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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 6962. Federal procurement
(a) Application of section
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a procuring
agency shall comply with the requirements set forth in this section
and any regulations issued under this section, with respect to any
purchase or acquisition of a procurement item where the purchase
price of the item exceeds $10,000 or where the quantity of such
items or of functionally equivalent items purchased or acquired in
the course of the preceding fiscal year was $10,000 or more.
(b) Procurement subject to other law
Any procurement, by any procuring agency, which is subject to
regulations of the Administrator under section 6964 of this title
(as promulgated before October 21, 1976, under comparable
provisions of prior law) shall not be subject to the requirements
of this section to the extent that such requirements are
inconsistent with such regulations.
(c) Requirements
(1) After the date specified in applicable guidelines prepared
pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, each procuring agency
which procures any items designated in such guidelines shall
procure such items composed of the highest percentage of recovered
materials practicable (and in the case of paper, the highest
percentage of the postconsumer recovered materials referred to in
subsection (h)(1) of this section practicable), consistent with
maintaining a satisfactory level of competition, considering such
guidelines. The decision not to procure such items shall be based
on a determination that such procurement items -
(A) are not reasonably available within a reasonable period of
time;
(B) fail to meet the performance standards set forth in the
applicable specifications or fail to meet the reasonable
performance standards of the procuring agencies; or
(C) are only available at an unreasonable price. Any
determination under subparagraph (B) shall be made on the basis
of the guidelines of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology in any case in which such material is covered by such
guidelines.
(2) Agencies that generate heat, mechanical, or electrical energy
from fossil fuel in systems that have the technical capability of
using energy or fuels derived from solid waste as a primary or
supplementary fuel shall use such capability to the maximum extent
practicable.
(3)(A) After the date specified in any applicable guidelines
prepared pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, contracting
officers shall require that vendors:
(i) certify that the percentage of recovered materials to be
used in the performance of the contract will be at least the
amount required by applicable specifications or other contractual
requirements and
(ii) estimate the percentage of the total material utilized for
the performance of the contract which is recovered materials.
(B) Clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) applies only to a contract in
an amount greater than $100,000.
(d) Specifications
All Federal agencies that have the responsibility for drafting or
reviewing specifications for procurement items procured by Federal
agencies shall -
(1) as expeditiously as possible but in any event no later than
eighteen months after November 8, 1984, eliminate from such
specifications -
(A) any exclusion of recovered materials and
(B) any requirement that items be manufactured from virgin
materials; and
(2) within one year after the date of publication of applicable
guidelines under subsection (e) of this section, or as otherwise
specified in such guidelines, assure that such specifications
require the use of recovered materials to the maximum extent
possible without jeopardizing the intended end use of the item.
(e) Guidelines
The Administrator, after consultation with the Administrator of
General Services, the Secretary of Commerce (acting through the
National Institute of Standards and Technology), and the Public
Printer, shall prepare, and from time to time revise, guidelines
for the use of procuring agencies in complying with the
requirements of this section. Such guidelines shall -
(1) designate those items which are or can be produced with
recovered materials and whose procurement by procuring agencies
will carry out the objectives of this section, and in the case of
paper, provide for maximizing the use of post consumer recovered
materials referred to in subsection (h)(1) of this section; and
(2) set forth recommended practices with respect to the
procurement of recovered materials and items containing such
materials and with respect to certification by vendors of the
percentage of recovered materials used,
and shall provide information as to the availability, relative
price, and performance of such materials and items and where
appropriate shall recommend the level of recovered material to be
contained in the procured product. The Administrator shall prepare
final guidelines for paper within one hundred and eighty days after
November 8, 1984, and for three additional product categories
(including tires) by October 1, 1985. In making the designation
under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall consider, but is not
limited in his considerations, to -
(A) the availability of such items;
(B) the impact of the procurement of such items by procuring
agencies on the volume of solid waste which must be treated,
stored or disposed of;
(C) the economic and technological feasibility of producing and
using such items; and
(D) other uses for such recovered materials.
