Air Show in a Box · Step 5

Sole Source Builder

The director picked the act. You are the buyer. This page works out which rule covers the buy, writes the documentation from the facts you enter, and then checks it against the award record the way a reviewer would.

How to think about a single source at an air show

A show is a lineup of specific acts. A customer who asks for Tora Tora Tora cannot be handed an "or equal." Buying from one source is allowed when only one source is available. What the rule asks of you is the basis for that decision, in writing.
"The director wants them" is a preference. "No one else flies this" is a basis. So is safety: who holds the certification, who has run this airfield, who has flown with this Air Boss. Write facts a stranger could check.
Price is a separate finding. The single-source decision and the fair and reasonable determination are two different things. Do not use one to prove the other.
The money picks the rulebook. NAF and sponsorship buys follow DAFMAN 64-119, where the requesting activity writes the justification.

1 What you are buying

Kind of buy

Act typeFrom the award record. Pick "Not listed" if it is not here.

Short description

Proposed source

Quoted or estimated price ($)

Requesting activity

Contracting office

Contracting officer

2 The money and the lane

Funds

Do the service labor standards apply?Why it matters: the micro-purchase limit is $2,500 for covered services instead of $15,000. Several bases on record attached wage determinations to air show service buys.

3 The facts

What does this source provide that the customer needs and no other source provides? Write what a stranger could verify: the aircraft, the routine, the certification, the equipment.

Safety and coordination

An air show is flown on an FAA waiver with choreographed timing. Who has worked with whom is a safety fact, and it applies to support buys as much as acts: the Air Boss runs the airspace, and the announcer and sound vendor carry crowd instructions when something goes wrong. Only one in ten justifications on record used it. Tick what is true and fill in the detail.

Market research

What you did to find out whether anyone else could do it. The award record check is filled in for you.

Other sources considered, and why each does not meet the need

What would open this to more sources next time (optional)

4 Check it before a reviewer does

Each line is a fact from your entries, the regulations, or the award record. Red lines are where a file gets questioned.

Questions a reviewer is likely to ask

5 Your documents

Bracketed items need an entry. The documents are built from what you typed. Read them, correct them, and use your office's format where it has one. The determination is the contracting officer's.