Can a federal buyer specify a biosurfactant?
No federal purchasing rule or USDA category names biosurfactants, but a buyer can reach them through the rules for the finished product: the USDA biobased category for a cleaner, and for oil spills on water, EPA's NCP Product Schedule, which since July 2026 lists a product made with a sophorolipid.
The question
A supplier offers a cleaner or a spill product made with a "biosurfactant," a soap-like ingredient produced by microbes instead of refined from petroleum. Can a federal buyer ask for that in a solicitation, and which rule would the request rest on?
The short answer
Not by name. No FAR clause, USDA product category, or EPA purchasing or spill-product program is written for biosurfactants. (The only federal regulation that names one is a pesticide-residue exemption for a rhamnolipid biofungicide, 40 CFR 180.1245.) A buyer reaches them through the rules that already cover the finished product:
- Cleaners: the product's USDA BioPreferred category and its minimum biobased content, under the federal biobased purchasing requirement.
- Hazard screen: EPA's Safer Chemical Ingredients List, which includes two rhamnolipids and one sophorolipid.
- Oil spills on water: EPA's NCP Product Schedule. Older listings were removed on June 10, 2026; as of September 24, 2026, the schedule lists seven products, and one lists a sophorolipid as its surfactant.
- Firefighting foam: for land-based fluorine-free foam, products bought under MIL-PRF-32725 must be qualified and listed on QPL-32725. A rhamnolipid foam is the subject of a Defense Department research project; no product on the QPL is identified as one.
What a biosurfactant is
A surfactant is the ingredient that lets water lift oil and grease. Biosurfactants are made by fermentation: rhamnolipids by bacteria (EPA describes its registered rhamnolipid as made by "controlled aerobic fermentation" of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa), and sophorolipids by yeasts.
The citations
|
Purchase |
Rule that applies |
What it asks |
Where to check |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Cleaner |
USDA biobased category (7 CFR part 4270); RFO 23.102(a) and 23.107(b)(2) for the 31 agencies on the Part 23 deviation, FAR 23.107-2 for the rest |
The finished product's minimum biobased content, for example Industrial Cleaners 41 percent, Multipurpose Cleaners 56 percent, Floor Cleaners 77 percent |
BioPreferred Register and Catalog |
|
Cleaner (hazard) |
EPA Safer Chemical Ingredients List |
Whether each ingredient is listed; the rhamnolipids and sophorolipid listed are rated Green Circle |
Safer Choice safer-ingredients page |
|
Oil spill on water |
40 CFR part 300, subpart J (NCP Product Schedule) |
A current listing, and a Federal On-Scene Coordinator's authorization to use it |
EPA's NCP Product Schedule list and bulletins |
|
Firefighting foam |
MIL-PRF-32725 (Amendment 2, June 5, 2024) |
Qualification and listing on QPL-32725 before award |
DLA Qualified Products Database |
Where each rule stops
Biobased content is measured on the whole product. USDA defines it as the share of "recent, biologically derived organic carbon" in a product's total organic carbon, tested by ASTM D6866. A rhamnolipid certified at 99 percent does not make a cleaner qualify: what counts is the biobased share of all the organic carbon in the finished cleaner, and that is what gets tested. BioPreferred has no "surfactants" category. Two ingredient categories name surfactants among their examples: Intermediates - Cleaner Components (55 percent), for ingredients used to formulate finished cleaning products, and Intermediates - Personal Care Product Components (62 percent). Most certified biosurfactant listings sit in these ingredient ("Intermediates") categories, not in finished-cleaner categories. The briefing "Which FAR Part 23 applies to a biobased purchase?" covers which citation your agency uses.
Safer Choice lists ingredients, not suppliers. Two rhamnolipids (CAS 4348-76-9 and 37134-61-5) and one sophorolipid (CAS 1573124-58-9) are on EPA's list as surfactants, rated Green Circle, which EPA defines as "verified to be of low concern based on experimental and modeled data." Other sophorolipids are not on the list, and EPA notes that unlisted chemicals may also be safer, so an absence is not a finding of harm.
Spill products need an EPA listing, and the list changed this summer. For chemical and biological agents used on oil discharged into U.S. waters and adjoining shorelines, an on-scene coordinator may authorize only products on the NCP Product Schedule. The one exception is provisional use to prevent or substantially reduce an imminent threat to human life, which must come under the normal rules no later than 24 hours after first application. Under the 2023 rule, with the transition EPA extended in November 2025, older surface washing, herding and solidifier listings that had not been relisted under the new criteria were removed on June 10, 2026. As of September 24, 2026, the schedule lists four dispersants and three surface washing agents, and no bioremediation agents, herding agents or solidifiers. One surface washing agent, listed on July 27, 2026 (bulletin 2026-SW-002), names a sophorolipid as its surfactant. EPA's own wording applies: a listing "does NOT mean that EPA approves, recommends, licenses, or certifies" the product.
One trap follows. BioPreferred has a federal-purchasing category called Bioremediation Materials (86 percent), for products "used to clean oil, fuel, and other hazardous spill sites." Because EPA's schedule lists no bioremediation agents, and none of the seven listed products appears in the BioPreferred Catalog, a product bought under that category cannot be authorized for use on an oil discharge to U.S. waters or adjoining shorelines except under the human-life exception.
Foam is a research project. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program's project WP22-3252 set out to demonstrate rhamnolipids as foam additives that could displace PFAS in firefighting foam. Its project page listed no final report on September 24, 2026. Foam bought under MIL-PRF-32725 must be qualified and listed on QPL-32725 before contract award. BioPreferred's Fire Suppressants category is for certification only and carries no purchasing preference. The labels briefing, "What does a PFAS-free or biobased label prove?", covers foam qualification.
Model language you can copy
For a cleaning-products requirement:
"Cleaning products furnished under this [order/contract] shall be USDA-designated biobased products in the [category] category and shall meet USDA's minimum biobased content for that category ([n] percent, BioPreferred Register, read [date]). For each product, the offeror shall identify the primary surfactant or surfactants by name and CAS number, state whether each is produced by fermentation, and provide the USDA certification or an ASTM D6866 test report."
For spill response on water:
"Any chemical or biological agent proposed for use on an oil discharge to water shall be listed on EPA's NCP Product Schedule on the date of use. The offeror shall give the product name, category and bulletin number, and confirm that storage and expiration meet 40 CFR 300.910(f). Use requires Federal On-Scene Coordinator authorization under 40 CFR 300.910."
Replace the bracketed fields. The first clause asks for information about the surfactant; it does not require one, because none of these rules supplies a reason to.
What to do
- Buy the finished product under its own rule: the BioPreferred category for a cleaner, the NCP listing for an oil-spill agent, QPL-32725 for foam.
- Ask the offeror to name the surfactant and its CAS number, and check it against EPA's safer-ingredients list if a hazard screen matters.
- For a spill product, confirm the listing on EPA's schedule on the day you buy and again before use. Cite the schedule and the regulation, not EPA's Subpart J overview page, which still describes the June 10 removal in the future tense.
- Record what you checked and the date.
Verified: September 24, 2026, against the sources below.