4.

The short answer is Neither. I work for the United States Army Heritage and Education Center, which is part of the United States Army War College. As per Federal law, which applies to all parts of the Federal Government, each location has its own duly appointed Contracting Department which is generally independent of the location’s Chain of Command. The local Contracting Department must follow the comprehensive Federal guidelines in reviewing, approving, and signing vendor contracts and ONLY with prior approved and vetted Federal contractors. It is illegal for Federal Contracting to solicited bids from organizations that have not been through the Federal Contracting vetting process. It is also illegal for any member of the Federal government to engage in any part of the Contracting Process without a very sequential approval process that is neither easy nor accidental. It is not unusual for a Federal employee to spend their entire career in Contracting. It is a highly specialized career path. So neither our local library or our college procurement has this authority, and in a very real sense, there is no such thing as a college procurement department for my Federal college.

Thank you for your time and attention,

James H. Peterson III