More new cars on the way
June 9th, 2009 | Fleet Management General Services Administration | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Federal agencies will be trading in more of their gas guzzlers for fuel-efficient cars soon.
The General Services Administration announced today that it ordered 14,105 vehicles from the big three automakers, using $210 million in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
That’s on top of the 3,100 hybrid vehicles GSA purchased in April for $77 million. Another order for $15 million in advanced technology buses and electric vehicles will be made by Sept. 30, GSAÂ said.
The new vehicles will replace older models that are less fuel efficient. Of the total vehicles purchased so far, 7,924 are Fords, 6,348 are from General Motors and 2,933 are Chrysler vehicles.
New green goals coming
April 22nd, 2009 | Agency Management Executive Office of the President Facilities Fleet Management State | Posted by Tim Kauffman
The White House is developing an executive order that will set new goals for greening federal agencies, the administration’s top environmental policy adviser said this afternoon.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality is working with several agencies to draft the new presidential directive, council chairwoman Nancy Sutley said during an Earth Day event at the State Department. Sutley did not say when the order will be issued.
Existing laws and executive orders already require agencies to cut their energy and water consumption, increase their use of renewable energy, purchase environmentally preferable products and buy alternative fuel vehicles. Sutley said the new order will go even further.
The order will closely integrate federal greening actions and set new goals for energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy, the purchase of fuel-efficient cars, water conservation and encourage overall sustainability.
For those of you who read your Federal Times closely each week, Sutley’s comments should come as no surprise. We reported this week that the administration was reviewing all existing goals to determine which ones should be updated, modified or otherwise revised to meet the Obama administration’s green government commitments.
Tags: conservation, Energy, environment, green
Green products guide
February 25th, 2009 | Facilities Fleet Management Procurement Uncategorized White House | Posted by Tim Kauffman
With pressure mounting to purchase environmentally friendly products, sorting through the various federal programs to determine whether there are specific products identified that meet environmental standards can be daunting.
After all, federal agencies are rating scores of products — everything from awards and bed linens to vending machines and water coolers — for recycled and biobased content, energy and water savings and absence of environmentally harmful chemicals or gases.
Agencies are required to buy environmentally preferable products, but finding out whether green alternatives exist for products being purchased is often a time- consuming and frustrating exercise.
Now there is a tool to make it a little easier. An intern at the White House Office of the Federal Environmental Executive has compiled environmental ratings from nine federal programs on products cutting across 18 broad categories into an Excel spreadsheet.
It’s the first time all of the designated products have been compiled into an easy to use tool for facility and fleet managers, information technology personnel, contracting officials and those who are certifying the products and services, said Dana Arnold, the acting federal environmental executive.
Arnold said the tool will be posted to both www.ofee.gov and www.fedcenter.gov and updated as new products are designated.
Tags: environment, green products
The automakers might disagree…
January 29th, 2009 | Congress Economic Stimulus Fleet Management | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
On ABC World News last night, reporter Jonathan Karl said this about the stimulus package:
But Republicans say the bill is filled with old-fashioned big-government spending that won’t stimulate the economy. For example, $335 million for sexually transmitted disease prevention, $600 million to buy new cars for government employees, and $1 billion to follow up on the 2010 Census, which, of course, hasn’t happened yet.
You can argue that $1 billion for the 2010 Census isn’t stimulative. We’ll buy that. But do some Congressmen really believe spending $600 million to upgrade the federal fleet (read: buying new cars) won’t help the economy?
The automakers might beg to differ.
Get ready for transition…to SmartPay2
November 26th, 2008 | Agencies Federal Travel Fleet Management General Services Administration Procurement | Posted by Elise Castelli
Attention government travelers, buyers and drivers: You may be immersed in the presidential transition (and have plans to flee work for the holiday weekend), but don’t forget this weekend is another transition…to the new government purchase, travel and fleet charge cards.
At 11:59 p.m. Nov. 29 your old SmartPay cards will be useless, so be sure to have the new cards at the ready. That’s what David Shea, director of the General Services Administration’s SmartPay 2 program, tells us here at FedLine.
Shea has these tips for feds who may be working this holiday weekend and need to use their cards:
- Activate the new card in advance of the Nov. 29 deadline.
- If you are going on travel, bring both cards with you to avoid getting stuck with an inactive card.
- Have the number for your agency’s card manager handy in case you run into trouble.
Shea expects that there will be few problems with transition this weekend. The last agencies to make their choice of card providers did so back in July, meaning there was plenty of time for cards to arrive and new accounting systems to be installed. Also, the holiday weekend means there will be little activity over the transition period.
But with more than 3 million purchase, travel and fleet cards mailed to federal employees across the nation, there are likely to be some hiccups along the way, Shea said. That’s why he and his staff will be on call all weekend to put out any major card-related fires.
FedLine suspects he’ll also be collecting the wishbone from his Thanksgiving turkey for luck.
Tags: SmartPay2, Thanksgiving