48 CFR 13.104 : Federal Acquisition Regulations System (Section 1.000 To Parts 9906-9999) — Federal Acquisition Regulation (Parts 1 - 99) (Section 1.000 To Parts 54-99) — Contracting Methods And Contract Types (Parts 13 - 18) (Section 13.000 To Section 18.204) — Simplified Acquisition Procedures (Section 13.000 To Section 13.501) — Procedures (Section 13.101 To Section 13.106-3) — Promoting competition.

The contracting officer must promote competition to the maximum extent practicable to obtain supplies and services from the source whose offer is the most advantageous to the Government, considering the administrative cost of the purchase.

(a) The contracting officer must not—

(1) Solicit quotations based on personal preference; or

(2) Restrict solicitation to suppliers of well-known and widely distributed makes or brands.

(b) If using simplified acquisition procedures and not providing access to the notice of proposed contract action and solicitation information through the Governmentwide point of entry (GPE), maximum practicable competition ordinarily can be obtained by soliciting quotations or offers from sources within the local trade area. Unless the contract action requires synopsis pursuant to 5.101 and an exception under 5.202 is not applicable, consider solicitation of at least three sources to promote competition to the maximum extent practicable. Whenever practicable, request quotations or offers from two sources not included in the previous solicitation.