Environmentally Preferable Purchasing for Rhode Island
What is EPP?
Why does RI need EPP?
4 Sample EPProducts
 

 

How can Rhode Island get started on EPP?
Adopt the federal standard * Create an office EPP * Move to online procurement

1) The first step to getting EPP started in Rhode Island will be to strengthen the current "Buy Recycled" law, RIGL 37-2-72, by passing the following technical amendment. The current law is on the left and the amended form on the right:

  
 


(a) The state shall, through its purchasing policy and practice, affirmatively promote the use of recycled products. The Dept. of Administration in conjunction with the Dept. of Env. Management shall, through regulations, establish a time table requiring increased utilization by the state of recycled products. In January of each year, the Dept. of Administration shall report to the General Assembly the State’s progress in utilizing recycled products materials and supplies for the preceding twelve (12) months.
(b) With respect to office paper products, at least fifty percent (50%) of the expenditure for office paper products purchased by the state of Rhode Island, its agencies and departments, shall be recycled paper products by fiscal year 1995.
(c) The Department of Administration in conjunction with the Dept. of Env. Management shall annually establish comprehensive technical specifications based on research by the Dept. of Env. Management for recycled products, materials and supplies to be purchased by the state under this section. These specifications shall include the minimum performance and quality attributes as well as minimum pre- and post-consumer content.

  


(a) The state shall, through its purchasing policy and practice, affirmatively promote the use of recycled products. All procurement agents shall use the federally established Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines or CPG, published annually by EPA in the Recommended Materials Advisory Notice or RMAN when creating specifications for product procurement.

***The remainder of the law is not neccessary with the new wording. This amendment will make the existing law stronger and harness the work that US EPA does every year.***

  

2) Create an office of EPP. Giving EPP a staff and location will allow for the training, promotion, and progress of the program.

An EPP office in Rhode Island could incorporate three important benefits for the state: 1) it would provide cost savings 2) it would focus on the reduction of negative environmental impacts from new purchases and disposal of existing purchases 3) it would be the center for continuing education on Environmental Purchasing for the state.

Cost savings for Rhode Island is estimated to be one fifth of the savings realized by Massachusetts.* In 2001, Massachusetts did a comprehensive survey of their already five year old EPP program. In that year, Massachusetts realized $554,362 of cost savings, returning more than three times the program cost back to the taxpayers. Savings included direct product costs as well as reductions in maintenance and operational costs. The greatest savings was realized through the purchase of energy-efficient office equipment (48.5%) and the use of remanufactured toner cartridges (50.9%). Rhode Island, therefore, could realize as much as one fifth of the Massachusetts amount, or $110,000 in cost savings for a similar EPP program.

The environmental benefits from the Massachusetts program have been even more impressive. A few examples of the environmental savings in 2001 are as follows: energy savings of more than 11,000 barrels of oil, natural resources savings of more than 17,000 cubic yards of landfill space, more than 20,000 gallons of motor oil diverted from disposal, and 625,000 feet of fluorescent lamps collected to avoid toxic waste impact. In addition, Massachusetts realized greenhouse gas reductions of more than 4063 Metric Tons of Carbon Equivalent in 2001. Rhode Island could realize about one fifth of the Massachusetts carbon equivalent savings, or approximately 800 Metric Tons of Carbon Equivalent

A dedicated Rhode Island EPP office would be the center of educational services to the purchasing professionals and residents of the state. Improved E-commerce technology applications can integrate EPP specifications with accounting information at the state government level. Providing leadership in the online EPP efforts as well as offering person to person learning opportunities such as Massachusetts’s Annual Buy Recycled and EPP Vendor Fair and Conference will be key to maximizing environmental benefits for Rhode Island.

*Comparing total expenditures, Rhode Island is one fifth of the size of Massachusetts. Massachusetts total expenditures for 2002: $25,293 million, and in Rhode Island for 2002: $5,400 million.

3) Establish a robust online procurement system. This will allow for highly efficient purchasing and easy tracking of progress in environmental purchasing.

An Online Environmentally Preferred Purchasing (EPP) system needs to be integrated into the overall purchasing and Information Technology (IT) systems of the state. The end goal is that state agencies and departments be linked: to be part of a larger enterprise resource planning system (ERP). Some states already have this level of organization. In Massachusetts, the Operational Services Division, which is the central purchasing agency for Massachusetts, manages their EPP program in collaboration with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Large system change is needed to achieve the necessary scale to make Online ERP/EPP effective. The governor of Ohio issued Executive Order 2004-02T of 2004 mandating that all government IT decisions are overseen by a new Chief Information Officer (CIO). The leading motivation is cost control and the budgeting and purchasing of not only IT products will be affected. All purchasing can begin to be more systematically examined for all desirable features, including the life-cycle environmental cost, with robust technology that is only possible through a state-wide, integrated ERP/EPP approach.

Ideally, features that would allow an ERP/EPP system to succeed in Rhode Island would find suppliers by specific criteria—commodity, location, initial cost and diversity status. It would also search by their environmental product information on a life-cycle cost basis as well as their UNSPSC (United Nations Standard Products and Services Code) and the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) systems. Online programs integrating environmental information that already exists: the Government Services Agency (GSA) provides environmentally preferable information available online to state governments.

The system should collaborate with suppliers. Through the benefit of the online calculators, the system will collect and evaluate information, negotiate and provide decision options. Information on suppliers needs to be continuously maintained and audited, perhaps through an outside source. Over the years of EPP experience in other states, resistance to the approach forms when the suppliers pay fees to register. Innovation such as EPP, that involves additional effort by suppliers and state purchasing agents will meet resistance without education and motivation. In a state government, is necessary for the leadership of the governor’s office to mandate the use of e-procurement by both agencies and suppliers.
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