Section 835-RICR-30-00-1.7 - Sole SourceA. Sole Source Purchases of certain items shall be exempt from ordinary methods of source selection by the Chief Purchasing Officer when there is no reasonable alternative on the market and such purchases are in the best interest of the NBC. This provision excepting sole source purchases from competitive bidding shall not be interpreted to reduce the responsibility of the NBC to investigate alternative sources.B. Sole source categories shall include but are not limited to, the following examples: 1. Items of a unique nature which are unavailable from other sources due to patents or proprietary processes;2. Books, maps, periodicals, and technical pamphlets, films, video, CDs, DVDs and audiocassettes obtained from publishers;3. Certain computer software, hardware, or maintenance service;4. Licenses pertaining to computer software or electronic transmittal;5. Specialized replacement/repair parts or expansion parts necessary to maintain the integrity of systems functions;6. Specialized services for which there is only one documented accepted source, such as transactions involving unique services and/or educational institutions, e.g., lecturers or professors; repair/maintenance agreements with manufacturers;7. Advertisement, public notices in magazines, trade journals, newspapers and television.835 R.I. Code R. 835-RICR-30-00-1.7