USDA amended guidelines for federal procurement of bio-based products

Effective August 9, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has amended the Guidelines for Designating Biobased Products for Federal Procurement by adding 12 product categories that included intermediate chemicals within which biobased products will be afforded Federal procurement preference by Federal agencies and their contractors. These guidelines are part of the USDA’s BioPreferred program.

The Guidelines included provisions for the designation of product categories that were composed of finished, consumer products such as mobile equipment hydraulic fluids, penetrating lubricants, or hand cleaners and sanitizers.

The term “intermediate ingredient and feedstock” is defined in the Farm Bill as “a material or compound made in whole or in significant part from biological products, including renewable agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials) or forestry materials, that are subsequently used to make a more complex compound or product.”

In the proposed rule, USDA proposed designating the following 12 product categories for the preferred procurement program:

• Intermediates—Plastic Resins (minimum biobased content of at least 22%)
• Intermediates—Chemicals (22% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Paint and Coating Components (22% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Textile Processing Materials (22% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Foams (22% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Fibers and Fabrics (25% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Lubricant Components (44% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Binders (47% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Cleaner Components (55% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Personal Care Product Components (62% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Oils, Fats, and Waxes (65% bio-based minimum content)
• Intermediates—Rubber Materials (96% bio-based minimum content)

USDA invites the manufacturers and vendors of qualifying products to provide information on the product, contacts, and performance testing for posting on its BioPreferred website http://www.biopreferred.gov. Procuring agencies will be able to utilize this website as one tool to determine the availability of qualifying biobased products under a designated product category. Once USDA designates a product category, procuring agencies are required generally to purchase biobased products within the designated product category where the purchase price of the procurement product exceeds $10,000 or where the quantity of such products or of functionally equivalent products purchased over the preceding fiscal year equaled $10,000 or more.