Sole Source Justification

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 6.302, Circumstances permitting other than full and open competition) describes the seven exceptions that can be invoked as sole source justification:

6. Other Than Full and Open Competition (FAR Subpart 6.3)

302. Circumstances permitting other than full and open competition (FAR 6.302):

1. Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.
2. Unusual and compelling urgency.
3. Industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services.
4. International agreement.
5. Authorized or required by statute.
6. National security.
7. Public interest

The most frequently invoked justification for adopting a sole source procurement process is the first exception (FAR 6.302-1), i.e. when there is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services satisfy requirements usually defined in the statement of work (SOW).

Under this exception, sole source purchase must meet one of the following criteria:

• unicity, i.e. the item is only available from one single supplier (one-of-a-kind, parts maintenance, compatibility, standard compliance); or
• immediacy, i.e. delivery date or delays resulting from competitive solicitation are not acceptable; or
• emergency, i.e. delays resulting from other methods of solicitation are not bearable; or
• legitimacy, i.e. specific contexts (geographic, contractual, political, legal, military, security, etc.) may allow such a non-competition of sources; or
• inadequacy, all sources are qualified as inadequate (compatibility, compliance, price, quality, service, support, etc.); or
• exigency, i.e. any other specific reason dictating the choice of a given provider.

Sole Source Justification is also known as: source justification, sole source justification, sole source justification letter, sole supplier justification.