Agencies don’t track environmentally friendly purchases

Agencies have no idea how often they use environmentally friendly products because the only "green" items that current procurement systems track are dollars, according to a new General Accounting Office report. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, an agency must track spending on any item that the Environmental Protection Agency has identified as being available with recycled content if the agency spends more than $10,000 on that item in a fiscal year. In its report "Federal Procurement: Better Guidance and Monitoring Needed to Assess Purchases of Environmentally Friendly Products" (GAO-01-430), GAO found that most federal agencies have no trustworthy method for determining if they are using environmentally-friendly products. "They do not have systems that clearly identify purchases of recycled-content products," the report said. "As a result, they generally provide estimates, not actual purchase data, to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive." The Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA all say they can't use their automated procurement systems to track green product purchases in their headquarters and field offices, or by their contractors and grantees. As a result, these agencies and departments collect information manually, which is costly and time-consuming. Agencies also have had limited success in promoting the recycled-content requirements among their employees. However, GAO found that EPA and the Agriculture Department have been slow in developing and putting in place the environmentally-friendly product purchasing programs they are supposed to oversee. "EPA's guidance on purchasing environmentally preferable products recommends that agencies' assess a cradle-to-grave effect on the environment," GAO found. "It would be easier…if EPA identified a list of such products." EPA is developing tools to help agencies make "green" purchases, the report said. GAO recommended that the Environmental Executive and EPA Administrator work with officials to develop a process for providing current information on recycled-content products and that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy provide agencies with more specific guidance on product review and monitoring requirements. In written responses, officials from OMB, GSA, NASA, Defense and the Energy Department said they generally agreed with GAO's findings.