ii.  Other Ways To Determine Fair and Reasonable Prices

Comment: One respondent suggested that excluding commercial contracts would be one means to narrow the scope of the proposed rule to those contracts that might return the highest level of benefit. The respondent noted that in the case of commercial contracts, competitive pricing can often be verified without resort to additional data from the contractor, which is one reason that the law prohibits requesting certified cost or pricing data for commercial contracts.

Response: Competitive pricing can often be verified without resort to additional data from the contractor. The final rule has been revised to provide that, when a single offer is received in response to a competitive solicitation, the contracting officer should try to determine through cost or price analysis that the offered price is fair and reasonable and whether an exception to the requirement for certified cost or pricing data applies, before requesting any additional data from the contractor. The final rule refers contracting officers to the existing exceptions to the requirement to submit certified cost or pricing data, including the commercial item exception.