule 
includes information on attaching icons to product offerings in GSA 
Advantage! to indicate specific environmental attributes.

B. Executive Order 12866

    This is not a significant regulatory action and, therefore, was not 
subject to review under Section 6(b) of Executive Order 12866, 
Regulatory Planning and Review, dated September 30, 1993. This rule is 
not a major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804.

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The General Services Administration certifies that this final rule 
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities within the meaning of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 
U.S.C. 601, et seq. These environmental attributes are salient 
characteristics of the products offered and, therefore, are well known 
to vendors who market to Government customers required or encouraged to 
purchase products with specific environmental attributes. Therefore, 
the identification of such attributes in the offer and other marketing 
materials such as brochures, catalogs, websites, and GSA Advantage! 
does not constitute a significant economic impact.

D. Paperwork Reduction Act

    The revised clause at 552.238-72, Identification of Products that 
have Environmental Attributes, contains an information collection 
requirement subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501, et 
seq.). However, the revisions to the clause made by this rule do not 
affect the information collection requirement approved previously by 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and assigned OMB Control 
Number 3090-0262.

List of Subjects in 48 CFR Parts 538 and 552

    Government procurement.

    Dated: August 26, 2003.
David A. Drabkin,
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Acquisition Policy.

0
Therefore, GSA amends 48 CFR parts 538 and 552 as set forth below:
0
1. The authority citation for 48 CFR parts 538 and 552 continues to 
read as follows:

    Authority: 40 U.S.C. 121(c).

PART 538--FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE CONTRACTING

0
2. Amend section 538.273 by revising paragraph (a)(3) to read as 
follows:


538.273  Contract clauses.

    (a) * * *
    (3) 552.238-72, Identification of Products that have Environmental 
Attributes.
* * * * *

PART 552--SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES

0
3. Amend section 552.212-72 by revising the date of the clause; and in 
paragraph (b) by revising entry 552.238-72 to read as follows:


552.212-72  Contract terms and conditions required to implement 
statutes or Executive Orders applicable to GSA acquisition of 
commercial items.

* * * * *

Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or 
Executive Orders Applicable to GSA Acquisition of Commercial Items 
(Sept 2003)

* * * * *
    (b) * * *

----552.238-72 Identification of Products that have Environmental 
Attributes
0
4. Revise section 552.238-72 to read as follows:


552.238-72  Identification of products that have environmental 
attributes.

    As prescribed in 538.273(a)(3), insert the following clause:

Identification of Products That Have Environmental Attributes (Sept. 
2003)

    (a) Several laws, Executive orders, and Agency directives 
require Federal buyers to purchase products that are less harmful to 
the environment, when they are life cycle cost-effective (see FAR 
Subpart 23.7). The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) 
requires contractors to highlight environmental products under 
Federal Supply Service schedule contracts in various communications 
media (e.g., publications and electronic formats).
    (b) Definitions. As used in this clause--
    Energy-efficient product means a product that--
    (1) Meets Department of Energy and Environmental Protection 
Agency criteria for use of the ENERGY STAR[reg] trademark label; or
    (2) Is in the upper 25 percent of efficiency for all similar 
products as designated by the Department of Energy's Federal Energy 
Management Program.
    GSA Advantage! is an on-line shopping mall and ordering system 
that provides customers with access to products and services under 
GSA contracts.
    Other environmental attributes refers to product characteristics 
that provide environmental benefits, excluding recovered materials 
and energy and water efficiency. Several examples of these 
characteristics are biodegradable, recyclable, reduced pollutants, 
ozone safe, and low volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
    Post-consumer material means a material or finished product that 
has served its intended use and has been discarded for disposal or 
recovery, having completed its life as a consumer item. Post-
consumer material is part of the broader category of ``recovered 
material.'' The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed 
a list of EPA-designated products in their Comprehensive Procurement 
Guidelines (CPGs) to provide Federal agencies with purchasing 
recommendations on specific products in a Recovered Materials 
Advisory Notice (RMAN). The RMAN contains recommended recovered and 
post-consumer material content levels for the specific products 
designated by EPA (40 CFR part 247 and http://www.epa.gov/cpg/).

[[Page 52129]]

    Recovered materials means waste materials and by-products 
recovered or diverted from solid waste, but the term does not 
include those materials and by-products generated from, and commonly 
reused within, an original manufacturing process (Executive Order 
13101 and 42 U.S.C. 6903(19) and http://www.epa.gov/cpg/). For paper 
and paper products, see the definition at FAR 11.301 (42 U.S.C. 
6962(h)).
    Remanufactured means factory rebuilt to original specifications.
    Renewable energy means energy produced by solar, wind, 
geothermal, and biomass power.
    Renewable energy technology means--
    (1) Technologies that use renewable energy to provide light, 
heat, cooling, or mechanical or electrical energy for use in 
facilities or other activities; or
    (2) The use of integrated whole-building designs that rely upon 
renewable energy resources, including passive solar design.
    (c)(1) The offeror must identify products that--
    (i) Are compliant with the recovered and post-consumer material 
content levels recommended in the Recovered Materials Advisory 
Notices (RMANs) for EPA-designated products in the CPG program 
(http://www.epa.gov/cpg/);
    (ii) Contain recovered materials that either do not meet the 
recommended levels in the RMANs or are not EPA-designated products 
in the CPG program (see FAR 23.401 and http://www.epa.gov/cpg/);
    (iii) Are energy-efficient, as defined by either ENERGY 
STAR[reg] and/or FEMP's designated top 25th percentile levels (see 
ENERGY STAR[reg] at http://www.energystar.gov/ and FEMP at http://www.eere.energy.gov/femp/procurement/);
    (iv) Are water-efficient;
    (v) Use renewable energy technology;
    (vi) Are remanufactured; and
    (vii) Have other environmental attributes.
    (2) These identifications must be made in each of the offeror's 
following mediums:
    (i) The offer itself.
    (ii) Printed commercial catalogs, brochures, and pricelists.
    (iii) Online product website.
    (iv) Electronic data submission for GSA Advantage! submitted via 
GSA's Schedules Input Program (SIP) software or the Electronic Data 
Inter-change (EDI). Offerors can use the SIP or EDI methods to 
indicate environmental and other attributes for each product that is 
translated into respective icons in GSA Advantage!.
    (d) An offeror, in identifying an item with an environmental 
attribute, must possess evidence or rely on a reasonable basis to 
substantiate the claim (see 16 CFR part 260, Guides for the Use of 
Environmental Marketing Claims). The Government will accept an 
offeror's claim of an item's environmental attribute on the basis 
of--
    (1) Participation in a Federal agency-sponsored program (e.g., 
the EPA and DOE ENERGY STAR[reg] product labeling program);
    (2) Verification by an independent organization that specializes 
in certifying such claims; or
    (3) Possession of competent and reliable evidence. For any test, 
analysis, research, study, or other evidence to be ``competent and 
reliable,'' it must have been conducted and evaluated in an 
objective manner by persons qualified to do so, using procedures 
generally accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable 
results.

(End of clause)

[FR Doc. 03-22239 Filed 8-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-BR-P