Best Practices:  Reporting and Tracking

Reporting and tracking biobased product purchases are important and essential tools. Section 9002 of the Farm Bill requires that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, submit a Report to Congress on the agencies’ purchasing of biobased products.

On July 13, 2011, the FAR Council proposed amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require contractors to report annually the product types and dollar value of USDA-designated biobased products purchased under service and construction contracts. This will allow Federal agencies to monitor compliance with the Federal preference for purchasing biobased products.

President Obama’s February 21, 2012 Presidential Memorandum directs the Federal Government to take decisive steps to dramatically increase the purchase of biobased products. Specifically, Section 5 of the Memorandum addresses reporting by:

  • Requiring the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to issue, within one year, an amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require federal agencies to report biobased product purchases and to make the reporting available to the public on an annual basis.
  • Directing USDA to work with the Chief Acquisition Officers Council to develop a template to facilitate the required reporting.

The Presidential Memorandum also:

  • Requires federal agencies to include biobased products in their procurement review and monitoring program, incorporating data collection and reporting requirements as part of their program evaluation.
  • Directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to emphasize biobased purchasing in the scorecard that it uses to rate agencies’ Sustainability/Energy performance.

 

The United Soybean Board does not endorse any of the products shown or the companies that produce them. The United Soybean Board does not make any representations regarding product safety or performance or the accuracy of any of the information in this guide. All information in the guide has been provided by soy product manufacturers and has not been verified.