Overview
FAR 11.301 establishes a federal preference for recovered and biobased materials by prohibiting agencies from requiring virgin materials unless necessary for safety, performance, or legal reasons. It also outlines the disclosure and approval requirements for using used, reconditioned, remanufactured, or surplus supplies in government contracts.
Key Rules
- Preference for Non-Virgin Materials: Agencies are barred from mandating the use of virgin materials unless they are vital for safety, meeting specific performance requirements, or required by law.
- Disclosure for Non-Commercial Products: For non-commercial acquisitions, offerors must identify any used, reconditioned, remanufactured, or former Government surplus property; these cannot be used without explicit Contracting Officer (CO) authorization.
- Commercial Product Flexibility: For commercial acquisitions, the CO must follow industry customs and may only request information on used or surplus supplies if the request is consistent with normal commercial practices and included in the solicitation.
- Recovered and Biobased Information: The CO may request additional data to verify that supplies meet recovered material or biobased standards, provided the request is in the solicitation and stays within the bounds of standard commercial data for commercial products.
- Biobased Data Limitations: Agencies cannot demand more data from biobased product vendors than typical business entities provide, except for specific confirmation of the biobased content.
Practical Implications
- Solicitation Drafting: Contracting Officers must ensure that specifications do not reflexively demand "new" or "virgin" materials, as this could violate the policy unless a technical justification exists.
- Contractor Compliance: Offerors must carefully review solicitation requirements regarding "Acceptable Material" to ensure they properly disclose the status of any non-new supplies to avoid potential breach of contract or performance issues.