{"id":987495242,"date":"2024-02-13T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T17:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carbonleadershipforum.org\/?p=987495242"},"modified":"2024-02-21T17:10:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T01:10:24","slug":"gsa-funding-clean-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carbonleadershipforum.org\/fr\/gsa-funding-clean-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"GSA Low Carbon Materials Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

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GSA Announces 150+ Projects with $2 billion in Funding for Clean Construction Materials<\/h1>\n

Primary Authors: Meghan Lewis (Carbon Leadership Forum), Walter Tersch (GSA), Katie Poss (Building Transparency)<\/em><\/p>\n

In August 2022, the historic Inflation Reduction Act<\/a> (IRA) Section 60503 appropriated $2.15 billion of funding to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to procure substantially lower embodied carbon (LEC) construction materials for use in federal building and paving projects. This funding builds on GSA\u2019s P100 Facilities Standards for concrete and asphalt (sections 4.8.5 and 4.8.6<\/a>) and 20% whole-building embodied carbon reduction (P100 section 1.9.2.9<\/a>), along with information gained through the interagency Federal Buy Clean Initiative<\/a>. GSA\u2019s new low-carbon material requirements \u2013 together with the Department of Transportation\u2019s upcoming Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Grants Program<\/a> \u2013 advances progress towards the federal sustainability goal to reach net-zero emissions procurement by 2050<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Winning GSA project bids without low embodied carbon materials will be tough<\/h2>\n

In December 2023, GSA published a map of over 150 projects<\/a> around the country that will now be eligible for using IRA funding for low embodied carbon (LEC) materials. GSA also put together a handy list of materials for each project here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For these 150 planned IRA LEC projects, securing low-carbon products is critical for contractors to receive awards. GSA\u2019s initial IRA solicitations have employed best value selection procedures that include environmental attributes — including a Sustainability factor that evaluates whether proposals include low carbon materials in as many relevant product subcategories as possible — in addition to price.<\/span><\/p>\n

If contractors cannot provide concrete, steel, glass, and asphalt materials that are at least better (lower-carbon) than average, their proposals may be considered non-responsive and ineligible for award.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Source: GSA IRA Low-embodied carbon projects<\/a><\/p><\/div>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

What must design and\/or construction contractors include in a GSA proposal for IRA LEC projects?<\/h2>\n

To be eligible for the $2.15 billion of IRA funding, eligible construction materials (asphalt, concrete, glass, and steel) must: (1) meet GSA\u2019s IRA Low Embodied Carbon (LEC)<\/a> GWP limits for each material that were established pursuant to an EPA Determination on what qualifies as \u201csubstantially lower\u201d levels of embodied carbon; (2) provide a product-specific Type III environmental product declaration<\/a> (EPD) at the time of bid that is based on the product category rule specified in GSA\u2019s requirements; and (3) provide the ENERGY STAR Energy Performance Score and location of the flat\/float glass plant, integrated steel mill (if applicable), or cement plant that provided material for a concrete mix.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An EPD is required in 100% of IRA LEC cases; there is no waiver process. Depending on how the GWP stacks up, it is possible that material manufacturers may need to make production changes (e.g. lower-carbon concrete mix designs or different fuel sources) to meet the GWP limits, especially at the \u201cTop 20%\u201d limit. Contractors are therefore well-advised to identify materials that will both (a) meet the job’s specific performance needs AND (b) have an EPD that meets GSA\u2019s requirements, to be ahead of the curve in avoiding schedule, budget, or eligibility impacts. During proposal preparation, prime contractors may seek to identify LEC suppliers by consulting EPD maps<\/a> and databases. If designers or builders want to help ensure their preferred material suppliers (e.g. concrete, asphalt, steel, or glass companies) show up as potentially qualifying for GSA IRA projects, they can encourage the suppliers to get an EPD<\/a> and upload it to relevant databases or directories.<\/span><\/p>\n

While GSA cannot directly pay for a business to get an EPD, it generally awards construction contracts on a firm-fixed-price basis. Such pricing allocates responsibility for cost recovery to the business judgment of the prime contractor. Prime contractors commonly include direct and overhead costs in their overall pricing, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n