October 14, 2021

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council published a request for information (RFI) regarding potential amendments to the FAR to ensure that major federal agency procurements minimize the risk of climate change. This RFI follows President Biden’s May 20, 2021 Executive Order (EO) 14030 (“Climate-Related Financial Risk”), which asserts that the intensifying impacts of climate change present a set of growing risks to financial assets, companies, communities, and workers. In particular, the EO directs the FAR Council to consider amending the FAR to ensure that major federal agency procurements minimize the risk of climate change, including requiring the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions to be considered in procurement decisions and, where appropriate and feasible, giving preference to bids and proposals from suppliers with a lower social cost of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Pursuant to this instruction, the FAR Council is seeking comments on such topics as: (1) how greenhouse gas emissions, including the social cost of greenhouse gases, can best be qualitatively and quantitatively considered in federal procurement decisions; (2) the usable and respected methodologies for measuring the greenhouse gas emissions over the lifecycle of the products procured or leased, or of the services performed; (3) how procurement and program officials of major federal agency procurements can better incorporate and mitigate climate-related financial risk; (4) how the federal government might best standardize greenhouse gas emission reporting methods and verify greenhouse gas emissions reporting; (5) how the federal government might give preference to bids and proposals from suppliers, both domestic and overseas, to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions or reduce the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions most effectively; (6) how the federal government might consider commitments by suppliers to reduce or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions; and (7) the impact that consideration of the social cost of greenhouse gases in procurement decisions would have on small businesses, including small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses.

Comments are due by December 14, 2021 and can be submitted here under FAR Case 2021-016.

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