Incentivizing the Government Contractor to Environmentally Innovate: Alternativesfor Action

摘要

Experts in both government and industry have long advocated the need to go beyondbasic compliance with command and control laws and regulations. One specific area that can also benefit from beyond-compliance efforts is government procurement. In most cases their contracts are governed by one set of rules, the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). This article will explore the alternatives the Federal Government can use to incentivize contractors to go beyond-compliance. Beyond-compliance environmental innovation means reducing emissions from contractor factories, establishing environmentally friendly practices and devising engineering changes to the products they create that will benefit the environment and the Government for years to come. Environmental innovation in products and services bought by the government can be more productive than changes made only in factories and other stationary sources government contractors control.