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DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement the requirements of sections 851 through 853 and 855 through 857 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, as well as the requirements of section 831 of the NDAA for FY 2013 related to the procurement of commercial items.  DoD previously published a proposed rule on August 3, 2015, under DFARS case 2013-D034 (80 FR 45918), to implement the requirements of section 831. Based on the comments received in response to that proposed rule, and in order to implement the requirements of the NDAA for FY 2016, DFARS case 2013-D034 was closed into this rule. This DFARS rule accomplishes the following:

(1) Provides guidance to contracting officers for making price reasonableness determinations;

(2) Promotes consistency in making commercial item determinations; and

(3) Expands opportunities for nontraditional defense contractors to do business with DoD by permitting the use of commercial item procurement procedures when acquiring goods and services from nontraditional defense contractors. 

Eleven respondents submitted public comments on the proposed rule.  DoD expects that this rule will decreases costs for contractors by promoting consistency among contracting officers with regard to commercial item determinations and allowing the use of commercial item procedures when procuring from nontraditional defense contractors, which will reduce the number of procurements that require the submission of certified cost or pricing data.  DoD does not expect this rule to increase costs for contractors, including small entities, because this rule does not add to or remove any of the existing requirements for the submission of other than certified cost or pricing data for the purpose of determining the reasonableness of prices proposed for commercial items.