OMB seeks progress reports on green initiatives

Agencies must report on their progress in fiscal 2008 in purchasing more environmentally friendly computers, expanding their recycling programs and improving their management of chemicals, according to a recent joint memo from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive. The data collected in the survey of agency sustainable activities will be used to comply with the 2007 executive order on environmental practices and electronic stewardship and to provide measures of progress for the Office of Management and Budget’s Scorecard on Environmental Stewardship, said the memo from Lesley Field, OFPP acting administrator, and Joseph Cascio, OFEE’s Federal Environmental Executive. Agencies should post by Feb. 16, 2009, their survey responses to the MAX federal community Web site, a wiki, or collaborative site, that grew out of OMB’s Budget Formulation and Execution line of business but has expanded to other subject communities, the memo said. In this year’s data call, the survey directs agencies to obtain qualitative information that is not already available through other reports on energy-efficient products, such as Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool-registered products, and the management of electronics, the memo said. Agencies also need to provide more information on the role of environmental management systems in implementing green purchasing and on progress in establishing hazardous and toxic chemical management plans, according to the memo.