ABSTRACT
This chapter provides readers with the fundamentals of competition in contracting, disadvantages of sole source contracts, challenges to and benefits from embracing competition, rationale for establishing a dollar threshold where written sole source justifications are required, as well as situations that do and that do not justify sole source contracts. Once advance contract planning is complete, the contracting agency is prepared to write and release the solicitation. The most common forms of solicitations are invitations for bids, requests for quotations, requests for contractor qualifications, and requests for proposals. The chapter focuses on the importance of obtaining competition when selecting a contractor and the introduction of a form that can be used to justify and approve sole source contracts when competition is not available. The contracting staff might also explain that introduction of competition in an environment that previously excluded competing contractors is expected to result in not only lower pricing, but improved quality and improved on-time delivery as well.
