Applicability to procurement actions. The guidelines in this part apply to all procurement actions by procuring agencies involving items designated by USDA in this part, where the procuring agency purchases $10,000 or more worth of one of these items during the course of a fiscal year, or where the quantity of such items or of functionally equivalent items purchased during the preceding fiscal year was $10,000 or more. The $10,000 threshold applies to Federal agencies as a whole rather than to agency subgroups such as regional offices or subagencies of a larger Federal department or agency.

Exception for procurements subject to EPA regulations under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. For any procurement by any procuring agency that is subject to regulations of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under section 6002 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Conservation Act of 1976 (40 CFR part 247), these guidelines do not apply to the extent that the requirements of this part are inconsistent with such regulations.

Procuring products composed of the highest percentage of biobased content. Section 9002(a)(2) of FSRIA requires procuring agencies to procure qualified biobased products composed of the highest percentage of biobased content practicable or such products that comply with the regulations issued under section 103 of Public Law 100-556 (42 U.S.C. 6914b-1). Procuring agencies may decide not to procure such qualified biobased products if they are not reasonably priced or readily available or do not meet specified or reasonable performance standards.

This guideline does not apply to purchases of qualified biobased products that are unrelated to or incidental to Federal funding; i.e., not the direct result of a contract or agreement with persons supplying items to a procuring agency or providing support services that include the supply or use of products.

Exemptions. The following applications are exempt from the preferred procurement requirements of this part:

Military equipment: Products or systems designed or procured for combat or combat-related missions.

Spacecraft systems and launch support equipment.