PGI 215.402 Pricing Policy, PGI 215.403 - Obtaining Certified Cost or Pricing Data

PGI 215.402 Pricing policy

(1) Contracting officers must purchase supplies and services from responsible sources at fair and reasonable prices. The Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) (10 U.S.C. 2306a and 41 U.S.C. chapter 35) requires offerors to submit certified cost or pricing data if a procurement exceeds the TINA threshold and none of the exceptions to certified cost or pricing data requirements applies. Under TINA, the contracting officer obtains accurate, complete, and current data from offerors to establish a fair and reasonable price (see FAR 15.403). TINA also allows for a price adjustment remedy if it is later found that a contractor did not provide accurate, complete, and current data.

(2) When certified cost or pricing data are not required, and the contracting officer does not have sufficient data to determine price reasonableness, FAR 15.402(a)(2) requires the offeror to provide whatever data the contracting officer needs in order to determine fair and reasonable prices.

(3) Obtaining sufficient data from the offeror is particularly critical in situations where an item is determined to be a commercial item in accordance with FAR 2.101 and the contract is being awarded on a sole source basis. This includes commercial sales data of items sold in similar quantities and, if such data is insufficient, cost data to support the proposed price.

(4) See PGI 215.404-1 (DFARS/PGI view) for more detailed procedures for obtaining data needed to determine fair and reasonable prices.

PGI 215.403 Obtaining certified cost or pricing data

(b) Exceptions to certified cost or pricing data requirements

Even if an exception to certified cost or pricing data applies, the contracting officer is still required to determine price reasonableness. In order to make this determination, the contracting officer may require data other than certified cost or pricing data, including data related to prices and cost data that would otherwise be defined as certified cost or pricing data if certified.

(c)(3) Commercial items

(A)(1) Contracting officers must exercise care when pricing a commercial item, especially in sole source situations. The definition of a commercial item at FAR 2.101 requires the product or service be one—

• (i) That is of a type customarily used by the general public or by non-governmental entities for other than governmental purposes; and

• (ii) That—

• (A) Has been sold, leased, or licensed to the general public;

• (B) Has been offered for sale, lease, or license to the general public; or

• (C) Has evolved or been modified from such products or services.

(2) Therefore, some form of prior non-government sales data, or the fact that the item was sold, leased, licensed, or offered for sale (either the specific product or service or the product or service from which the item evolved) must be obtained.

(3) The fact that an item has been determined to be a commercial item does not, in and of itself, prohibit the contracting officer from requiring data other than certified cost or pricing data. This includes data related to prices and cost data that would otherwise be defined as certified cost or pricing data if certified. Obtaining sufficient data from the offeror is particularly critical in situations where an item is determined to be a commercial item in accordance with FAR 2.101 and the contract is being awarded on a sole source basis. See PGI 215.404-1 (DFARS/PGI view) for more detailed procedures for use when obtaining data from the offeror to determine price reasonableness.

(B)(1) Report Content. The annual report of commercial item exceptions to Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) requirements shall include the following:

Title: Commercial Item Exceptions to TINA Requirements

• (1) Contract number, including modification number, if applicable, and program name.

• (2) Contractor name.

• (3) Contracting activity.

• (4) Total dollar amount of exception.

• (5) Brief explanation of the basis for determining that the item(s) are commercial.

• (6) Brief description of the specific steps taken to ensure price reasonableness.

(2) Pricing Actions Reported. The intent of this requirement is to report when a commercial item exception was determined. Therefore, the reporting of the commercial item exceptions are for pricing actions at the point the contracting officer makes a determination that the commercial item exception applies. For example—

Example 1: The contracting officer determined that a commercial item exception applies for an entire indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract and expected the subsequent orders to exceed $15 million (based on the estimated maximum amount for the IDIQ or other supportable estimate of future orders). The organization would report this in accordance with DFARS 215.403-1(c)(3) for the period in which the IDIQ contract was awarded, and would include the total dollar amount of subsequent orders under the exception expected at the time of award.

Example 2: The contracting officer awards an IDIQ contract with no commercial item exceptions anticipated. The contracting officer later modifies the contract for an order that will meet commercial item exceptions, and the subsequent order(s) are expected to exceed $15 million. Reporting (in the year the modification was issued) will include this IDIQ contract, the amount of this order, and any other expected future orders that will use the exception.

(i) For the above examples, after the contract is reported as receiving the exception with expected awards over $15 million, there would be no further report, e.g., when a subsequent order under that contract exceeds $15 million, because reporting for that contract was already accomplished.

(ii) When explaining price reasonableness in accordance with paragraph (c)(3)(B)(1)(6) of this subsection, if pricing was accomplished when the IDIQ contract was awarded, also explain how price reasonableness was determined. In circumstances where pricing will take place on the order at a future date, explain how pricing techniques at FAR 15.404-1 will be used, including obtaining cost data, if that is the only way to determine price reasonableness.

(4)Waivers

(A) Exceptional case TINA waiver.

(1) In determining that an exceptional case TINA waiver is appropriate, the head of the contracting activity must exercise care to ensure that the supplies or services could not be obtained without the waiver and that the determination is clearly documented. See DPAP March 23, 2007, policy memorandum. The intent is not to relieve entities that normally perform Government contracts subject to TINA from an obligation to certify that cost or pricing data are accurate, complete, and current. Instead, waivers must be used judiciously, in situations where the Government could not otherwise obtain a needed item without a waiver. A prime example would be when a particular company offers an item that is essential to DoD’s mission but is not available from other sources, and the company refuses to submit certified cost or pricing data. In such cases, a waiver may be appropriate. However, the procuring agency should, in conjunction with the waiver, develop a strategy for procuring the item in the future that will not require such a waiver (e.g., develop a second source, develop an alternative product that satisfies the department’s needs, or have DoD produce the item).

(2) Senior procurement executive coordination. An exceptional case TINA waiver that exceeds $100 million shall be coordinated with the senior procurement executive prior to granting the waiver.

(3) Waiver for part of a proposal.

The requirement for submission of certified cost or pricing data may be waived for part of an offeror’s proposed price when it is possible to clearly identify that part of the offeror’s cost proposal to which the waiver applies as separate and distinct from the balance of the proposal. In granting a partial waiver, in addition to complying with the requirements in DFARS 215.403-1(c)(4), the head of the contracting activity must address why it is in the Government’s best interests to grant a partial waiver, given that the offeror has no objection to certifying to the balance of its cost proposal.

(4) Waivers for unpriced supplies or services

Because there is no price, unpriced supplies or services cannot be subject to cost or pricing data certification requirements. The Government cannot agree in advance to waive certification requirements for unpriced supplies or services, and may only consider a waiver at such time as an offeror proposes a price that would otherwise be subject to certification requirements.

(B) The annual report of waiver of TINA requirements shall include the following:

Title: Waiver of TINA Requirements

(1) Contract number, including modification number, if applicable, and program name.

(2) Contractor name.

(3) Contracting activity.

(4) Total dollar amount waived.

(5) Brief description of why the item(s) could not be obtained without a waiver. See DPAP March 23, 2007, policy memorandum.

(6) Brief description of the specific steps taken to ensure price reasonableness.

(7) Brief description of the demonstrated benefits of granting the waiver.