Pursuant to Section 11-41 of the Virginia Code, the University must procure all material, equipment supplies and services via competitive means whenever practicable. However, Material Management may waive the competitive process and approve sole source procurement provided the requestor can adequately justify its use. Material Management judges the reasonability of sole source procurement based on the requestor's investigation, evaluation and documentation of alternative sources of supply and rejection of similar products is based solely on their failure to meet specific and necessary specifications. Sole source justification cannot be based on quality or price.
Quality can be a subjective evaluation based on opinion.
Public procurement law requires price consideration be evaluated via competitive bidding. During this time other suppliers will have the opportunity to review the justification and protest the purchase if they feel the justification is not adequate or based on valid grounds. Therefore the justification must contain clear, in-depth, and accurate information in order to avoid protests and the possibility of delaying the procurement. The item is for sale only direct to the library by the publisher. I am aware that Section 11-41 of the Virginia Code mandates that the University procure all material, equipment, and supplies via competitive means whenever practicable.