Automated Purchasing
Several Federal installations have achieved compliance with affirmative procurement policies by developing automated purchasing programs that allow only recycled content products to be ordered or supplied. These programs remove the guesswork from affirmative procurement and ensure compliance from the very start.

Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, Rhode Island developed a hugely successful automated purchase system that could provide just-in-time delivery from mandatory source vendors. The Division sought to establish a BPA with a single Federal Supply Schedule contractor to be the preferred source for office products and wanted the whole process to be done online. The end result was the IntraMart, an electronic ordering system launched in January 1997 that featured fail-safe components to ensure purchase of mandatory source and recycled content products. Not only are recycled content products ordered, but the system provides a record of which products were purchased that helps the center to meets is reporting requirements under RCRA.

The IntraMart has proven to be very effective at ensuring compliance. In 2002, 78 percent of all paper purchases contained recycled content. This was a 6 percent improvement over 2000, when 72 percent of paper purchases contained recycled content.

For more information about IntraMart, contact John Hix at hixje@npt.nuwc.navy.mil, (401) 832-1531.

Argonne National Laboratory-East. Argonne National Laboratory-East in Argonne, Illinois significantly improved the visibility of recycled content products by upgrading the facility's automated ordering systems. The Automated Material Ordering System (AMOS) is the only option to purchase "off the shelf" products. ANL-E does not offer a purchase card or any other option outside AMOS or it's sister program PARIS. Specialty items are purchased outside of AMOS through PARIS. All PARIS orders are screened, as well, to see if the items can be purchased through AMOS. All orders (AMOS and PARIS) are screened to default to EPA- designated recycled content products. If a purchaser opts for an item that is not recycled content, then s/he has to provide a justification by checking a box next to the appropriate justification (price, performance, availability).

The upgrade expanded employee access to a database that features 2 million products and flagged EPA-designated recycled content products. Additionally, the upgrade restricted purchases of certain products including toner cartridges and copier paper to only those that were either remanufactured or contained recycled content. As a result of the AMOS upgrade, procurement of recycled content products increased significantly. Since the initial upgrades to the AMOS system in 1997, Argonne has expanded the types or products flagged for recycled content and continues to educate and inform employees about DOE's commitment to Green Purchasing. This has resulted in Argonne's continuous improvement in purchases of recycled content products from $270,000 in 1997, to more than $1.3 million in 2002.

For more information about AMOS, contact Keith Trychta at ktrychta@anl.gov, (630) 252-1476.

Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. In 1999, the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) in Idaho Falls, Idaho instituted a comprehensive, automated APP that went beyond the requirements of RCRA and E.O. 13101. INEEL requires that written justification be provided for all purchases, regardless of value. To do this, INEEL reprogrammed the facility-wide Integrated Materials Management System to track and report the purchasing transactions based on the facility's affirmative procurement policy and modified settings to ensure that environmentally preferable and recycled-content products were given preference in procurement.

For more information about INEEL's Integrated Materials Management System, contact: Robert Stump at stumprc@inel.gov or 208-526-1448.

EPA. In 2003, EPA signed a Blanket Purchase Agreement with Corporate Express to supply green, non-electronic office supplies. The BPA will give EPA the ability to buy all non-electronic office supplies purchased via purchase cards through one online ordering system. It will make it easier for EPA's purchasers to buy green by directing EPA employees to items which meet or exceed CPG recycled content guidelines and which have other environmentally preferable attributes (e.g., contain no ozone depleting substances, are chlorine free, are rechargable). EPA will receive volume discounts for all non-electronic office supply purchases, be able to track dollars spent on all non-electronic office supply purchases, and be able to track the amount of recycled content or environmentally preferable items purchased. These data can be analyzed by product category, by purchase card holder, by EPA facility, by EPA Region, and/or in aggregate. The system will also allow EPA to track the amount of items purchased by specific socio-economic group (small business, JWOD) and direct purchasers to items manufactured by specific socio-economic groups when their products meet our EPA EPP Criteria. For more information, contact Holly Elwood at elwood.holly@epa.gov or 202-564-8854.