(90) For acquisitions valued at $1 billion or greater, the designated Source Selection Authority (SSA) shall be at the Senior Executive Service/Flag Officer (SES/FO) level, if there is an SES/FO within the activity’s chain of command. For this purpose, the activity’s chain of command includes the Commander or Director of the contracting activity or contracting office not designated as a contracting activity (see definitions in 2.101), as applicable (subject to the restriction in (91) below ). If an activity does not have an assigned SES/FO in the chain of command, the SSA shall be a GS-15 (or military equivalent) assigned in the activity’s chain of command. For acquisitions less than $1 billion, CCOs shall exercise their judgment to ensure that the position level of the SSA is commensurate with the overall dollar value and complexity of the acquisition.
(a) Authorized alternates: For acquisitions valued at $1 billion or greater, every effort should be made to ensure that an SES/FO serves as the SSA (as required by (90) above). If an SES/FO is unavailable and waiting for availability would cause an unacceptable delay to the acquisition, the CCO may request a waiver to 15.303(90). The CCO shall notify HQ DLA, J-71 when a waiver is requested. The waiver request shall provide justification as to why a waiver is necessary and identify the authorized alternate (who must be a GS-15 or military equivalent). Requests for waivers must be approved by the Senior Procurement Executive (SPE).
(91) For all acquisitions (regardless of dollar value), if the HCA is the approving official for the acquisition (in accordance with the thresholds at 7.104-90), he/she shall not also serve as the SSA on that same acquisition.
