[Doctor Raoul]

Bottom line...ALL contracts in excess of the SAT were originally awarded under a competitive bidding process.

There are exemptions from competition, even on the first award.

Urgency, secrecy are two reasons.

[ravingnutter]

That is the reason ID/IQ “supercontracts” such as LOGCAP were designed, as a kind of umbrella under which task orders for different projects can be issued in that company's area of expertise...but those were all competitively bid to begin with. LOGCAP, in fact, was designed to cover "emergencies" such as natural disasters and terrorism. I know, I have worked under one of those types of contracts for the last 23 years (RDT&E), although we have to rebid every 5 years on ours. All award decisions are still based on market research and justification for any sole source procurement over $25,000 is scrutinized very carefully. Believe me, DCAA Auditors are very thorough, you don't want to get cross-ways with one.