(a) Basis for award.
minimum order quantity/value, and/or a minimum billing/charge policy, wherever possible. In furtherance of this policy, indefinite delivery contracts (IDCs), blanket purchase agreements (BPAs), and basic ordering agreements (BOAs) shall contain a provision explicitly precluding such features. In addition, the following alternatives should be explored before placing a purchase order with a supplier that follows such practices:
(90) Seek to eliminate or minimize the charge. (However, when an offer is low on an individual acquisition, inclusive of minimum charge, which the offeror will not reduce or agree to remove from its offer, such offeror should receive the award.);
(91) When appropriate, increase the quantity of the buy; or
(92) Make a concerted effort to consolidate orders with other buys from the same vendor. If the foregoing efforts are to no avail, DLA contracting personnel, when writing orders with vendors having such policies, will separately identify the unit price and amount for each item ordered and the minimum billing or service charge.
(b) File documentation and retention.
(90) Data to support purchases.
(1) The price reasonableness determination shall:
(i) Be documented (including the Price Reasonableness Codes (15.401), basis thereof and other relevant information cited in the sample format
(PGI 13.106-3(b)(90)(a)(i)).
(ii) Address the adequacy of any price competition_received for assuring price reasonableness.
(iii) Address the comparability to prior prices paid for the same or similar item, if any, and
(iv) Incorporate, attach, or reference any other analyses performed concerning the reasonableness of the award price (see FAR, this paragraph, and DFARS 217.7504), along with any source data utilized (e.g., name, date, location, and page number of contractor catalog or other reference).
(B) Pricing techniques in the absence of adequate price competition.
(i) The technique of comparing the items to a similar competitive item should offer the best assurance of fair and reasonable pricing in simplified acquisitions. In the majority of purchases over the micro-purchase threshold involving noncompetitive and non-cataloged items, this method should be used to determine price reasonableness. It is not necessary to locate an identical item or to compare every feature of the two items. Quantity, packaging, and other factors must be considered in arriving at an independent estimate of a reasonable price for the individual acquisition. Abstracts of bids maintained by the contracting office may be useful in this regard. Commercial catalogs and price lists should also be used.
(ii) When prices appearing in a contractor price list are used for determining price reasonableness, see 15.404-1(b)(2)(iv).
(iii) Visual examination of warehouse samples, photographs, videotapes, drawings and/or DD Form 146, Federal Item Logistics Data Record, descriptions can be of considerable value in determining that a price is fair and reasonable. Often the actual manufacturer is revealed by this examination. Sources solicited shall include any manufacturers revealed by visual examination.
(iv) When other methods available to contracting personnel are unproductive, pricing/technical assistance should be considered for use in the buyer's price reasonableness determination.
(v) When a price reasonableness determination cannot be made via a price analysis technique, the determination may be made using one of the forms of cost analysis. When the cost analysis involves proposed, recommended, or approved forward pricing rates, factors, and/or a formula pricing methodology, see 15.404-1(c)(90).
