	Background

		Description of Biobased Products

Biobased products are industrial and consumer goods composed wholly,  or in significant part, of biological products, renewable domestic  agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials), or  forestry materials. However,  USDA did not complete the list because the 2002 farm bill set out new  biobased purchasing requirements for USDA to implement. USDA Delay in Issuing Biobased Purchasing Guidelines Has Slowed Other Agencies’ Efforts

While USDA was faced with an ambitious task, its actions and  consequently those of other agencies to implement the farm bill   requirements for purchasing biobased products have been limited. USDA  issued proposed guidelines in the Federal Register on December 19,   2003, more than a year later than the farm bill requirement for final  guidelines. In addition, as new biobased  products are developed and enter the market, these items will also need to  be designated. Thus, new items will  be designated, as necessary. However, USDA officials said the  model procurement program, when complete, will contain considerably  more guidance on recommended procurement practices. USDA expects to  issue the final version of these proposed guidelines by April 2004, but it  does not expect to have adequate information for designating more than a  few items before the end of calendar year 2004. When we asked New Uses officials in May 2003—a year after farm bill  enactment and 6 months after the legislation deadline for USDA’s  completion of the biobased procurement guidelines—for their written  management plan to implement the farm bill requirements, they indicated  that they did not have a plan. Without a comprehensive plan for implementing the  farm bill requirements assigned to the New Uses office, including clearly  defined tasks and milestones, it is difficult for USDA to set priorities, use  resources efficiently, measure progress, and provide agency management  a means to monitor this progress. Stakeholders Generally Agree That Some Testing of Biobased Products Is Necessary, but They Question the Need For Life-Cycle Analysis

Most federal agencies, testing organizations, commodity associations, and  manufacturers we spoke with generally believe that testing biobased  products for content and performance is appropriate, but they question  the usefulness and costs of life-cycle analysis. USDA’s work  has been slowed by the lack of a comprehensive management plan  outlining the tasks, milestones, resources, coordination, and reporting  needed for its completion. We believe that USDA should be more proactive in this regard  and make clear the staff and financial resources to be made available for  completing this work and the priority to be assigned to this work. Specifically, we agreed to examine (1) actions that the  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other agencies have taken to  carry out the farm bill requirement to purchase biobased products; (2)  additional actions that may be needed to enhance implementation of this  requirement; and (3) views of agencies, manufacturers, and testing  organizations on the need for and costs of testing biobased products. GAO Comments

1. In  addition, we reported that EPA’s efforts to fulfill the legislative  provisions for the purchase of recycled products lacked priority and  adequate staffing and resources, and because of the agency’s slow  progress in identifying recycled products for preferred procurement,  other federal procuring agencies had made little progress in developing  their own affirmative programs for the purchase of these products. 15.
Why GAO Did This Study

The federal government spends more than $230 billion annually for products and services to conduct its operations. Through its purchasing decisions, it has the opportunity to affirm its policies and goals, including those related to purchases of biobased products, as set out in the 2002 farm bill. A biobased product is a commercial or industrial product, other than food or feed that is composed of, in whole or part, biological products, renewable domestic agricultural materials, or forestry materials. GAO examined (1) actions the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other agencies have taken to carry out farm bill requirements for purchasing biobased products, (2) additional actions that may be needed to implement the requirements, and (3) views of stakeholders on the need for and costs of testing biobased products. GAO interviewed officials from USDA, major procuring agencies, testing entities, interested associations, and 15 manufacturers of biobased products.

What GAO Found

USDA and other federal agencies' actions to implement the farm bill requirements for purchasing biobased products have been limited. USDA issued proposed procurement guidelines in December 2003--more than 1 year past the deadline for final guidelines; however, these guidelines do not fully address the farm bill requirements for designating items for purchase and recommending procurement practices. USDA expects to issue final guidelines by April 2004 and a blueprint for the model procurement program by September 2004; but it anticipates that designation of existing items will take years to complete, possibly until 2010. In addition, new items will enter the market requiring further designations. Meanwhile, purchasing agencies do not yet have a basis for planning their own procurement programs and, as a result, have made only limited purchases of biobased products. USDA could accelerate its implementation of the farm bill requirements by developing a comprehensive management plan for this work and by making the work a higher priority. The lack of a management plan describing the tasks, milestones, resources, coordination, and reporting needed to complete this work has slowed USDA in issuing the procurement guidelines. For example, USDA developed a list of milestones only after GAO requested such a list; even then, this list was informal, primarily reflecting the thinking of a few officials. Without a plan, USDA will find it difficult to set priorities, use resources efficiently, measure progress, and provide agency management a means to monitor this progress. According to stakeholders, USDA should make this work a higher priority to speed its completion. Without a sense of priority, USDA's efforts to fulfill farm bill requirements have not had adequate staff and financial resources. Stakeholders GAO spoke with generally believed that USDA's proposals for testing a biobased product's content and performance are appropriate and that manufacturers should bear at least some of the costs. However, stakeholders generally questioned the need for doing life-cycle analysis of a product's long-term costs and environmental impacts.