Sole-source contract

• In government contracting, an order for goods or services made without benefit of competitive bidding (see also no-bid contract).

• A type of contract permitted when there is only one company capable of providing what the government needs, when time does not permit competitive bidding or when the contract merely renews or extends a contract previously awarded.

• The type of contract used by the Pentagon to award 40 percent of its $900 billion in prime contracts over the past six years, according to a study by the Center for Public Integrity.

• According to procurement officials, a purchasing method increasingly dictated by the shrinking of the defense industrial base and the number of suppliers.

• According to Pentagon critics, a purchasing method increasingly dictated by the shortage of procurement officers to oversee contracts or by the desire of officials to award business to politically friendly companies (see Halliburton).

-- S.P.