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Welcome to Our Inaugural Issue!
For the last few years, the BioPreferred® Program has distributed BioBuzz, a digital newsletter focused on sharing news and information about biobased products, industry trends, the U.S. bioeconomy, and more! In addition to raising awareness for biobased products and the voluntary labeling and certification initiative, the BioPreferred Program strives to increase federal biobased product purchasing as well as contractor purchasing and reporting.
As a new digital publication, BioBuzzGov will focus on promoting the use and purchase of biobased products in the Federal Government.
Look for issues bi-monthly delivered to your inbox.
Are you a COR with New Service or Construction Contracts?
The contract has been awarded! Now what? As the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), you play a critical role in ensuring that contractors understand and respond to Clause 52.223-2 Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products in Service and Construction Contracts. That’s because contractors look to you for guidance and resources.
Here are 5 ways to better support the contractors you work with:
- Speak with the contractor early on in the contract period and ask about their purchase plans.
- Answer questions regarding purchase requirements and remind them to consider qualified biobased products whenever possible.
- Refer them to this list of designated product categories on the USDA BioPreferred website, and the BioPreferred Program Catalog to support their market research.
- Ask them to keep good records of their purchases for year-end reporting.
- Encourage accurate reporting at the end of each fiscal year.
When you help the Federal Government increase its procurement and use of biobased products, your efforts make a difference to rural businesses, the U.S. bioeconomy, and
the planet.
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Biobased products provide an alternative to conventional petroleum derived products.
For purposes of the BioPreferred Program, biobased products do not include food, animal feed, or fuel.
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What is a Biobased Product?
Defined in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (and amended by subsequent Farm Bills), a biobased product is determined by the USDA Secretary to be a commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that is:
- composed, in whole or in significant part, of biological products including renewable domestic agricultural materials, renewable chemicals, and forestry materials; or
- an intermediate ingredient or feedstock.
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Biobased products include diverse categories such as:
- Lubricants
- Cleaning products
- Carpets
- De-icers
- Inks
- Fertilizers
- Bioplastics
- And more!
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New Learning Opportunities
a Big Hit!
In September, the BioPreferred Program released two new courses as part of its ongoing efforts to educate acquisition professionals on biobased product purchasing requirements.
Both have been very well-received! Find them on the USDA BioPreferred website:
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Fundamentals: Biobased Products and the USDA BioPreferred Program is a web-based training program designed to introduce the learner to biobased products, the federal procurement preference for biobased products, and the voluntary certification and labeling initiative. Course includes interactive opportunities, knowledge checks, and short videos.
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Sustainable Purchasing with Biobased Products is a webinar replay from the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Smart Pay Conference. This course is designed to assist federal purchase card holders and managers in their efforts to identify, select and purchase biobased products.
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5 Acquisition Planning Tips
It’s that time of year when planning for both major and minor acquisition begins. When you incorporate and prioritize the purchase of biobased products throughout your acquisition planning process, your agency will excel at meeting requirements.
Include biobased purchasing as part of these planning steps:
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Forming an Acquisition Team – Is there a team member who understands how biobased products can be incorporated into an acquisition plan? If not, will a team member take the lead and perform this role?
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Defining Requirements – When detailing procurement needs, can you include biobased products as a high priority objective? If so, where?
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Conducting Market Research – When conducting market research, consult the BioPreferred Program website, where you can find a list of the 139 mandatory purchasing categories and the biobased product Catalog.
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Developing the Request for Proposal – When developing the solicitation, take advantage of the opportunity to include biobased purchasing language in the project requirements and evaluation factors.
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Planning for Results – In planning for results, how will the purchase of biobased products be monitored and tracked?
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BioPreferred Program Review of FY 2021 Solicitations
On the Hunt for Clause 52.223-2
Beware the Solicitation Police!
Recently, the USDA BioPreferred Program reviewed 200 active service and construction solicitations for FY2021 to determine if Clause 52.223-2 Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products in Service and Construction Contracts was included in the contracts. Overall compliance for FY 2021 was 71%, indicating room for improvement. In solicitations where the Clause was omitted, an email was sent to the Contracting Officer with a request to make changes to add the Clause.
 There was a higher level of compliance with general construction and road construction contracts than with other types of contracts such as food service and janitorial contracts.
A Shout-out to Top Performers!
The BioPreferred Program would like to give a special shoutout to Contracting Officers who did an outstanding job in including biobased product purchasing requirements in their solicitations:
- Sierra Hellstrom – USDA
- Cameron Rick – VA
- Thomas Council – VA
- Brian McCabe – Interior
- Huron Virden – USDA
- Josh Dobereiner – USDA
- Kimberly Bishop – GSA
- Rebecca Schowalter – USDA
- Lee Audit – USDA
Do you have a success story you’d like to share? Or content you’d find helpful in BioBuzzGov? Send an email to: Vernell Thompson
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