Factors to be used to determine assignment of purchase responsibility.

§ 101-25.202 Factors to be used to determine assignment of purchase responsibility. With their consent or upon direction of the President, executive agencies will be designated and authorized by the Administrator of General Services exclusively, or with specified limited exceptions, to make purchases and contracts on a continuing basis for items or item groups of articles and services for the executive branch of the Government, after due consideration of the following factors, weighted as appropriate: (a) Current or potential predominant use or consumption by a given agency. (b) Availability of funds to carry out the assignment on a Government-wide basis or with limited exceptions. (c) Specialized personnel, or the nucleus of such personnel, regularly employed by the agency, such as scientific, research, and operating technicians, especially qualified or experienced in specification writing, buying, inspecting, testing, using, installing, or operating a particular item or group of items. (d) Custodianship and operation of special facilities such as research and testing laboratories and inspection or testing stations and devices. (e) Actual or potential qualifications and experience of agency purchasing and contracting officials and their operating units with due regard to adequacy of staff. (f) Past experience of the agency in performing services to other agencies on an informal or joint cooperative basis. (g) Relations of the agency with the industry involved. (h) Physical proximity of the agency purchasing office or offices to the requirement-compiling elements of the principal using agencies. (i) Physical location of the agency purchasing office or offices in relation to market areas. (j) Physical proximity of the agency purchasing offices in relation to engineering or design offices, in the interest of speed in processing modifications in design and specifications, and also reviewing bids for specifications compliance. (k) Relative interest of agency heads in receiving the purchase assignment and specific requests of agency heads to do the buying of a given item or group of items on a Government-wide basis.