A. Summary of Significant Changes From the Proposed Rule

1. DFARS 215.371-1. A section on policy has been added at DFARS 215.371-1 to replace the proposed paragraph DFARS 215.371(a). The policy statement is completely rewritten to shift the emphasis away from whether the circumstances described at FAR 15.403-1(c)(1)(ii) constitute adequate price competition, to an emphasis on the objectives of the rule, i.e., to increase competition and, if only one offer is received nevertheless, to make sure that the price is fair and reasonable and that the statutory requirements for obtaining certified cost or pricing data are met.

2. DFARS 215.371-2. A section has been added to address the efforts to promote competition, similar to the coverage in the proposed rule at DFARS 215.371(c)(1). In response to public comments, two FAR references have been added to provide considerations on revising requirements to promote competition (FAR 6.502(b) and 11.002).

3. DFARS 215.371-3 has been added to address the process for obtaining fair and reasonable prices, replacing the proposed paragraph DFARS 215.371(c)(2). The contracting officer is not required to obtain further cost or pricing data if the contracting officer determines that the offered price is fair and reasonable on the basis of cost or price analysis and that adequate price competition exists, in accordance with FAR 15.403-1(c)(1)(ii), or another exception to the statutory requirement for certified cost or pricing data applies (see Truth in Negotiations Act (10 U.S.C. 2306a) and FAR 15.403-4). Otherwise, the contracting officer must obtain additional cost or pricing data, and that data must be certified, unless an exception to the requirement for certified cost or pricing data applies. The following table provides a summary of the requirement for cost or pricing data and whether the data must be certified, depending on whether the contracting officer can determine the price to be fair and reasonable and whether an exception to the requirement for certified cost or pricing data applies.

	Circumstance 1	Circumstance 2	Circumstance 3	Circumstance 4	Circumstance 5
Contracting officer (c.o.) determines price fair & reasonable?	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO
C.o. determines adequate price competition? (approved 1 level above c.o.)	YES	NO	NO	X*	X
Another TINA exception applies?		YES	NO	YES	NO
Cost or pricing data required?	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES
Data must be certified?	N/A	N/A	YES	NO	YES

* Note that the contracting officer cannot determine that adequate price competition exists if cannot determine that the price is fair and reasonable.

4. Two exceptions have been added at DFARS 215.371-4 (proposed at DFARS 215.371(e)):

An exception to the 30-day resolicitation period has been added to address the application to small business set-asides.

The final rule states that it does not apply to broad agency announcements.

5. Waivers are now addressed at DFARS 215.371-5 (proposed at DFARS 215.371(d)), but the coverage of waivers is otherwise unchanged.

6. The proposed statement at DFARS 215.403-1(c)(1)(B) has been modified to reference back to the procedures at DFARS 215.371-3 for ensuring a fair and reasonable price if only one offer is received.

DFARS 215.371-3 makes it clear that adequate price competition, as described at FAR 15.403-1(c)(1)(ii), cannot be used for the purpose of determining that a price is fair and reasonable.

7. The rule no longer addresses acquisitions under FAR subpart 13.5, because that statutory authority has expired.

8. Statements have been added at DFARS 208.404(a) and 214.404-1(2) to specify clearly the deviation from the statements in the corresponding FAR sections.