1. Supporting the supply chain in procuring less toxic products.
Melissa Peck | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
December 7th, 2018

2. Agenda Purchasing at the State of MN
Sustainable Purchasing at the State of MN
Priority Contracts
Contract Highlight: Furniture
Contract Highlight: Cleaners
Contract Highlight: Carpet and Flooring
Cooperative Purchasing Venture Membership
Q & A

3. State procurement at a glance
FY16 & FY17
$5 billion in goods and services
2,100 enterprise contracts
6,910 contracts, amendments, related documents reviewed by profession and technical services unit
1,307 certified Targeted Group, Economically disadvantaged, and Veteran-owned businesses
Minnesota state agencies (excluding MnSCU) purchased $2.7 Billion in goods and services in FY16 and $2.3 Billion in FY17.
This volume of goods and services are acquired through:
2100 enterprise contracts, offering volume discounts to state agencies and local units of government– automobiles to IT hardware and services, office systems cleaning, cleaning products, wide range!
6,910 contracts, amendments and related documents reviewed by the professional and technical services unit in FY17 - services that are intellectual in character, including consultation, analysis, evaluation, predication, planning, or programming, or recommendation, and result in the production of a report or the completion of a task. Do not include the provision of supplies or materials
1,307 Certified Targeted Group, Economically Disadvantaged and Veteran-owned businesses
Long story short, we have a ton of contracts.
State procurement at a glance

4. State of Minnesota’s Sustainable Procurement Program
Environment
Economic
Social
Systematically incorporate sustainability into state contracts guided by our sustainable procurement program – guided by executive orders, state law and our Sustainable Procurement Charter.
Our Charter is a directive signed by Department of Admin and MPCA leadership in 2018.
Department of Admin and MPCA have been working together since the 90s to create more sustainable state contracts.

5. Program charter Ties in environmental and social goals
Formalized our program. Ties in environmental and social goals related to procurement, stemming from three executive orders. Executive Order % sustainable purchases out of total spend on priority Contracts.
Priority contracts = the environmental impact, spend magnitude, & opportunity
We’re going to focus on priority contracts today.

6. Priority Contracts: “100% Sustainable”
Cleaning chemicals (C-252, C-983)
Carpet and flooring (C-432)
Office furniture & refurbished furniture (F-379, F-464)
Ballasts & lamps (B-308, L-290)
7/19 priority contracts we consider “100% sustainable
In those cases buyers don’t have to worry about sustainability too much.
While we state the contracts are “100% sustainable”, that just means we have included sustainability to the extent that we are able to at this time.

7. Priority Contracts: “100% Sustainable”
Cleaning chemicals (GS, UL EcoLogo, DfE)
Carpet and flooring (NSF 140 Gold, GREENGUARD)
Office furniture & refurbished furniture (CoC free, refurbished)
Ballasts & lamps (Energy efficiency, mercury content, service life)
For instance, for cleaning chemicals, products sold (excluding disinfectants/sanitizers) must meet either Green Seal or EcoLogo standards, or be recognized under the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) Design for the Environment (DfE) Safer Product Labeling Program…
So those are the priority contracts that have been addressed to the best of our ability…

8. Priority Contracts: Not 100% Sustainable
Computers & imaging equipment (C-1046, C-871, C-1005)
Office paper & toner, janitorial paper (O-86, P-942, C-1046, C-871, P-661)
MINNCOR cleaners & office furniture (M-566)
Wireless hardware & services (T-535)
Network equipment, maintenance & support (T-653)
Painting (P-719)
AV (A-203)
Systems furniture (F-522)
12/19 are not considered 100% percent sustainable, which could be for a number of different reasons.
However, there are sustainable products being offered on them.

9. Priority Contracts: Not 100% Sustainable
Computers & imaging equipment – EPEAT certification
Office paper & toner, janitorial paper – recycled content paper, high-yield and reman toner
MINNCOR cleaners & office furniture – Third party certified cleaners and “tier 1” furniture
Wireless hardware & services – EPEAT certification
Network equipment, maintenance & support – EPEAT certification
Painting – Vendors offering low VOC or recycled content paint
AV – EnergyStar
Systems furniture – Vendor using “non-hazardous” cleaners
For electronics contracts, such as computers, imaging equipment, wireless hardware, and network equipment, you want to look for EPEAT certification…

10. Priority Contracts Computers & imaging equipment AV
Office paper & toner, janitorial
Systems furniture
MINNCOR cleaners & office furniture
Cleaning chemicals
Carpet and flooring
Wireless hardware & services
Office furniture & refurbished furniture
Network equipment, maintenance & support
Ballasts & lamps
Painting
Now that you have a big picture idea of our priority contracts, I’m going to cover cleaning chemicals, office furniture, and carpet and flooring in more depth, but are there other contracts you’re interested in hearing more about at this point?

