Here's the text: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/246.16a https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/246.16a It's technically allowed to have some other cos

Here's the text: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/246.16a https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/7/246.16a It's technically allowed to have some other cost-containment structure than a single-winner contract, but there a bunch of criteria that I don't fully understand that make it sound like it's effectively impossible to actually do. > "State agencies must support all waiver requests with documentation in the form of a State Plan amendment as required under § 246.4(a)(14)(x) and may submit such requests only in either of the following circumstances: > ... > The single-supplier competitive system would be inconsistent with the efficient or effective operation of the program. Examples of justifications FNS will not accept for a waiver, include, but are not limited to: preservation of participant preference for otherwise nutritionally equivalent infant formulas; maintenance of health care professionals' prerogatives to prescribe otherwise nutritionally equivalent infant formulas for non-medical reasons; potential loss of free or otherwise discounted materials to WIC clinics and other health care facilities; potential inability of a manufacturer selected in accordance with applicable State procurement procedures to supply contractually-specified amounts of infant formula; and the possibility of interrupted infant formula supplies to retail outlets as a consequence of entering into a contract with a single manufacturer." So, you have to able to make a case that a single-winner contract won't work in your case, but you can't use the argument that a single bidder makes the whole system brittle if the single winner becomes unable to produce product. Wild. I don't see any mention of breach of contract penalties if the supplier can't keep up with demand. Not sure if that means it's left to the discretion of the participating states. I was wondering what legislation created this regulation, and it looks like it dates back to the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, though perhaps it's been amended since. It looks like the concept of "single source" contracts was there from the beginning. https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/CNA_1966_12-13-10.pdf https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/CNA_1966_1... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Nutrition_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Nutrition_Act