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Acquisition Policy Flash! 17-22

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2017 EPEAT® Purchaser Award

Purpose:  To inform the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acquisition workforce of VA’s receipt of a 2017 EPEAT® (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Purchaser Award for excellence in the procurement of sustainable electronics.

Dated:  June 14, 2017

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 third consecutive year, VA is a “Three-Star” award winner of an EPEAT® Purchaser Award for procurements made in each of the three product categories covered by EPEAT® standards:  Personal Computers and Displays, Imaging Equipment, and Televisions.  Award criteria include having an organizational purchasing policy for environmentally preferable electronics and 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 2016 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 36,913 metric tons, equivalent to the weight of 1,017 tractor-trailer 18-wheelers;
  • Avoided disposal of more than 239 metric tons of hazardous waste, equivalent to the weight of 1,945 refrigerators;
  • Elimination of the equivalent of more than 752 U.S. households’ annual solid waste – 1,406 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 104.9 million kWh of electricity – enough to power 8,211 U.S. homes for a year;
  • Reduction of 17,656 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent to taking 12,694 average U.S. passenger cars off the road for a year;
  • $10,891,010 in lifetime cost savings.

For more information, visit http://www.epeat.net/.  To see how the positive impacts of VA’s leadership in purchasing sustainable electronics have grown since FY 2015, see Acquisition Policy Flash! 16-18 and Acquisition Policy Flash! 15-14.

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 (003A2A) at (202) 632-5288 or va.procurement.policy@va.gov.

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