Administrative Delegations

1. Prior to requesting applications for grant(s) or cooperatlve agreementcs) with less than maximum competition, the Justification for such action must be approved by the PHS agency head or a designee who is at the agency level and reports directly to the agency head, whether for csntrallzed or decentralized programs.  For OASH programs, this Justification must be approved by the Deputy Asslstant Secretary for Health Operations.  This approval is not subject to the deviation policies and procedures In Part 106.

2. An assistance project which is to be provided to a single or very limited number of resources without open competition often changes the characteristics of the actlon. With the federal Government selecting only one possible source and specifying the responsibillities of the respective parties to the assistance mechanism, the nature of the action often changes from assistance to acquisition.  The action then becomes Subject to contract requirements.  In conducting the reviews of requests for single or limited source actions, the PHS agency head must provide special attention to this matter and specifically state that the appropriate funding mechanism is being used.  The approved Justification must be maintained in the official grant file.