Executive Order 13423 Guidance on Sustainability

Executive Order (EO) 13423—Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management—states that each agency shall develop and submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) a plan for all new facilities and renovation projects in order to implement design, construction, and maintenance and operation practices.

This page includes examples and guidelines for implementation plans and building assessment tools that will assist agencies with meeting these requirements. Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Policy Guidance

The Sustainable Buildings Implementation Plan Guidance provides explicit guidance to agencies creating implementation plans.

Sustainable Buildings Implementation Plan Guidance (PDF 133 KB)

Implementation Plans

Below are Implementation Plans from Interagency Sustainability Working Group (ISWG) members, which they have offered to share with fellow members as a reference. If you wish to add your agency plan to this list, please contact Perry Luksin

Department of Health and Human Services' Sustainable Buildings Implementation Plan (PDF 992 KB)
Department of Interior's Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings Implementation Plan (PDF 1.9 MB)
Model High Performance and Sustainable Buildings Program and Implementation Plan (MS Word 99 KB)

Federal Sustainable Building Assessment Tools

In order to meet the sustainability requirements under EO 13423, most agencies will need to address their existing building stock, and not just focus on new construction. Numerous agencies have begun this process by developing sustainability assessment tools to better understand where their existing buildings stand with regard to the Guiding Principles. If you wish to add your agency's tool, please contact Perry Luksin.

High Performance Sustainable Buildings Compliance Summary Checklist

DOE has created an Excel-based High Performance Sustainable Buildings Assessment and Compliance Tool to implement and document compliance with the Guiding Principles for both new construction and existing buildings.

The New Construction Checklist is designed as a tool to match the Guiding Principles and the corresponding LEED points. Assessment Compliance Forms for existing buildings (integrated design, commissioning, energy efficiency, etc.) are included which explain the documentation requirements for each Guiding Principle.

Download the tool. (Excel 3.2 MB)

Consolidated Sustainable Facility Checklist

EPA has developed a Consolidated Sustainable Facility Checklist for use at its facilities. This checklist is currently being updated.

Download the checklist. (MS Word 195 KB)

Existing Building Evaluation and Prioritization Matrix

Heath and Human Services (HHS) has developed the HHS Existing Building Evaluation and Prioritization Matrix for use in collecting and measuring how well an existing building meets the requirements of the Guiding Principles, as well as EO 13423 and EISA 2007. It also includes two additional measures: Economics and Conformance with Local Environmental Compliance.

Download the tool. (MS Word 216 KB)

Download the instructions. (PDF 135 KB)

Technical Guidance for the Sustainability Memorandum of Understanding

On December 7, 2005, the ISWG established the Technical Guidance Task Group to develop technical guidance under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings. As stated in the MOU:

"Agencies will strive to incorporate and adopt, as appropriate and practical, the attached Guiding Principles into existing agency policy and guidance within 180 days of signature. To assist with this effort, the Interagency Sustainability Working Group (ISWG) will provide technical guidance and updates for the Guiding Principles."

In 2006, the Task Group conducted a series of meetings to produce the guidance document on the Sustainable MOU section of the Whole Building Design Guide. In May 2007, the ISWG reconvened the ISWG MOU Technical Guidance Task Group (TG2) to update the Technical Guidance document based on recent developments in sustainable building design practices and the Executive Order 13423. Members of the ISWG are requested to review and provide comments to (kinn.alison@epa.gov).