suspension of automatic cancellation action have been received by the response due date, provided that acknowledgment of receipt of MOV requests has  been  received.  In  such  circumstances,  the material  obligation  holder  provides  cancellation notification  to  the  appropriate  activity  with  a cancellation card (document identifier in the AE series)  indicating  status  code  BS  (canceled—no response  to  MOV  request). SMALL  PURCHASE Small  purchase  is  an  acquisition  of  supplies or personal services in the amount of $25,000 or less.  Ordinarily,  supplies  and  services  required  for forces afloat are procured by requisition from the nearest  shore  activity.  When  unable  to  use  the normal  procedures  to  obtain  supplies,  you  can  use the  open  purchase  method. The  ship’s  supply  officer  should  make  sure personnel  engaged  in  purchasing  functions  are familiar with the contents in the NAPS, NAVSO P-3670,  and  any  other  procurement  directives available.  The  technical  advice,  legal  counsel, training   programs, and  other  procurement assistance provided by naval regional contracting centers  (NRCCs)  and  certain  NSCs,  per  the NAVSUP P-485, should be used to the maximum extent possible. The ship’s supply officer should implement and exercise such controls as may be required   to   prevent    violations   of   standard procurement  regulations. Some  of  the  areas  to  be  discussed  in  this section will be the policies and procedures used in  obtaining  material  and  services  requiring  small purchase  and  simplified  purchase  action. AFLOAT  UNITS  AND  GENERAL SERVICES  ADMINISTRATION FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULES GSA  federal  supply  schedules  are  generally geared  toward  meeting  the  routine  needs  of stationary,  shore-based  activities.  The  constraints of shipboard supply and logistics make virtually all ships’ purchases urgent. It had been determined not  cost-effective  for  ships  to  assemble  and maintain the considerable libraries of the federal supply schedule literature necessary for schedule use.  So,  GSA  schedules  are  considered  optional with respect to shipboard purchasing. The shore- based activities buying on behalf of afloat units are  required  to  use  the  GSA  schedules. OPEN  MARKET  PURCHASE  METHOD efficient, and economical to the purchase action. Some of the methods for making small purchases and   corresponding   dollar   limitations   are   the blanket purchase agreement (BPA), the imprest fund,  and  purchase  orders. The   following   are   some   of   the   general procedures  you  should  apply  to  making  purchases on  the  open  market: 1.  Purchase  requisitions  should  be  prepared and approved before starting any small purchase action. 2.  In  arriving  at  a  total  amount  involved  in any  transaction,  all  supplies  and  services  that properly  would  be  grouped  together  in  a  single transaction   should   be   included.   You   should consolidate  all  requirements  to  the  maximum extent possible. 3.   Your   individual   open   market   purchase actions cannot exceed your contracting authority without  prior  approval  from  the  cognizant procurement   management   review   office   or detachment. 4.  You  cannot  take  an  open  purchase  if  it exceeds your contracting authorization and split it  into  two  separate  orders. 5. You must establish at your command con- trols  to  make  sure  the  initiation  of  a  require- ment,    a w a rd   of  the  purchase  action,  and receipt   of  the  material  are  not   performed   by the  same  person.  If  you  are  unable  to  set  up  a three-way  control,  make  sure  the  same  person does not do both the award of the purchase and receipt  of  the  material.  To  cover  this  kind  of situation,   you   can   write   a   local   instruction covering  this  situation. SPECIAL  TRAINING All  your  personnel  or  those  that  you  designate to  do  the  purchasing  should  attend  a  NAVSUP authorized  small  purchase  course.  You  should also  make  sure  not  only  the  people  you  have designated  as  your  purchasing  agents  are  trained, but be sure all personnel are adequately trained. TYPES  OF  PURCHASE You have basically two different ways of doing an open purchase. One way is by intra-activity and the second method is the military interdepartment purchase  request  (MIPR).  Both  of  these  are discussed  in  the  following  sections. Intra-Activity This type of purchase request will originate within As the contracting officer, you should use the your   command. The   requesting   activity   or small purchase procedure that is most suitable, department will originate the purchase request. 5-21