The type of asset doesn't really matter. Once a department has identified a need for itself, then we are approached, and there's a description of that need, whether it's a service or an asset. So a discussion takes place between my department and the department that needs to buy something.
We have folks in procurement who know a lot of the industries out there and the supply chain for each of these industries. So as a result of the specifications required by that department, we know there are a vast number of potential suppliers. We will issue an RFP and indicate what we're looking for and wait for people to come back to us.
However, if a specific department comes to us — it could be, for example, for vaccines — and says they need a vaccine that does this specific thing, and they know this vaccine is manufactured by only one company because of copyright or patents, then we will issue an ACAN, an advance contract award notice, because it's our belief, because of the professionals at Public Works — and we could be wrong — that there's only one company. We issue an ACAN, which is not a sole-source contract. It's an advice to the world that we're looking for a vaccine, and this is the vaccine we're looking for.
So if we're wrong and people say they produce that vaccine too — because in the ACAN we will say who we think that manufacturer is — they'll say they've got one of those. Then a process begins whereby we discuss with the other suppliers what this vaccine they are believed to have actually is. Then we either determine there was more than one and then issue an RFP so that the one we thought was the only one and the new guy face off or, if we can conclude there's only one guy, we start negotiating with that person.