Back to News Home Page

Biden’s Executive Order on Biotech and Biomanufacturing

On September 12, 2022, President Biden released a new Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy. This aims to accelerate America’s bioeconomy through a boost in sustainable biomass production and biobased products. The order focuses on the impacts of climate change with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Opportunities for Biobased Products

The Executive Order includes a large emphasis on expanding market opportunities for biobased products. For example, by September 12, 2023, the Secretary of Agriculture intends to develop a plan supporting and encouraging domestic biomanufacturing to advance the U.S biomass supply chain.

Section 6 of the order discusses several initiatives on Biobased Products Procurement. This includes:

• Within two years of the Executive Order, contracting officers, purchase card managers, purchase card holders, and other appropriate staff within procuring agencies must complete training on biobased product purchasing.

• Within 180 days of the date of this order, procuring agencies will need to report their previous fiscal year data on the following items: 
  – the number and dollar value of contracts which include direct procurement of biobased products;
  – the amount of service and construction contracts in place that mention the use of biobased products;
  – the types and dollar values of biobased products which are actually used by contractors in service and construction and renovations.

• Within 1 year of this order, when new biobased product categories become commercially available, the Secretary of Agriculture will designate new product categories for Federal procurement purchasing preference.
  
  
• By 2025, procuring agencies should aim to increase the amount of biobased product obligations or dollar value of biobased-only contracts.

The Role of Carbon-14 Analysis for Biobased Products

With the growing emphasis on biobased products, biobased product manufacturers will need to rely on a third-party testing laboratory to validate the content of biobased-derived material using carbon-14 testing. Verifying the use of biomass resources allows companies to clearly communicate to procuring agencies the biobased content of their products. Additionally, laboratory testing provides accurate data when applying for biobased certification programs, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s BioPreferred® Program, facilitating product positioning in the biobased market.

ISO 17025-accredited lab Beta Analytic offers carbon-14 measurements with results available in 7 business days or less. Contact Beta for more information on biobased content testing.

For full details on the order: Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy

---

Beta Analytic is committed to provide high-quality, reliable testing to fulfill the requirements of the USDA’s BioPreferred Program. The company is not affiliated with the USDA or the BioPreferred Program.

---

Join our mailing list to receive news of upcoming webinars by Beta and its subsidiaries as well as other industry updates.

---

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022 and is filed under Biobased Products .