(a) Specification Review.
1. All City departments, agencies, and offices that have responsibility for drafting or reviewing specifications for products procured by the City shall review those specifications and ascertain whether Environmentally Preferable Products are excluded from the specifications. All specifications with such exclusions shall be rewritten without the exclusion, unless performance standards cannot be satisfied without such exclusion.
2. Any statement in a specification that requires the product to be manufactured from virgin materials shall be eliminated, unless performance standards cannot be satisfied without such exclusion.
3. Any specification shall be revised if the performance standards arbitrarily exclude products containing Recycled, Recyclable and Environmentally Preferable Products that meet performance requirements.
4. Specifications shall allow the Recycled Material content in the products to be post-consumer content wherever practicable or allow that the Recycled Material utilized, if any, contain the highest percentage of Post-Consumer Content that is practicable.
5. Specifications that are unnecessarily stringent for a particular end use and that bear no relation to function or performance shall be revised in order to allow for a higher utilization of Recycled Materials containing Post-Consumer Content or other Environmentally Preferable Products.
6. When a product containing Post-Consumer Recycled Content or other Environmentally Preferable Product is produced in types and grades previously not available, specifications shall be revised to allow the use of such type or grade of product, where practicable.
7. Whenever performance standards allow, all specifications shall encourage bidders to submit bids on Environmentally Preferable Products.
8. Specifications shall allow the substitution of products made from virgin materials with Environmentally Preferable Products or products made from Recycled Materials, and, to the extent feasible, shall focus on performance standards.
9. Whenever practicable, specifications shall require a specific minimum amount or percentage of Recycled Content for the requested products. Such amount or percentage shall be based on criteria established by governmental or other widely recognized and respected third-party authorities (e.g., Energy Star, Green Seal, EPA Recycled Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) Purchasing Guidelines, Federal Electronic Product Environment Assessment Tool (EPEAT) program guidelines for electronics, State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC)).
(b) Powers and Duties of the Purchasing Agent.
1. The Purchasing Agent shall review the procurement specifications used by the requesting departments, agencies and offices in order to insure that they allow the procurement of Recycled Products or Environmentally Preferable Products.
2. The Purchasing Agent is hereby authorized to withhold his or her endorsement of approval of those specifications subject to this Article that do not comply with the provisions hereof.
3. The Purchasing Agent shall revise specifications to eliminate purchases of paper products deemed potential contaminants to the City's recycling programs.
4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require that an awarding authority not consider guarantees as to efficiency, operating cost, useful life, availability, time of delivery, and other appropriate life cycle cost assessment factors in determining the lowest and best responsible bidder. This section shall not be construed to relieve the contractor or vendor of providing a product that satisfactorily meets all specifications and performance standards. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed or construed to preclude an awarding authority from rejecting all bids as permitted by City Charter Section 371.
(5) The Purchasing Agent shall maintain records of all Paper Products and Printing and Writing Paper purchases (including those with both Recycled content and non-Recycled content, if any), as detailed below.
i. The Purchasing Agent shall collect and collate copies of invoices or receipts (paper or electronic) or other proof of purchase that describe the procurement of Paper Products and Printing and Writing Paper, including the volume and type of all paper purchases; and copies of certifications and other required verifications from all departments and/or divisions procuring Paper Products and Printing and Writing Paper (whether or not they contain Recycled Content), and/or from the vendors providing Printing and Writing Paper and Paper Products.
ii. Any City department that purchases Paper Products and Printing and Writing Paper not tracked or monitored by the Purchasing Agent must provide the following records to the Purchasing Agent within 30 days of purchase: a copy of the invoice or other documentation of purchase; written certifications as required by Section 10.32.9(b)(2) and 10.32.9(b)(3) of this Code for Recycled Content purchases; vendor name; purchaser name; quantity purchased; date purchased; and the amount of Recycled Content (including products containing none). If non-Recycled content Paper Products and/or non-Recycled Content Printing and Writing Paper are purchased, the records shall include a description of why Recycled Content Paper Products and/or Recycled Content Printing and Writing Paper were not purchased instead.
iii. The Purchasing Agent shall retain all records for five years as part of the documentation of the City's compliance with 14 CCR Section 18993.3.
(6) The Purchasing Agent shall maintain records of all Compost and SB 1383 Eligible Mulch procured. A City Department that procures Compost and SB 1383 Eligible Mulch not tracked or monitored by the Purchasing Agent must provide records, as detailed below, to the Purchasing Agent within 30 days of procurement. Records shall include: a copy of the invoice or other documentation of procurement; the name, physical location, and contact information for each procurement source; the type of product; and the quantity provided in either tons or cubic yards.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 180,751, Eff. 8-4-09, Oper. 11-4-09.
Amended by: Subsecs. (b)(5) and (b)(6) added, Ord. No. 187,711, Eff. 1-18-23.