Government contracting officers should review the FPI Schedule of Products as it lists those items to which its mandatory source applies (an 
) is shown to the right of the product description.
Items Not Subject to Mandatory Source:
- Products not listed in the Schedule of Products
- Products listed in the Schedule as non-mandatory;
- Services - NOTE: Some services provided by FPI complement the products offered. For example, to support a comprehensive office furniture procurement, FPI offers services such as space planning, design, and related ancillary functions. These services are non-mandatory, thus, customers may opt to procure them separately, or from FPI, at their discretion. The furniture products, themselves, however, are mandatory source items and, as such, the legal and regulatory requirements detailed throughout these procedures apply (see APPLICABLE LAWS).
- Purchases Totaling $3,500 or Less: Effective March 3, 2016, the FPI Board of Directors increased the blanket waiver threshold for small dollar value purchases of mandatory FPI items from the previous $3,000 threshold to a threshold of $3,500. Federal agencies should request a waiver from FPI for mandatory items above $3,500 pursuant to FAR Subpart 8.6. Customers may, however, still purchase from FPI at, or below, this threshold if they so choose.
It is important to note that recent increases in the micro-purchase threshold do not change FPI's blanket waiver threshold which remains at $3,500.
The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA FY2018; Section 806), increases the micro-purchase threshold for civilian agencies from $3,000 to $10,000. Similarly, in 2017, the NDAA (Section 821) increased the Department of Defense (DoD) micro-purchase threshold to $5,000. However, neither increase applies to FPI's blanket waiver threshold, because FPI's blanket waiver threshold originated from its Board's adoption of a resolution on March 3, 2016, and not from a Federal Acquisition Resolution (FAR) exemption under the micro-purchase statute.
Purchase of FPI Products Having 20% or Greater Federal Market Share
The FPI Board has administratively waived the mandatory source in those Federal Supply Classification (FSCs) codes where FPI's share of the federal market exceeds 20 percent. However, FPI must be given a fair opportunity to compete and, customers who rely upon FPI to meet their product needs in these FSCs may continue to purchase these administratively waived items. FPI will obtain such sales on a non-mandatory basis.
The most recent report of sales by FSC code with market shares is available online. Updates will be made to UNICOR’s web site to reflect any product additions or deletions under this category of purchase exceptions.
Please refer to FPI’s Schedule of Products for a current listing of all items by Federal Supply Classification (FSC) Code which is updated annually. Questions as to the FSC applicability of items under this administrative waiver may be sent via email to Erika Norris, Management Analyst, Marketing, Research & Corporate Support.
DoD Purchases of Products in FSCs for which FPI's share of the DoD Market is Greater than 5%
Section 827 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, Public Law 110-181, changes competition requirements for purchases from FPI.
Effective March 31, 2008, Section 827 requires DoD contracting activities to use competitive procedures when procuring products for which FPI has a significant DoD market share (defined as being greater than 5% of the DoD's market share in any Federal Supply Code (FSC). In using these procedures, FPI must be included in the solicitation process.
As of April 26, 2024, these FSCs currently meet this criterion:
DoD purchases for items in FSCs not listed above are subject to the prevailing general procurement procedures.