1998 Annual Report - Section I. Environmental Purchasing
I. King County Environmental Purchasing
I. King County Environmental Purchasing Program
The King County Environmental Purchasing Policy (KCC 10.16, Executive Policy CON 7-1-2
(AEP)) was adopted by the King County Council in 1989. The policy directs County agencies
to purchase products manufactured with recycled and environmentally preferable products
"whenever practicable." This annual report summarizes the achievements of King
County agencies, with the assistance of the Environmental Purchasing Program, from July 1,
1997 through June 30, 1998.
The Policy
The policy reflects a long-term commitment on the part of King County to support
markets for environmentally preferable materials through County purchasing. In 1998, King
County was awarded the first annual Environmental Purchasing award of the National Association of Counties (NACo), which recognized
the County as a national leader in municipal procurement of recycled and environmentally
preferable materials. We are maintaining this position of leadership through the efforts
and accomplishments of County employees who are actively pursuing ways to use recycled and
other environmentally preferable materials in new applications and working with vendors to
promote the development of viable and economical environmental products. This report
represents the progress that agencies have made toward the goals of the policy.
The policy was revised and simplified in 1995, following enhancements in the guidelines
of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), the creation of Federal Executive Order 12873 (which requires environmental
purchasing by Federally-funded agencies), and the experience of five years of
implementation by King County agencies. These revisions recognized the broader category of
"environmentally preferable" products, streamlined the policy, and clarified
accountabilities of agencies. The policy also requires the program to monitor further
revisions to EPA and Federal guidelines and to communicate these to user agencies.
The Program
The objective of the Environmental Purchasing Program is to bring about fundamental
change in the procurement priorities of the more than 12,000 employees of King County and
its contractors. With the full participation of the people in the agencies who make
purchasing decisions, the County can attain its goal of buying recycled and other
environmentally preferable products "wherever practicable." The program supports
the efforts of County personnel by providing information and technical assistance to help
them identify economical and effective recycled and environmentally preferable products
and by creating and maintaining contracts for their purchase. The program helps agencies
understand policy requirements and communicates specifications, contracts, and other
practical information between County agencies, vendors, users, and other jurisdictions.
The program's collaborative approach, which provides information and guidance to County
employees and relies on their expertise to evaluate procurement opportunities and revise
procedures, is gradually changing the way agencies view these opportunities. County
agencies have responded by placing more emphasis on developing ways to increase the use of
recycled and other environmentally preferable products, especially where these will reduce
costs, while still meeting rigorous performance standards.
Implementation
The King County Environmental Purchasing Program calls upon County agencies to revise
contracting procedures and specifications to increase the purchase of environmentally
preferable products.
King County agencies, with the assistance of the Environmental Purchasing
Program:
- evaluate recycled and environmentally preferable products and processes to determine the
extent to which they can be effectively used by the agency and its contractors;
- use recycled and other environmentally preferable products and processes whenever
practicable;
- ensure that contracts issued by the agency require recycled and environmentally
preferable components whenever practicable and that contractors provide certification of
this content and report amounts purchased; and
- report the progress of policy implementation, including evaluation results and amounts
purchased by the agency and its contractors.
The Procurement Services Division administers the Environmental Purchasing
Program to facilitate the implementation of this policy by agencies. The program:
- reviews procurement opportunities and policy requirements with agencies and monitors the
status of policy implementation efforts;
- researches information about recycled and environmentally preferable products,
applications, and vendors and communicates it to agencies;
- coordinates product evaluations by agencies, disseminates evaluation results, and
assists agencies in the development of specifications and contracts;
- creates educational opportunities to provide product-information to agency users;
- maintains a world-wide-web site and produces an e-mail bulletin to provide users with
information about the performance, cost, and availability of environmentally preferable
and recycled materials, and about policy implementation strategies;
- provides technical support to the outreach programs of the Solid Waste Division, the
Department of Natural Resources, and others, to facilitate the implementation of policies
favoring recycled and environmentally preferable procurement by suburban cities in King
County;
- transmits the annual report of the King County Environmental Purchasing Program to
suburban cities, other jurisdictions, and others, to promote the exchange of information
between personnel in County agencies and their counterparts in other jurisdictions; and
- coordinates development and implementation of policy models and procurement guidelines
and recommends policy revisions.
The Challenges
A number of factors challenge efforts to increase environmental purchasing:
- The scope of the task of policy implementation nearly doubled in 1996, as the County
absorbed the responsibilities of the regional transit and wastewater utility, formerly
known as METRO. This consolidation created new County agencies and reorganized others,
which has required new communication channels to be established and existing ones to be
renewed;
- project managers, designers, and contractors are not familiar with the use of many
recycled and other environmentally preferable products and are uncertain of the ways in
which they might be effectively specified and applied as substitutes for familiar
products;
- performance standards and history are often unavailable for new product applications and
environmentally preferable practices;
- developers of environmentally preferable products are often in the early stages of
identifying the needs of potential customers and establishing the production, marketing,
and distribution capacity to meet them;
- many products must meet rigorous standards maintained by various governmental and
industry regulators, and the modification of these standards can be a painstaking and
expensive process;
- after a product is created, standards and specifications are developed, and regulations
are met, the use of the product must be economically responsible. The cost must be
competitive, and contractors must have developed the processes and skills needed for its
economical use; and
- developing and administering data-collection procedures to assemble information from
contracts is time-consuming and places unfamiliar demands on participants.
The Opportunities
The Program and County agencies are addressing these challenges by:
- maintaining liaisons between all re-organized agencies and the Environmental Purchasing
Program to facilitate policy implementation and data collection;
- seeking new applications for recycled and other environmental products and encouraging
contractors to use them whenever possible;
- evaluating environmental product performance in new applications through testing and
pilot programs and sharing the results through the Internet's World-Wide-Web, the email
"Environmental Purchasing Bulletin," and by other means with agencies,
jurisdictions, and other users;
- assembling detailed application information and performance data from product users and
manufacturers and disseminating this to potential users in the County;
- helping agencies develop specifications for environmental products whenever evaluations
establishes that product performance and costs are acceptable; and
- helping potential suppliers obtain feedback from users to assist them in product
development and helping them understand King County procurement processes.
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