11. Why furniture?
Furniture hits on both the social and environmental aspects of sustainable procurement.
We did a spend analysis to determine which of our acquisitions contracts had the highest environmental impact. Furniture came up in the top 20 because of the chemical impacts.
Treated with harmful chemicals which have been linked to serious health effects....
These chemicals contribute to our indoor environment as they escape furniture and contaminate our workspaces, making their way into our bodies.
Some of these chemicals have already been prohibited in Minnesota in children's products and upholstered residential furniture (Statute 325F.071).

12. Healthier Furniture – The “Hazardous Handful”
VOC’s (including Formaldehyde)
Antimicrobials
PVC
Fluorinated Stain Treatments
Flame Retardants
Specifically, the chemicals we were concerned about have gained the moniker the hazardous handful. They include…
These are very problematic chemicals when they escape… Ex: Flame retardants – has neurodevelopmental effects, is an endocrine disrupter, reproductive toxicant, and carcinogen.

13. MN Purchasing Addendum to NASPO - Tier 1 and Tier 2
Tier 1- Verified to contain
no “hazardous handful” chemicals
Tier 2 – Unverified or known to contain “hazardous handful” chemicals
To work to remove the hazardous handful, our contract imposes a two-tier system
This system helps our agencies move towards a toxics-free workspace – prioritizes purchase of products that do not contain chemicals of concern, while still allowing some latitude if needed.

14. Contract release C-252(5): Cleaning supplies
Glass
Carpet
Bathroom
Contract release C-252(5): Cleaning supplies
General purpose
Floor
The second contract I’ll cover in more depth is the cleaning supplies. Our cleaning supplies contract includes…
Disinfectant
Hand soap

15. Contract Cleaning Contract Environmental Requirements
General purpose
Carpet
Bathroom
Floor
Glass
Hand soap
Each of the cleaners must meet specific performance and environmental 3rd party, industry std
They need to be Green Seal or EcolLogo certified, or recognized by EPA’s Safer Choice Safer Product Standards.

16. Contract Cleaning Contract Disinfectant Requirements
Mandatory
No carcinogens
No respiratory sensitizers
No skin sensitizers
Desirable
UL EcoLogo certified
No mutagens, neurotoxins, or reproductive toxins
No endocrine disruptors
No asthmagens
Disinfectants
Eliminated some products that historically were commonly used in institutional settings.
It may be of interest to note here as well that we do not offer quats on our contract due to the fact that it has associated aquatic toxicity, their potential to bioaccumulate, and their classification as respiratory sensitizers.

17. Carpet & Flooring Contract
Current standard: NSF 140 Gold, which is a multi attribute certification.
The products must also meet GREENGUARD stds for indoor air quality, which focuses on VOCs.
Healthcare without harm has released a flooring guidance for manufacturers - closer to what we require of our furniture

18. CPV Membership
We have a Statute in Minnesota that allows eligible entities to purchase goods, certain services and utilities from contracts established by the Office of State Procurement (OSP) for Minnesota state agencies. OSP contracts with vendors to provide goods, services and utilities to state agencies and CPV members.
Governmental entities that may join the CPV program include counties, cities, towns, townships, and school districts, among others. Certain tax-exempt, non-profit entities and charitable orgs are also eligible, including licensed nonprofit hospitals and community health clinics in Minnesota.
There are a number of benefits to becoming a CPV member. Membership is free.
All of the priority contracts discussed today are eligible for use by CPV members.

19. MMCAP
In addition to our CPV opportunities... Minnesota Multistate Contracting Alliance for Pharmacy (MMCAP) is a free, voluntary group purchasing organization for government facilities that provide healthcare services. Encourage you to look into it, though beware we have not “greened” any of these contracts.

20. Questions?
2/5/2019

21. Thank you!
Melissa Peck