GSA Schedule 56 Goes Green!

The General Services Administration has two well-defined goals: garnering a variety of products and services for the maintenance and safety of the nation as well as maintaining sensible asset management. More recently, alongside the increasing global awareness of green solutions, GSA has become committed to helping the federal government and agencies maintain eco-friendly goals. GSA follows environmental policies that promote environment friendly products and services and helps federal agencies buy energy-efficient and recycled-content products.

One Schedule in particular, Schedule 56 Building and Building Materials / Industrial, recently came out with their new Refresh #14 that includes this eco-friendly stance. Starting January 17th, some Special Item Numbers (SINs) now require products be certified Energy Star or FEMP compliant. These changes do not affect every SIN, but those that do are:

1. SIN 206-4: All light bulbs including fixtures with light bulbs, must meet Energy Star requirements and be certified Energy Star compliant. (certification can be obtained at www.energystar.gov)
2. SIN 563-25: All toilets, urinals, bathroom faucets and shower heads must meet WaterSense requirements and be certified as WaterSense compliant. (certification can be obtained at epa.gov
3. SIN 563-28: All gas water heaters must meet either Energy Star or Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) requirements and be certified Energy Star or FEMP compliant. (certification for Energy Star can be obtained at Energy Star. Product designation process for FEMP can be found here

For other Green Initiatives within the Federal Government please check out Winvale’s past blogs, including Julia’s “GreenGov Supply Chain Partnership” as well as Steve’s on “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act”

If you need help understanding these new certifications and compliance requirements, or you just need help submitting modifications, please let us know! Good Luck!