UNSPSC 73101500: Petrochemical and plastic production

UNSPSC 73101500 Petrochemical and plastic production is a Class code that does not align with recent state and local procurement activity. Of four recent opportunities tagged under this code, only one—the Eastern Municipal Water District's Digester Gas Utilization Project in Riverside County, California—relates to the nominal scope of the code. That RFP (issued February 24, 2026, response deadline April 14, 2026) seeks a Design-Build-Finance-Own-Operate-Maintain agreement to convert digester gas from anaerobic sludge treatment into renewable natural gas or other marketable energy products across three regional water reclamation facilities. The remaining three opportunities—the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority's landfill gas collection and control system expansion (ITB, response May 21, 2026), the City of DeBary's irrigation system improvements (pre-bid held March 25, 2015, due April 10, 2015), and the City of College Park's executive search services for a city manager (RFP, response February 18, 2026)—fall outside petrochemical and plastic production scope entirely and appear to be misclassified.

Recent activity under this code is geographically scattered and primarily rooted in waste and water utilities rather than petrochemical or plastics manufacturing. The one relevant solicitation, EMWD's digester gas project, targets operators with minimum five years of direct DBFOOM experience in similar digester gas projects, comprehensive insurance, and estimated bid and performance bonds of $20 million and $2 million respectively; contract terms range from 15 to 20 years with optional five-year extensions. The code shows minimal traction as a meaningful procurement category for state and local buyers pursuing petrochemical or plastic production services. Firms considering this code should verify classification against actual opportunities before investing business development resources, as the mismatch between code definition and recent solicitations signals either systematic tagging errors or a code tier misalignment with the work being bought.