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Meet Government Contractors' Requirements on Sustainability
It can be difficult to find your way around the federal marketplace, especially when it comes to government contractors’ and their requirements in order to be deemed compliant with sustainability and succeed in signing a business deal.
Through a procurement process, the U.S. government has redirected its attention to advocating for greater sustainability – and seeking the use of new federal policies to help encourage government contractors to monitor, measure, and reduce their emissions as well as make them available to the public for greater transparency. If government contractors’ and other businesses want to continue on the path towards success, bearing all of the new sustainability, emission reduction, and ESG tactics in mind is key.
Why is it important to subscribe to the sustainability requirements of government contractors’ in order for businesses and carbon accounting companies to be successful? How can various professional services or firms bid on government contracts and gain credits to acquire more contracts in the future and maintain their competitive advantage?
What are government contractors and why are they important for sustainability?
Government contractors are private organizations or businesses that are recruited by government bodies in order to help provide a product or service. Government contractors can be either small and local or big and international, but regardless of size and widespread availability – government contractors are usually helpful in a multitude of ways such as with construction, providing IT services, various research, or consultation services.
Usually, government contractors provide services through what is known as, “bidding” – but instead of bidding for money, companies will send a proposal explaining why they are qualified and worthy of the services to be provided by government contractors. Companies are chosen based on their criteria, and some of the most valuable information to provide in your company’s proposal these days is your efforts and actions towards implementing greater sustainability and reducing emissions.
👉 Bidding for a government contract requires dedication on behalf of the company bidding in order to prepare a valuable proposal, or “bid” – but the effort is worthwhile as government contractors’ can benefit companies (especially financially) with the help of their exclusive consultations and resources.
What are some examples of government contractors?
Two examples of typical government contractors’ that are key to many companies right now include OASIS+ and Alliant 3.
OASIS+, or One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services, is a multifaceted contract that makes use of IDIQ, or Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity, to provide federal agencies with a streamlined process to acquire complex professional products and services. Ultimately, OASIS+ is made to help provide government agencies with a wide array of services: such as constellations, engineering expertise, or scientific research.
OASIS+ is organized into two different pools:
- Pool 1 covers professional services like management, consultations, and scientific research.
- Pool 2 covers technical services like financial management, engineering, and other logistics.
Another example is Alliant 3, which also makes use of IDIQ – is managed by GSA (General Services Administration) and seeks to provide the same wide array of services as OASIS+.
Similar to OASIS+, Alliant 3 is split into two different pools:
- Pool 1 refers to large businesses that provide a full-range of IT services.
- Pool 2 refers to small businesses that provide a smaller-range of IT services.
Both OASIS+ and Alliant 3 are meant to be progressive contract vehicles, and help with things like reducing business costs in addition to providing pristine services.
What are some of the most recent sustainability efforts on behalf of the federal government?
The U.S. government has taken great strides to up its environmental game as of late, such as with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 – which helps to incentivize common Americans and businesses alike to pick the more environmentally friendly option (such as an energy efficient laundry machine or an electric car over a gasoline powered one) by offering a tax reduction.
Additional examples of the recent sustainability initiatives on behalf of the federal government include other Executive Orders from the Biden Administration, Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR cases, and agency requests for ESG data. However, one of the biggest and most recent efforts to implement greater sustainability and transparency is with the SEC Disclosure Rule – which will require public companies to delineate their climate risks, GHG emissions, and other various financial data. Specifically, companies will have to break down which emissions categories they are contributing to the most – which more often than not comes from scope 3 emissions.
Also, there are new Executive Orders on behalf of the federal government to track and encourage efforts to fight against climate change: such as the EO 14030 on Climate-Related Financial Risk, which aims to ensure that federal suppliers disclose their GHG emissions and climate-risks, mitigate the risk of climate change by including the cost to use government contractors’ through programs like OASIS+ and Alliant 3, and to allow more bids for companies that have proposals which demonstrate their commitment to reducing emissions and cultivating sustainable supply chains.
Is there a way to increase your company’s chances of winning government contracts, and comply with the ongoing string of environmental policies being released throughout the country?
How can Greenly help federal contractors earn points with government contractors?
One of the many ways to ensure your bid with government contractors’ is successful is to up your environmental game, such as by measuring all 3 scope emissions and setting a reduction plan to demonstrate your commitment towards sustainability and reducing emissions – all of which Greenly can help your company achieve.
