Sole Source Protest Letter

							The Sole Source Protest Letter
To properly and successfully file a protest against a procurement method or process based only on sole sourcing, you should write a sole source solicitation protest letter articulating your claim: 1. Use a formal letterhead; do not handwrite the protest letter. 2. First, specify the action or decision being protested, namely, the sole source contract. Describe how you, as a prospective provider, are affected by this action or decision. 3. Next, prove that the solicitation and selection process is clearly erroneous, arbitrary, or contrary to (a) the process defined in the solicitation document; (b) basic, generally accepted procurement policies, defined (for instance) in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) document setting forth basic policies and procedures for proper acquisition by all federal agencies; or even (c) law. Above all, the first valid (and thus acceptable) reason for your protest should be that your organization is also a capable, eligible, well-known, official, or competitive provider of the sole-sourced goods or services. Unless you give substance to your protest with a preponderance of evidence, your claim will be considered to be groundless, and will thus be dismissed. 4. Finally, close the letter formally (with "sincerely" or a similar polite expression). Sign your name and title. Be sure to provide complete contact and reference information for future correspondence. 5. Send the protest letter via certified or registered mail. 6. Since sometimes things are more complicated than usual, remember to consult a lawyer before doing anything.

[Date] [Contact name] [Address]

Sole Source Protest Letter [Solicitation/Contract ID] for [Project title]

Dear [Contact name]: As [your title within your organization], I am protesting the issuance by [Issuer's Name] of the [solicitation/contract] #[Solicitation/contract ID] to [Awarded Organization Name] as the sole source for [Project Title]. This protest is based on the following grounds: 1. [Evidence 1] [Details and prejudice] 2. … I hereby request a ruling by [Ruling entity name] on the actions to be performed as redress, as follows: 1. [Action 1] [Details] 2. … Looking forward to responding to a more competitive process, I thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely,

[Your signature] [Name, Title] [Organization] [Complete contact information]