If you manufacture product for federal projects, you should be taking advantage of the requirements that federal agencies are to give biobased products preference.

Preference = Advantage = Dollars

Below is an excerpt from the USDA BioPreferred website under the “Frequently Asked Questions” section. All agencies using federal funds should have a BioBased Procurement Program in place, should be promoting BioBased products and develop specifications requiring the use of BioPreferred designated items.

Question and answer from BioPreferred website-

Q: What are the ramifications of non-compliance with the mandate to purchase BioBased products?

A: Federal agencies are required by the statute to, within one year of the publication date of each designated 'item', develop specifications that shall require the use of designated 'items' composed of biobased products.

Within one year after the publication of this rule, each Federal agency shall develop a procurement program for BioBased products that contains:

1) a preference program for purchasing designated 'items';

2) a promotion program to promote the preference program;

3) provisions for an annual review and monitoring of the effectiveness of the procurement program.

If they did not comply, Federal agencies would be subject to the same ramifications as with any other statute. Federal agencies would be made vulnerable to legal challenge, if they did not comply.

Ohio and Indiana also have BioPreferred programs in place for purchases for state facilities.

There are only two solid surface products listed as USDA BioPreferred.   To see which products are approved as USDA BioPreferred, go to http://www.biopreferred.gov/ > I want to… Buy Biobased Products > Construction and Road Maintenance > Composite Panels > Plastic Lumber Composite Panels.