Purchase requisitions for items that are to be purchased from a specific vendor must be accompanied by a written justification explaining the circumstances that make substitutes unacceptable. Please complete the Justification of Sole Source Purchase Questionnaire (pdf*) and submit it to the Purchasing Department along with your requisition. The justification must be signed by the principal investigator, department chair, or director.

The Director of Materiel Management (or designee) determines whether the justification is appropriate. Justifications are to be supported by factual statements that will pass an internal or federal audit. It is the unique features of a product that make it a sole source.

Justifications may include the following:

	The need to obtain replacement parts for existing equipment.
	The need to obtain auxiliary components that match existing equipment.
	The need to meet unique physical design or quality requirements.
	The need to maintain research continuity or comply with established University standards.
	The need to buy items that have characteristics unique to a single manufacturer and/or are essential to the proposed use.
	Additional internal costs would be incurred by changing brand names in this particular application.

Please be sure to address only specification items; do not address price or cost.

It is very important to complete items 2, 3, and 4 with strong, complete, and well thought out answers as these are the areas that must stand up to audit.

Important Note: Auditors pay close attention to justifications for sole source purchases. An unnecessary or poorly justified sole source purchase may result in negative findings and potential loss of funding for the University.

See Justification of Sole Source Purchasing Questionnaire (pdf *).

*Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher to view and/or fill out our forms. You may download a free version of the software at http://www.adobe.com, or you may purchase a license that will enable you to modify and save your changes at http://www.software-depot.ic.ucsb.edu/. For additional help with forms, please click here.

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