Landscape Materials

Green purchasing guidance for landscape materials, including plants, grasses, trees, flowers, compost, and mulch.

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.

  • Bidders shall offer, to the greatest extent practicable, landscaping products that meet the U.S. EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines for Landscaping Products, which recommend compost and mulch made of yard and food waste, manure and other organic materials; and hydraulic mulch made from 100% post-consumer recycled content paper.

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.

  • State purchasing of recycled-content product. Recycled Content Purchasing Preference Policy (POL-DES-255-00) states, “In establishing environmental requirements and preferences for products that contain recycled materials, agencies shall reference the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (EPA CPGs) as the minimum standards for the state of Washington.”
    • Statutory Preference for Recycled Content Purchasing.  Pursuant to RCW 39.26.255, Enterprise Services is providing a bid preference in the amount of ten percent (10%) per product line item tested to any bidder that provides products that have exceeded one of the recommended content level percentages or the minimum product specification, as designated by the current EPA’s CPG standard. Bidders who seek to obtain the 10 percent (10%) bid preference in Exhibit C-Bid Price must identify the recycled content level of the product or indicate the product meets product specifications in Exhibit C – Bid Price.
  • Avoidance of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Procurement Preference for Products and Product Packaging that Do Not Contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) (POL-DES-280-00)
    • Statutory Preference for PCB-Free Products & Products-In-Packaging.  Pursuant to RCW 39.26.280, 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 or products-in-packaging that do not contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs); Provided, however, that there will be a maximum preference of five percent (5%) across all items submitted for this preference. Bidders who seek to obtain the five percent (5%) bid preference for PCB-Free Products & Products-In-Packaging must, in regard to the products and products-in-packaging pertaining to this procurement, certify either that (a) all of their products & products-in packaging; or (b) specific products & products-in-packaging are PCB-free.  To be deemed to be ‘PCB-free,’ the applicable product(s) must be tested, within the previous 365 days, by an independent, third-party laboratory using Environmental Protection Agency Analytical Method 1668c, and have been found NOT to contain PCBs above the practical quantification limit.  Such test for the applicable products must be attached to the certification.  The cost for conducting any such testing is at the bidder’s expense.
  • Locally sourced mulch, compost, and other landscaping materials.
  • Plants that are Washington grown, drought-tolerant, perennial (instead of annual), and certified organic.
  • Flowers and shrubs that attract honeybees and other pollinators.
  • Fertilizers and pesticides listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) as meeting the USDA’s Organic Standards.

Laws, rules, and executive orders

These laws, rules, and executive orders are the basis for these specifications: