USDA announced the proposed addition of 12 biobased product categories to become eligible for Federal procurement preference. Once the proposed rule is finalized, more than 2,300 additional biobased products will be offered for preferred purchasing consideration by all Federal government agencies and contractors. The proposed rule is published in the Federal Register.

"President Obama has directed the federal government to take decisive steps to dramatically increase the purchase of biobased products over the next two years, which will create jobs and drive innovation where biobased products are grown and manufactured," said Vilsack. "With these 12 additional categories, more than 2,300 biobased products will be available for government procurement and USDA will have increased the number of designated categories by 39 percent overall since the issuance of the president's memorandum. When procuring agencies buy biobased products they are helping their organizations increase energy security and independence, spur economic development, and improve our environment."

Today's proposed rule designates the following biobased products for preferred Federal procurement:

The proposed rule will be out for public comment for 60 days and can be read at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-05/pdf/2012-13340.pdf. Comments will be considered and incorporated, and a final rule will be publicized shortly thereafter.

Biobased products are composed wholly or significantly of biological ingredients – renewable plant, animal, marine or forestry materials. A BioPreferred designated item is one that meets or exceeds USDA-established minimum biobased content requirements.

BioPreferred is comprised of a preferred procurement program for Federal agencies and a voluntary labeling program for the broad scale marketing of biobased products (under development). Please contact [email protected] for more information about the Round 9 final rule or the BioPreferred program.

A complete list and detailed description of each BioPreferred designated item, and items for future designation, can be found at www.biopreferred.gov; or follow BioPreferred at http://twitter.com/BioPreferred.