Office of Acquisition and Logistics (OAL)
Acquisition Policy Flash! 13-01
Biobased Products Reporting Requirement Class Deviation
Purpose: To inform the VA Acquisition Workforce of the issuance of this Class Deviation from the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.223-2 to Extend the Biobased Products Reporting Requirement.
Dated: December 14, 2012
FAR Section Impacted: 52.223-2, Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products under Service and Construction Contracts.
Effective Date: Immediately
Expiration Date: December 31, 2012
Background: On February 21, 2012, a Presidential Memorandum, entitled Driving Innovation and Creating Jobs in Rural America through Biobased and Sustainable Product Procurement, directed agencies to take stronger steps to procure Biobased products and directed changes to the FAR to capture information about Biobased products purchased by contractors on service and construction contracts, as required by law.
The FAR changes became effective May 18, 2012, and added a FAR requirement in FAR 52.223-2 for contractors to report the Biobased products under service and construction contracts no later than October 31st of each year during contract performance and at the end of contract performance.
In support of the Presidential memorandum, the CAAC issued the subject class deviation to extend the Biobased Products Reporting Requirement from October 31, 2012 to December 31, 2012. This extension was granted to support the implementation of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) web portal designed to consolidate government-wide reporting. The web portal became available to contractors on October 31, 2012.
This Class Deviation (see attached) extends the reporting requirement from October 31 to December 31, 2012.
Action Required: Effective immediately, contracting officers shall notify all contractors subject to this reporting requirement of the USDA web portal at: http://www.biopreferred.gov/ 
for satisfying the reporting requirements of this clause. Contractor’s shall refer to the right side of the screen under “Key Initiatives — Contractor’s Biobased Reporting Link” for guidance on this reporting requirement.
Applicability: This policy applies to all contracts subject to the reporting requirements of FAR 52.223-2, Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products under Service and Construction Contracts.
Additional Information: Questions or concerns should be addressed to the Office of Acquisition and Logistics (003A), Procurement Policy and Warrant Management Service (003A2A), at (202) 461-6918, e-mail: va.procurement.policy@va.gov.
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