For instance, seeking to measure all three scopes of your carbon emissions with Greenly can help earn your company two points with OASIS+.
Here’s the exact breakdown of how many OASIS+ points companies can earn if they choose Greenly:
- One point for disclosing scope 1 and scope 2 emissions
- One point for measuring and demonstrating a plan to reduce scope 3 emissions if developed in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and is a science-based reduction target.
- Setting reduction targets can be done with our NZCC, or Net-Zero Contributor can also help to earn 1 point (if your company’s scope 3 emissions are measured prior to developing a reduction plan).
Greenly can help improve your company’s proposal to government contractors’ in other ways, too – as we can help your company to find the right carbon offset and carbon contribution projects right for you, properly report and disclose your emissions (which is becoming more pivotal as new environmental policies begin to require this – even for smaller companies), and develop a personalized GHG emission reduction strategy.
Other key areas that can help companies meet government contractors’ requirements for sustainability include, such as with OASIS+ or Alliant 3, should also seek to do the following:
- Follow All Requirements: Seeking the help of a third party with extensive knowledge in ESG and GHG emissions, such as Greenly, can help companies to better understand exactly what is required of them in order to qualify for a government contract. Understanding these demands can often be difficult to fully comprehend, but Greenly is here to help.
- Gather Data on GHG Emissions: It’s one thing to collect your overall greenhouse gas emissions and have a set number, but it’s another to fully break it down to understand exactly where each of those greenhouse gas emissions are coming from. Greenly can help your company to understand exactly what is creating such a large carbon footprint, and help you to create a plan to reduce those emissions. Knowledge is key, and when it comes to that – choose Greenly!
- Crunch the Numbers (Correctly): It’s important to ensure that all of the calculations done for your company’s GHG emissions have been completely correct. This could be difficult to do alone, but not with Greenly.
- Propose a GHG Reduction Plan: This is one of the things we’re best known for at Greenly: helping our clients to move forward in their climate journey through continuous monitoring and by tracking progress. Most government contractors’ want to see active dedication towards reducing emissions, and therefore – a detailed plan on how your company plans to reduce those emissions is crucial in your proposal to government contractors.
- Share Your Data: Transparency is one of the most important keys to facilitating the shift to greater sustainability, and we here at Greenly can help you with that by helping your company to prepare a complete document of your current GHG emissions data and future trajectory path with the help of our reduction strategies.
Greenly can help you with all of these to ensure that your proposal to win a government contract with vehicles like OASIS+ and Alliant 3 are accepted – in addition to even more carbon accounting services to help your company comply with new regulations and gain a competitive edge.
There are many other benefits to choosing Greenly besides winning a bid on multiple government contractors: such as access to our guides, whitepapers, and continuous, personalized assistance from our climate experts every step of the way – even after you’ve already acquired your new contract with OASIS+ or Alliant 3.
How else can your company improve its chances of their proposal being accepted by government contractors?
Going above and beyond when it comes to seeking to meet government contractors’ requirements on sustainability. Therefore, there’s no harm going all in and making sure your company is up to date with anything that could potentially turn government contractors off to accepting your proposal.
For instance, make sure your company doesn’t currently have any products or advertising that could be accused of greenwashing – always having credible sources ready to go can work wonders for acquiring government contractors’ and more in the future.
Even if your company is ready to go completely clean energy yet, express your company’s motivation to implement the wide-spread use of renewable energy or energy efficient appliances throughout the offices and across your supply chain. On this point, ensuring that you’re keeping up with supply chain visibility is another great way to be transparent and demonstrate your dedication to overall sustainability.
Meeting government contractors’ requirements on sustainability may seem overwhelming, but if you decide to seek help with Greenly – we can help lighten the load and push you towards success.
What about Greenly?
If reading this article about how Greenly can help you meet government contractors’ requirements on sustainability has made you interested in reducing your carbon emissions to further fight against climate change – Greenly can help you!
Finding the right tactics to promote sustainability within your company and implementing them can be stressful, but don’t worry – Greenly is here to help! Book a demo with one of our specialists today to see how we can help you get started in your climate journey.
Greenly can help you make an environmental change for the better, starting with a carbon footprint assessment to know how much carbon emissions your company produces.
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