The Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers

Despite these strong mandates, the federal government continues to face challenges in implementing green building. A key issue has been that, although a "Solicitation for Offers" may state an agency's general environmental goals for the project, there is often little guidance defining "green," and no means for agencies to ensure they get what they want in the end. To address this need for a comprehensive guide for procuring green construction and renovation services, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive and the multi-agency-sponsored Whole Building Design Guide, developed the Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers http://fedgreenspecs.wbdg.org.

The Guide is a voluntary tool, including more than sixty sections, organized according to the Construction Specifications Institute's MasterFormat. Developed with the input of numerous federal agencies, like the General Services Administration and the Department of Defense, as well as key private sector stakeholders, such as the Associated General Contractors of America and other professional and trade associations, the guide assists in specifying environmental performance requirements of materials and installation methods. The sample language-intended to be inserted into project specifications as appropriate to the owner's environmental goals-also prescribes the quality standards of construction procedures to be executed on the project.  And key in building owners' efforts to demonstrate results, the guide lays out the contractors' submittal requirements. In addition, through a number of notes, the guide educates specifiers about life cycle impact issues, federal environmental mandates and helpful resources on green building.

What began as a Guide for federal agencies has grown into a practical tool for architects and specifiers working on public and private sector construction projects of all shapes, sizes and uses. The Guide reflects more than 100 public comments received from July 27, 2004, through January 14, 2005. The comments can be viewed at www.regulations.gov (Advanced Search: Document Search: EPAHQ-OPPT-2004-0092).

Near-term expansion plans for the guide include new sections covering: Commercial Kitchen Equipment; Stormwater Management with Compost; Rainwater Harvesting; Vegetative Roof Systems; Constructed Wetlands; Integrated Pest Management; Structural Steel; and Indoor Air Quality Management-Moisture Control. In addition, guidance for using environmental management systems in construction projects and for building on environmentally sensitive sites is being developed.

EPA intends the guide to be a living document-expanding into new sections and raising the bar as the green building industry matures. To review and comment on the Guide, go to http://fedgreenspecs.wbdg.org and click on the "comments" button at the bottom of each page.

Alison Kinn Bennett is co-chair of the U.S. EPA's Green Building Workgroup. She can be reached by phone at 202.564.8859 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The July 2006 quarterly release of the Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS)-used by the Navy, Army, NASA and other federal agencies to develop their project-specific construction specifications-includes updates of more than fifty specifications based on the sustainability approaches in the Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers. To view the new, "greener"UFGS visit www.wbdg.org/ccb/browse_org.php?o=70.