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Acquisition Policy Flash! 16-18

What's New?

2016 EPEAT® Purchaser Award

Purpose:  To inform the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acquisition workforce of VA’s receipt of a 2016 EPEAT® (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Purchaser Award for excellence in the procurement of sustainable electronics.

Dated:  August 08, 2016

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Sections Impacted:  FAR Subpart 23.7, Contracting for Environmentally Preferable Products and Services, and FAR Subpart 52.2, Text of Provisions and Clauses

Executive Order (EO) Driver:  EO 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade.

Background:  For the second consecutive year, VA has won an EPEAT® Purchaser Award with the highest ranking of three stars for procurements made in each of the three product categories covered by EPEAT® standards:  Personal Computers and Displays, Imaging equipment, and Televisions.  Award criteria also included having an organizational purchasing policy for environmentally preferable electronics, as well as contract language requiring products to meet EPEAT® standards.

EPEAT® (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is a comprehensive rating system that helps purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare, and select items in the above-named product categories based on environmental and energy attributes that address the full product lifecycle.  The EPEAT® Purchaser Awards program is sponsored by the Green Electronics Council (GEC), a non-profit organization which administers the EPEAT® product registry.

GEC estimates that EPEAT®-registered electronics purchased by VA during fiscal year 2015 will result in significant environmental impact reductions over their lifetime, as compared to products that do not meet EPEAT® criteria.  These include:

  • Reduced use of primary materials by 27,510 metric tons, equivalent to the weight of 758 tractor-trailer 18-wheelers
  • Avoided disposal of more than 237 metric tons of hazardous waste, equivalent to the weight of 1,928 refrigerators
  • Elimination of the equivalent of more than 99 U.S. households’ annual solid waste — 185.4 metric tons

Additionally, EPEAT®’s requirement that registered products meet the latest ENERGY STAR specifications means these products will consume less energy throughout their useful life, resulting in:

  • Savings of nearly 75 million kWh of electricity — enough to power 5,869 U.S. homes for a year
  • Avoidance of 95.6 metric tons of water pollutant emissions
  • Reduction of more than 14,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions — equivalent to taking more than 10,070 average U.S. passenger cars off the road for a year
  • Energy cost savings of $5,556,300

Applicability:  This notice conveys appreciation to all VA personnel involved in the acquisition of EPEAT®-registered electronic products.

Action Required:  None

Additional Information:  Questions or concerns should be addressed to the Office of Acquisition and Logistics (003A), Procurement Policy and Warrant Management Service at (202) 632-5288 or va.procurement.policy@va.gov.

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