Case study · Washington State
Buy Clean Buy Fair
A statewide sustainability and fair-hiring database — responsive, accessible, and used by suppliers and agencies across Washington.
The brief
Public data collection, from any device
Washington’s Buy Clean Buy Fair Act asks suppliers to report embodied carbon, material origins, and labor standards for materials used in publicly funded construction. That means a reporting tool used by people who never chose it — contractors on site, suppliers with a phone, state analysts on a desktop — so it had to work everywhere and be usable by everyone.
“They asked many thoughtful questions about our project — some of which I hadn’t even thought of. Our project had a challenging timeline, but they were ready for it, executed the work efficiently, and delivered a functional database with a beautiful UI.”
Published work
Named co-authors on the report to the Legislature
Buy Clean Buy Fair was a pilot study commissioned by the Washington State Legislature in 2021 and delivered by the University of Washington College of Built Environments’ Carbon Leadership Forum, working with the Department of Commerce’s Office of State Efficiency and Environmental Performance. Meserow Design built the reporting database — and Patrick Escarcega and Ellen Escarcega are named co-authors on the published reports.
- Final Report — published and submitted to the Legislature, November 2022 PDF
- Progress Report — submitted to the Legislature, January 2022 PDF
- Summary Document — published December 2022 PDF
Program partners
Read the project record at the Carbon Leadership Forum →
The database delivered for the pilot was a prototype, built for testing and demonstration across five enlisted state construction projects.
One system, every screen
Built accessible from the start
The same nine-step reporting workflow, delivered to desktop, tablet, and phone — not a scaled-down version, the full submission path on each.
Accessibility
Built to WCAG 2.1 AA
The standard the ADA Title II rule now requires of state and local government — and the reason a public reporting tool has to be usable by everyone required to file with it, not only by people using a mouse and a large screen.
Labeled, guided forms
Every field explicitly labeled, required fields marked in text as well as color, and help text placed before the input rather than after the mistake.
Status without color alone
Progress and validation carry an icon and a label, so state is never communicated by color on its own.
Keyboard and screen reader
The full submission path is reachable without a mouse, with a visible focus state at every step.
Responsive by requirement
Reflow to phone width without loss of content or function — a WCAG criterion, not just a design preference.
What it does
Capabilities
Supplier reporting
Captures embodied carbon data, material origins, and fair labor compliance for construction materials.
EC3 integration
Connects to the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator to analyze and verify carbon impact for building materials.
Regulatory tracking
Tracks certifications against the Buy Clean Buy Fair Act — LEED, EPDs, and fair labor standards.
Low-code form builder
Lets vendors and state agencies update, submit, and validate data with minimal technical intervention.
Dashboards and reporting
Real-time analytics on procurement impact, supplier compliance, and material usage, with reports for legislative review and audit.
Statewide scale
Designed to scale to every supplier and agency filing under the program, not a single department.