§ 17092. High-performance green Federal buildings

• (a) Not later than 60 days after December 19, 2007 , the Administrator shall establish within the General Services Administration an Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, and appoint an individual to serve as Federal Director in, a position in the career-reserved Senior Executive service, to—
  • (1) establish and manage the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings; and
  • (2) carry out other duties as required under this part.
• (b) The compensation of the Federal Director shall not exceed the maximum rate of basic pay for the Senior Executive Service under section 5382 of title 5 , including any applicable locality-based comparability payment that may be authorized under section 5304(h)(2)(C) of that title.
• (c) The Federal Director shall—
  • (1) coordinate the activities of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings with the activities of the Office of Commercial High-Performance Green Buildings, and the Secretary, in accordance with section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title ;
  • (2) ensure full coordination of high-performance green building information and activities within the General Services Administration and all relevant agencies, including, at a minimum—
    • (A) the Environmental Protection Agency;
    • (B) the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive;
    • (C) the Office of Federal Procurement Policy;
    • (D) the Department of Energy;
    • (E) the Department of Health and Human Services;
    • (F) the Department of Defense;
    • (G) the Department of Transportation;
    • (H) the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and
    • (I) the Office of Science and Technology Policy;
  • (3) establish a senior-level Federal Green Building Advisory Committee under section 474, 1 1 See References in Text note below. which shall provide advice and recommendations in accordance with that section and subsection (d);
  • (4) identify and every 5 years reassess improved or higher rating standards recommended by the Advisory Committee;
  • (5) ensure full coordination, dissemination of information regarding, and promotion of the results of research and development information relating to Federal high-performance green building initiatives;
  • (6) identify and develop Federal high-performance green building standards for all types of Federal facilities, consistent with the requirements of this part and section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title ;
  • (7) establish green practices that can be used throughout the life of a Federal facility;
  • (8) review and analyze current Federal budget practices and life-cycle costing issues, and make recommendations to Congress, in accordance with subsection (d); and
  • (9) identify opportunities to demonstrate innovative and emerging green building technologies and concepts.
• (d) The Federal Director, in consultation with the Commercial Director and the Advisory Committee, and consistent with the requirements of section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title shall—
  • (1) identify, review, and analyze current budget and contracting practices that affect achievement of high-performance green buildings, including the identification of barriers to high-performance green building life-cycle costing and budgetary issues;
  • (2) develop guidance and conduct training sessions with budget specialists and contracting personnel from Federal agencies and budget examiners to apply life-cycle cost criteria to actual projects;
  • (3) identify tools to aid life-cycle cost decisionmaking; and
  • (4) explore the feasibility of incorporating the benefits of high-performance green buildings, such as security benefits, into a cost-budget analysis to aid in life-cycle costing for budget and decisionmaking processes.
• (e) Within 90 days after December 19, 2007 , the Federal Director shall identify incentives to encourage the expedited use of high-performance green buildings and related technology in the operations of the Federal Government, in accordance with the requirements of section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title , including through—
  • (1) the provision of recognition awards; and
  • (2) the maximum feasible retention of financial savings in the annual budgets of Federal agencies for use in reinvesting in future high-performance green building initiatives.
• (f) Not later than 2 years after December 19, 2007 , and biennially thereafter, the Federal Director, in consultation with the Secretary, shall submit to Congress a report that—
  • (1) describes the status of compliance with this part, the requirements of section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title , and other Federal high-performance green building initiatives in effect as of the date of the report, including—
    • (A) the extent to which the programs are being carried out in accordance with this part and the requirements of section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title ; and
    • (B) the status of funding requests and appropriations for those programs;
  • (2) identifies within the planning, budgeting, and construction process all types of Federal facility procedures that may affect the certification of new and existing Federal facilities as high-performance green buildings under the provisions of section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title and the criteria established in subsection (h);
  • (3) identifies inconsistencies, as reported to the Advisory Committee, in Federal law with respect to product acquisition guidelines and high-performance product guidelines;
  • (4) recommends language for uniform standards for use by Federal agencies in environmentally responsible acquisition;
  • (5) in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, reviews the budget process for capital programs with respect to alternatives for—
    • (A) restructuring of budgets to require the use of complete energy and environmental cost accounting;
    • (B) using operations expenditures in budget-related decisions while simultaneously incorporating productivity and health measures (as those measures can be quantified by the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, with the assistance of universities and national laboratories);
    • (C) streamlining measures for permitting Federal agencies to retain all identified savings accrued as a result of the use of life-cycle costing for future high-performance green building initiatives; and
    • (D) identifying short-term and long-term cost savings that accrue from high-performance green buildings, including those relating to health and productivity;
  • (6) identifies green, self-sustaining technologies to address the operational needs of Federal facilities in times of national security emergencies, natural disasters, or other dire emergencies;
  • (7) summarizes and highlights development, at the State and local level, of high-performance green building initiatives, including executive orders, policies, or laws adopted promoting high-performance green building (including the status of implementation of those initiatives); and
  • (8) includes, for the 2-year period covered by the report, recommendations to address each of the matters, and a plan for implementation of each recommendation, described in paragraphs (1) through (7).
• (g) The Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings shall carry out each plan for implementation of recommendations under subsection (f)(8).
• (h)
  • (1) For the purpose of this section, not later than 60 days after December 19, 2007 , the Federal Director shall identify and shall provide to the Secretary pursuant to section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title , a certification system that the Director determines to be the most likely to encourage a comprehensive and environmentally-sound approach to certification of green buildings.
  • (2) The system identified under paragraph (1) shall be based on—
    • (A) a study completed every 5 years and provided to the Secretary pursuant to section 6834(a)(3)(D) of this title , which shall be carried out by the Federal Director to compare and evaluate standards;
    • (B) the ability and availability of assessors and auditors to independently verify the criteria and measurement of metrics at the scale necessary to implement this part;
    • (C) the ability of the applicable standard-setting organization to collect and reflect public comment;
    • (D) the ability of the standard to be developed and revised through a consensus-based process;
    • (E) an evaluation of the robustness of the criteria for a high-performance green building, which shall give credit for promoting—
      • (i) efficient and sustainable use of water, energy, and other natural resources;
      • (ii) use of renewable energy sources;
      • (iii) improved indoor environmental quality through enhanced indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustics, day lighting, pollutant source control, and use of low-emission materials and building system controls;
      • (iv) reduced impacts from transportation through building location and site design that promote access by public transportation; and
      • (v) such other criteria as the Federal Director determines to be appropriate; and
    • (F) national recognition within the building industry.