White Paper

Are Sole Source Specifications Enforceable?

 

Public procurement laws recognize that sole source specifications may be used in special circumstances.

Sole source requirements are enforceable on private projects where the parties are free to contract with whomever and for whatever they want, so long as their contract is lawful and does not violate public policy.  But sole source requirements can conflict with the policy behind public procurement laws that require competitive procurement to avoid squandering of public funds, cronyism, and corruption.