Can you give an example of an allowable use of non-competitive procurement?

An existing relationship or a history of prior work completed by a contractor or vendor does not justify the use of non-competitive procurement. Similarly, proximity of a contracting firm to an applicant’s organization is not sufficient reasoning. 

One example of a potential valid use of non-competitive procurement may be: “After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.”  Details should be provided, in this case, that describe the efforts made to identify and source from multiple sources and why these sources, if found, were deemed inadequate for the purposes of your project.  Another example of a potentially valid use of non-competitive procurement is that software required for the proposed project is proprietary and developed by the contractor; therefore, the item is available only from a single source.