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 Order establishes a new, two-part process for EPA to use when developing and issuing the
procurement guidelines for products containing recovered materials, as required by RCRA
section 6002(e). The first part, the Comprehensive Procurement Guideline, involves
designating items that are or can be made with recovered materials, an activity requiring
rulemaking. As with the previous guidelines, the CPG was developed using formal notice-
and-comment rulemaking procedures. The final CPG was developed under the procedures
established in the Executive Order and will be codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.
The second part, the Recovered Materials Advisory Notice, provides
recommendations to procuring agencies on purchasing the items designated in the CPG. The
E.O. directs EPA to publish the RMAN in the FEDERAL REGISTER for public comment.
The RMAN for items designated in the final CPG appears in the notice section of the
FEDERAL REGISTER. Because the recommendations are guidance, they will not be
codified in the CFR.
EPA is also required to provide guidance to Executive agencies on procuring
environmentally-preferable products. Section 503 of the Executive Order requires EPA to
develop and issue guiding principles that Executive agencies should use in purchasing
environmentally-preferable products. EPA is developing these guiding principles separately
from the CPG and RMAN and will provide an opportunity for the public to comment on
them.
Section 401 requires Executive agencies to consider the use of recovered materials
and other environmental factors in acquisition planning for all procurements, and in the
evaluation and award of contracts.
Section 402 directs the head of each Executive agency to implement the affirmative
procurement program requirements of RCRA section 6002(i) and to include in the affirmative
procurement programs a requirement that all purchases of EPA-designated items meet or
exceed the EPA-recommended levels. It further requires that agency affirmative
procurement programs encourage that (1) documents be transferred electronically, (2) all
government documents printed internally be printed double-sided, and (3) contracts, grants,
and cooperative-agreements issued after October 20, 1993, include provisions that require
documents to be printed double-sided on recycled paper that meets or exceeds the standards
established in the Executive Order or in future EPA Recovered Materials Advisory Notices.
Section 501 of the Executive Order requires Executive agencies to review and, where
applicable, revise their specifications, product descriptions, and standards to enhance Federal
procurement of products containing recovered materials. When agencies convert to
Commercial Item Descriptions (CIDs), they are required to ensure that the CIDs meet or
exceed the recovered materials requirements of the specifications or product descriptions that
they replace.
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