(f) Procurement of services
A procuring agency shall, to the maximum extent practicable,
manage or arrange for the procurement of solid waste management
services in a manner which maximizes energy and resource recovery.
(g) Executive Office
The Office of Procurement Policy in the Executive Office of the
President, in cooperation with the Administrator, shall implement
the requirements of this section. It shall be the responsibility of
the Office of Procurement Policy to coordinate this policy with
other policies for Federal procurement, in such a way as to
maximize the use of recovered resources, and to, every two years
beginning in 1984, report to the Congress on actions taken by
Federal agencies and the progress made in the implementation of
this section, including agency compliance with subsection (d) of
this section.
(h) "Recovered materials" defined
As used in this section, in the case of paper products, the term
"recovered materials" includes -
(1) postconsumer materials such as -
(A) paper, paperboard, and fibrous wastes from retail stores,
office buildings, homes, and so forth, after they have passed
through their end-usage as a consumer item, including: used
corrugated boxes; old newspapers; old magazines; mixed waste
paper; tabulating cards; and used cordage; and
(B) all paper, paperboard, and fibrous wastes that enter and
are collected from municipal solid waste, and
(2) manufacturing, forest residues, and other wastes such as -
(A) dry paper and paperboard waste generated after completion
of the papermaking process (that is, those manufacturing
operations up to and including the cutting and trimming of the
paper machine reel into smaller rolls or rough sheets)
including: envelope cuttings, bindery trimmings, and other
paper and paperboard waste, resulting from printing, cutting,
forming, and other converting operations; bag, box, and carton
manufacturing wastes; and butt rolls, mill wrappers, and
rejected unused stock; and
(B) finished paper and paperboard from obsolete inventories
of paper and paperboard manufacturers, merchants, wholesalers,
dealers, printers, converters, or others;
(C) fibrous byproducts of harvesting, manufacturing,
extractive, or wood-cutting processes, flax, straw, linters,
bagasse, slash, and other forest residues;
(D) wastes generated by the conversion of goods made from
fibrous material (that is, waste rope from cordage manufacture,
textile mill waste, and cuttings); and
(E) fibers recovered from waste water which otherwise would
enter the waste stream.
(i) Procurement program
(1) Within one year after the date of publication of applicable
guidelines under subsection (e) of this section, each procuring
agency shall develop an affirmative procurement program which will
assure that items composed of recovered materials will be purchased
to the maximum extent practicable and which is consistent with
applicable provisions of Federal procurement law.
(2) Each affirmative procurement program required under this
subsection shall, at a minimum, contain -
(A) a recovered materials preference program;
(B) an agency promotion program to promote the preference
program adopted under subparagraph (A);
(C) a program for requiring estimates of the total percentage
of recovered material utilized in the performance of a contract;
certification of minimum recovered material content actually
utilized, where appropriate; and reasonable verification
procedures for estimates and certifications; and
(D) annual review and monitoring of the effectiveness of an
agency's affirmative procurement program.
In the case of paper, the recovered materials preference program
required under subparagraph (A) shall provide for the maximum use
of the post consumer recovered materials referred to in subsection
(h)(1) of this section.
(3) In developing the preference program, the following options
shall be considered for adoption:
(A) Case-by-Case Policy Development: Subject to the limitations
of subsection (c)(1)(A) through (C) of this section, a policy of
awarding contracts to the vendor offering an item composed of the
highest percentage of recovered materials practicable (and in the
case of paper, the highest percentage of the post consumer
recovered materials referred to in subsection (h)(1) of this
section). Subject to such limitations, agencies may make an award
to a vendor offering items with less than the maximum recovered
materials content.
(B) Minimum Content Standards: Minimum recovered materials
content specifications which are set in such a way as to assure
that the recovered materials content (and in the case of paper,
the content of post consumer materials referred to in subsection
(h)(1) of this section) required is the maximum available without
jeopardizing the intended end use of the item, or violating the
limitations of subsection (c)(1)(A) through (C) of this section.
Procuring agencies shall adopt one of the options set forth in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) or a substantially equivalent
alternative, for inclusion in the affirmative procurement program.
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