Sustainable Facilities Tool

U.S. General Services Administration

Care about efficient, healthy buildings and environmentally-responsible purchasing?

SFTool prepares you to take action.

Knowing how components of building systems, project resources and materials, and project teams interact with each other helps you choose the right planning strategy for your sustainable building project. This issue of the Sustainable Facilities Tool (SFTool) Newsletter highlights the latest updates to our Plan section, our new Systems Thinking module and other Project Planning and Engagement resources.

The Plan section of SFTool has been updated to feature newly consolidated resources organized by project type. Explore modules organized into three pillars: Project Planning and Engagement Processes, Guidance by Project Type, and Risk Reduction and Building Resilience. Use the Tools section within each pillar to access tools designed to help you accomplish project specific goals.

Our new Systems Thinking module helps yo holistically evaluate building systems and their interrelationships for better planning practices. Learn more about the interconnectedness of elements within a sustainable building project and within project teams.  Discover ways to evaluate synergies and trade-offs within building upgrade strategies and how to best set to best set priorities and manage risks.

Green Teams: Organizing a Green Team, a volunteer group of building occupants and staff who educate fellow occupants to adopt sustainable practices helps create a more environmentally friendly workplace.  Access this module to learn more about the benefits of establishing a Green Team, including increased occupant engagement and cost savings.

Life Cycle Perspective: This updated module breaks down the differences and functions of  Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and  Life Cycle Costing (LCC) so you can best determine the environmental and financial impacts of the materials and resources used in your projects. Learn| more about how to conduct your own LCA and the role of LCAs in Building Standards and Certification Systems.

We want to ensure SFTool reaches the audiences who would benefit from using the tools, resources, and guidance available on sftool.gov. Please share SFTool and this newsletter with any colleagues active in the sustainable building and purchasing space.
Follow our new SFTool LinkedIn page that spotlights different SFTool resources weekly. 
If you are interested in partnering more closely with SFTool to promote our mutual missions, let us know more through our Partnership Form.
Have any feedback regarding SFTool, GPC, or the newsletter? Please don’t hesitate to contact us at sftool@gsa.gov. 

GSA distributes newsletters representing both SFTool in general and the Green Procurement Compilation more specifically. Email sftool@gsa.gov if you would like to be added to future distributions.

U.S. General Services Administration • Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings

www.gsa.gov/hpgb • sftool.gov • greenbuildings@gsa.gov