EconDefense
ACQ-36 / Acquisition, transition and contract finance

Limit competition or use sole-source procedures for defined statutory reasons

Use documented exceptions for unique sources, compelling urgency, industrial mobilization/essential research capacity, international commitments, express statutes, national-security secrecy or public interest.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-36 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §3204

Authority holder: Head of agency; contracting officer and specified approval officials

Other statutory tools

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway; award-specific appropriations, available balances, delegations, implementation and approvals not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Actual statutory exception and written justification/approval unless an express exception to those requirements applies.
  • Solicit as many practicable sources for urgency and national-security secrecy cases.

Limits & exclusions

  • Lack of planning or expiring procurement funds does not justify noncompetition.
  • Urgency contract generally only necessary duration and no more than 1 year absent exceptional-circumstances determination.
  • FY26 statutory approval tiers changed: above $10m to $100m competition advocate; above $100m to $500m procuring-activity head; above $500m senior procurement executive.

Funding conditions

  • Existing appropriate procurement/service funds; separate funding authority not created.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Operational requirement owner; Service/component portfolio acquisition executive and program manager

Resources

  • Sponsoring Service/component appropriations manager and comptroller

Approval

  • Service/component acquisition executive and authorized contracting authority, at applicable threshold

Execution

Partners & review

  • User command
  • Counsel, fiscal, engineering, testing, logistics and security staff as applicable

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Requirement owner documents actual predicate → contracting officer prepares justification → proper approval tier → required notice/publication and award.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.

Currentness: GovInfo 2024 Code (includes FY2025 NDAA, P.L. 118-159) read in full for cited provision; targeted FY2026 NDAA P.L. 119-60 amendment/repeal sweep. No claim of complete legislative currency through 2026-10-02; remaining 2026 delta needs counsel validation.

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.

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