Procurement Conducted Under Exigent or Emergency Conditions

Generally, Federal procurement standards require that Applicants ensure maximum full-and-open competition. However, Federal regulations allow for noncompetitive procurements under exigent and emergency circumstances.

Exigency: A need to avoid, prevent, or alleviate serious harm or injury, financial or otherwise, to the Applicant, and use of competitive procurement proposals would prevent the urgent action required to address the situation. Thus, a noncompetitive procurement may be appropriate.

Emergency: A threat to life, public health and safety, or improved property requires immediate action to alleviate the threat.

Suggested elements for noncompetitive procurement justification:

• Identify which circumstance apply to this specific instance:

• Item or service available only from a single source
• Public exigency or emergency
• Express authorization from Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity, or
• After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate

• Brief description of product or service being procured
• Explanation of why a noncompetitive procurement is necessary
• Period of time the noncompetitive procurement will be used
• Description of the specific steps taken to determine that full-and-open competition could not have been used
• Description of any known conflicts of interests and any efforts to identify possible conflicts of interest
• Any other information justifying the noncompetitive procurement in the specific instance

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