FED
SPEND
COMPETITION
Why does competition matter?
• Competition is important for ensuring that the government gets the best value for its money while providing a level playing field for all interested suppliers that want to compete for government business.
• However, the ability to compete a government requirement depends on many factors including the competitive nature of the market and the expertise of suppliers, among others.
Competed vs. Sole-sourced spend
Key Terms
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Competed" means multiple vendors were given the opportunity to submit a bid for the award.
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"Sole sourced" means the opportunity was only available to one vendor.
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Questions to Consider
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​For a specific category, how does one department compare to another, or the government as a whole?
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Why were opportunities sole sourced? Do they reflect a lack of competition in the market? Was only one qualified supplier available? Were there other reasons?
Competitive
bids
Questions to Consider
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What percent of "competed" spend received only one or two bids?
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Does this reflect sufficient participation from all of the viable suppliers?
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Are some departments receiving signficantly more bids than others for the same types of products or services? If so, what are they doing differently?
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Was the solicitation posted over a reasonable enough time period for vendors to find it and provide a quality response?
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Were the requirements so narrowly focused on specific non-essential features that they discouraged otherwise qualified vendors from participating?