Lab Equipment

Green purchasing guidance for lab equipment, including: all laboratory equipment and supplies, gloves, plasticware, and microscopes.

Required specifications

The following have been identified as green specifications relevant to the good/services as minimum mandatory requirements.  These would not be part of a scored exhibit.  If you are using the Washington state procurement manual templates, the following should be inserted in the relevant document that describes the product or performance requirements.

  • All energy-consuming appliances and equipment shall meet the most recent Energy Star specification.
  • RCW 70A.230: Mercury Education and Reduction Act requires DES to give priority and preference to the purchase of mercury-free equipment and supplies unless there is no economically feasible mercury-free alternative that performs a similar function. If a mercury-free product is not available, preference must be given to the product that contains the least amount of mercury necessary for the required performance.
    Statutory Preference for Nonmercury-Added Products. Pursuant to RCW 70A.230.060, Enterprise Services is providing a bid preference in the amount of five percent (5%) per product line item tested to any bidder that provides products that have the least amount of mercury added to the product necessary for the required performance for products identified in the Interstate Mercury Education and Reduction Clearinghouse Mercury-Added Products Database or where the product containing mercury is designed to reduce electricity consumption by at least 40%. Bidders who seek to obtain the five percent (5%) bid preference in Exhibit C-Bid Price must identify the amount of mercury added to the product or indicate the reduction in electricity consumption for identified products in Exhibit C – Bid Price.
  • RCW 70A.230: Mercury Education and Reduction Act requires all government entities and businesses to recycle mercury-containing lamps at the end of their useful life.
  • Vendors must confirm that all products offered do not contain any prohibited or unacceptable substances pursuant to RCW 70A.60.060, EO 04-01: Persistent Toxic Chemicals, or WAC 173-443-040. This includes Unacceptable Substitute Refrigerants listed by the U.S. EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP).

Preferred specifications

The following have been identified as green specifications relevant to the goods/services as preferred specifications to be scored. These would be part of your evaluation. If you are using the Washington state procurement manual templates, the following should be inserted in the relevant document that is used for evaluation.

  • Avoidance of hydrofluorocarbons. (HFCs) Purchasing Preference for Products that Do Not Contain Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (DES-310-00).
    Statutory Preference for Products Containing Hydrofluorocarbons. Pursuant to RCW 39.26.310, Enterprise Services is providing a bid preference in the amount of five percent (5%) per product line item tested to any bidder that provides products that [do not containing HFCs/contain a low amount of global warming potential refrigerants/are not designed to function only in conjunction with HFCs/are not manufactured using HFCs/are manufactured with a low amount of global warming potential refrigerants] . Bidders who seek to obtain the five percent (5%) bid preference in Exhibit C-Bid Price must identify the products [not containing HFCs/contain a low amount of global warming potential refrigerants/that are not designed to function only in conjunction with HFCs/are not manufactured using HFCs/are manufactured with a low amount of global warming potential refrigerants] as indicated in Exhibit C – Bid Price.

Laws, rules, and executive orders

These laws, rules, and executive orders must be included in the contract language: