EPAAR Prescription and Solicitation Provision-EPA Green Meetings and Conferences

EPA is revising the EPA Acquisition Regulation (EPAAR) to establish policy and procedures for acquiring environmentally preferable meeting and conference services. This EPAAR revision adds a prescription and solicitation provision that Agency employees are required to use when soliciting quotes or offers for meeting and conference space and services. The solicitation provision requires meeting and conference venues to provide EPA with information about environmentally preferable features and practices in use at their facilities. As stated in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), environmentally preferable products and services are those "that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose." The intent of this rule is to ensure that environmental preferability is considered in each purchase of commercial meeting and conference services, which furthers the EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. This action revises the EPAAR, but does not impose any new requirements on Agency contractors. The procedure requires Agency employees to request information from prospective meeting venues about their environmentally preferable (green) practices for consideration in the award decision, thus encouraging the industry to adopt more of these practices so that we will be more likely to do business with them. This rule imposes no requirement or standard that a facility must meet in order to do business with us.