WICHITA, KS - Universal Lubricants (UL), a manufacturer and distributor of premium lubricants, announced that it has been awarded a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule Contract for its ECO ULTRA line of automotive and industrial motor oils (contract number GS-21F-0157Y).

ECO ULTRA is an American Petroleum Institute (API) licensed line of automotive and industrial lubricants. It relies on used oil as feedstock to its re-refinery that produces top-quality Group II sustainable base oil while meeting Original Equipment Manufacturers' (OEM) specifications and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) requirements. ECO ULTRA is increasingly being selected as the motor oil of choice for a growing number of transportation and shipping fleets across the country, and is now available for federal fleet maintenance programs.

Federal agencies establish government-wide contracts to simplify the procurement process. Through GSA Schedules Program (also referred to as Federal Supply Schedules and Multiple Award Schedules), agencies are able to purchase products and services directly from commercial suppliers. State and local governments also use the GSA schedules for purchasing supplies and services. A subset of the GSA Schedules Program is GSA Fleet, which provides quality, efficient, and economical fleet management services to more than 75 participating federal agencies.

"ECO ULTRA is now available to meet the needs of all federal agencies that participate in GSA Fleet and their automobile, bus and ambulance, light, medium and heavy duty trucks, and passenger van fleets," said John Wesley, UL chief executive officer. "That totals to more than 217,000 non-tactical vehicles eligible for supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) encouraged practice of reclaiming and re-generating used oils into a sustainable product."

The U.S. produces approximately 1.1 billion gallons of used motor oil every year. Approximately 880 million gallons are recovered for re-use, the remainder is unaccounted for, likely disposed of improperly, damaging the environment. The majority of what is recovered is burned as an industrial fuel, leaving approximately 220 million gallons available for re-refining. The EPA lists re-refining as the most preferred environmental option for used motor oil.

Through its Closed Loop Process, UL completely controls every element in the production of new products. It collects, re-refines, blends, packages and redistributes its own oil, including the ECO ULTRA line—without ever losing guardianship within the chain—in an infinitely repeatable, sustainable cycle. UL's re-refining process uses up to 89 percent less energy than refining crude oil to produce lubricant products.

Added Wesley: "For agencies and the country-wide network of Fleet Management Centers (FMCs) that support GSA Fleet vehicles in the geographic areas they serve, ECO ULTRA is available on a cost reimbursable basis. This means for diverse Federal fleets struggling to match environmental preferences with economic priorities, ECO ULTRA is offered at all-inclusive rates that are second to none."