How can I trigger an IF statement only once?

I have a column that is a single select drop down menu. We use this to keep track of who is responsible for that line as the project moves through our departments. A couple of the selections are outside our company. We want to record in a separate column who the outside contractor is. I am attempting to copy the name of the outside contractor from the responsibility column to the outside contractor column the first time it is selected. Once it is copied into the outside contractor column I don't want to overwrite it again. I attempted to use IF statements and Automations, but I am unable to get it to work. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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