It is a wonderful thing for a life-long environmentalist to see governments and vendors scrambling to be green. I am not bothered one bit if the motivation is to make or save money either. I don't think it is possible to peruse a public sector rag without a headline or two pointing out data center innovations here or new purchasing policies there. As this practice gains momentum, the Feds now have added some real steam to the process.

On December 26, the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council released an amendment to FAR that will require agencies to give preference to EPEAT (Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool)-rated PC's and related hardware.

The Office of Management and Budget released a proposed policy letter on December 28 that provides structure for agencies to acquire environmentally friendly products and services including high-efficiency vehicles, bio-based and EnergyStar products, EPEAT rated electronic products, recycled products, and intelligent material selection. Under this proposed policy, GSA will populate their catalogs with green products and phase out competing non-green products by 2010.

The greening of GSA's Schedule 70 could prove to bolster it's usage in the state and local market. If GSA can get these green products in their catalogs quickly, it could save the states a lot of effort in identifying and negotiating contracts for green products themselves.

In addition to new products, disposal of electronic waste is just as important an issue in overall greening. The Commonwealth of Kentucky is currently investigating it's options in adopting responsible disposal of electronic equipment through an RFI on January 9, 2008.

INPUT's Take:

• Vendors who can establish purchasing vehicles for states to obtain green products will have a major competitive advantage
• build on already impressive growth in state and local government usage by quickly including green products in Schedule 70
• Look for more and more states to establish contracts for responsible disposal and recycling of electronic equipment