Most sole source contracts are awarded through the “Exceptions to Competition” rules in FAR 6.3. There are seven ways that a contracting officer can award contracts without competition. Each of these is detailed through a Justification and Approval (J&A) as detailed in FAR 6.302. If you would like more details on the Justification and Approval process, listen to Contracting Officer Podcast Episode 17 (What is a J&A?) or watch the J&A Mini Training.
Here are the seven exceptions that the Contracting Officer can use to award a sole source contract. They are listed in this order in FAR 6.302
1 — Only One Responsible Source.
2 — Unusual and Compelling Urgency.
3 — Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Development, Research Capability, Expert Services.
4 — International Agreements.
5 — Authorized or Required by Statute.
6 — National Security.
7 — Public Interest.
I used these exceptions to competition throughout my career in a variety of ways for a variety of goods and services. The ones I used the most were 6.301-1 (Only One Source) and 6.301-2 (Unusual and Compelling Urgency). I also used 6.301-2 (Urgency) to limit (not eliminate) competition by inviting a select few companies who had the specific past performance, capability and speed to delivery that I needed to meet our customer’s timeline. By limiting the number of companies, I was able to thin the competition and award more quickly to meet the mission urgency.
Getting the J&A approved, even under urgent circumstances, is not a simple process. Depending on the culture of the agency, the political environment, or even the mood of the lawyer reviewing the J&A, getting approval to award without competition can be hard (even painfully hard) for contracting officers sometimes.
Why? Because most of the time it is not the CO’s call to make alone.
For example, in many agencies, the authority to use a J&A requires a legal review, a peer review, a Competition Advocate review, and approval by the Director of Contracts or even the Acquisition Executive. These approval levels are driven by the dollar value of the contract action and they vary by agency. At Special Operations Command, for example, I was able to award contracts worth up to $300,000 with only an attorney reviewing my J&A. That means, you can work the “relationship channels” to position yourself to get a $300,000 contract without competition. However, think about what that means. Up to $20M, I needed by supervisor’s approval. Up to $100M I needed the Director of Contracts…and so on. Each layer has veto authority. Even if they don’t veto, they could drag out the J&A approval for months until it says exactly what they think it should. This costs you valuable time.
This is even more important when you consider that starting in 2009, contracting officers are required to publicly post the J&A on the Federal Business Opportunities website. This means that in addition to writing the J&A for the contract file, the CO must post the document online for everyone to see (above a certain threshold). This is a lot of effort for the contracting officer to give you a sole-source contract. Consider all this when you are making trips to see prospective government customers outside your target agency to try and get them to give you a sole source contract. In some cases, it may work. However, my experience is that the odds are not stacked in your favor. You may spend more time and money chasing work than actually getting any.
To succeed in the federal market, you should target your efforts and make sure you are ready to compete for work.