Procurement Competition and Sole Source Justification
Competition is the preferred method of acquiring supplies and services exceeding $25K. Procurements of $25K or less may be made without securing competition unless reason exists to expect that the price may not be reasonable. Purchases not exceeding $25K shall generally be placed with the customer’s suggested source unless the same or equivalent product can be bought from another source at a reasonable price consistent with achievement of socioeconomic goals. The particular brand name specified by the requester will generally be acquired in purchases not exceeding $25K. Any change in the brand or composition of procurements for hazardous materials must be reviewed by the Industrial Hygiene Department before award. Requests for sole-source or restricted competition procurements exceeding $25K must be adequately justified by the requester except for the following procurements:
- Spare or replacement parts or repair or maintenance services unavailable from sources other than the original manufacturer software maintenance
- Noncompetitive 8(a) Program purchases (see Section entitled “Socioeconomic Considerations”)
At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, justifications for sole-source or restricted competition procurements may be provided by using Form UCN-479, Justification for Sole Source or Restricted Competition Procurement, which can be found at the following URL: http://home.ornl.gov/general/forms/pdf/ORNL-479.pdf
Procurement’s concurrence with the adequacy of the justification is acknowledged by award of the transaction.
