Every year CU is subject to audit for our purchasing system. A large part of that audit has to do with Subcontracts. We are using government and tax payer funds so there are many rules and regulations that we must abide by.
The research that CU does is specialized. Our Principal Investigators (PIs) oftentimes have collaborators in their specialized field that they work with to do research. This is not the type of work that we could go to bid for, but we are expected to do just that.
Our other option is a sole source justification. This works well for us in that we usually only have one source that can do the work we need due to the years of study, work, and specialization of our PIs. If we failed this audit, we would have to have written permission from the Office of Naval Research for every Sub and Sub modification before we could enter or modify a subcontract. This would take a large amount of time and delay our research projects.
Using the sole source helps us pass this audit because it explains why we did not go to bid to select our subcontractors.