Procurement lawyers love jargon. Even more than this, they love
acronyms. This blog post looks at many of the terms used in
procurement, explains the differences between them and the ways in
which they are used.
Direct Award
Starting with most simple process and working through to the
most complex forms of procurement, the easiest way to buy goods or
services is to make a direct award to a preferred seller. For
public sector procurement, direct awards should only be used in
very limited circumstances. The very nature of a direct award is
that there is no competition on pricing, so procurement policies
tend to limit its application to situations such as work in a
leased building that must be performed by the landlord.
