Except as provided in 46.402(90)(2)-(3) and 42.402(91), DLA buying activities shall not delegate contract administration to DCMA when a contract, purchase order, or delivery order is valued below $250,000 and requires Government contract quality assurance at source, unless -
(1) Mandated by DoD regulation; or
(2) Required by a memorandum of agreement between the acquiring department or agency and the contract administration agency; or
(3) The contracting officer determines that -
(i) Contract technical requirements are significant (e.g., the technical requirements include drawings, test procedures, or performance requirements);
(ii) Critical product characteristics, specific product features, or specific acquisition concerns have been identified; and
(iii) The contract is being awarded to -
(A) A manufacturer or producer; or
(B) A non-manufacturer or non-producer and specific Government verifications have been identified as necessary and feasible to perform (except as provided in 46.402(90)(3)).
(90) Under normal circumstances, the contracting officer shall apply inspection/acceptance (I/A) requirements as designated by the technical/quality specialist (product specialist). The contracting officer shall not change source I/A to destination I/A without obtaining prior approval from the technical/quality specialist (product specialist). If the prospective awardee is currently identified (e.g., on a contractor alert list) as requiring source I/A, the contracting officer shall not apply destination I/A. The contracting officer may contact the technical/quality specialist (product specialist) for confirmation of, or revision to, an I/A requirement whenever it appears inappropriate to the item or the circumstances of the acquisition.
(1) When a solicitation is issued on the basis of source I/A, and the item is acquired from a sole source that will not permit quality assurance at source, the matter should be negotiated on a case-by-case basis to provide adequate consideration to the Government for the added cost of performance of the necessary technical quality assurance.
(2) Conversely, when a sole source or best value quote/offer is contingent on source I/A and/or f.o.b. origin for items that were solicited on the basis of destination I/A, buying activities shall attempt to negotiate destination I/A terms to the extent practicable and document results (see 46.402(91)(1)).
(3) When a solicitation is issued on the basis of source I/A, and the item is acquired from a non-manufacturer/non-producer (i.e., dealer/distributor), the contracting officer shall award on the basis of source I/A and delegate contract administration to DCMA. This is interim policy until a permanent solution can be developed (e.g., inclusion of a field to capture data in the Vendor Master advising whether a non-manufacturer/non-producer has test/inspection equipment on site).
(91) The contracting officer may change destination I/A requirements to source I/A at time of award when the following conditions apply:
(1) The sole source or best value quote/offer is contingent on source I/A and/or f.o.b. origin for items that were solicited on the basis of destination I/A; and efforts to award on the basis of destination I/A are either impracticable or unsuccessful.
(2) Destinations are unknown (see 47.305-5, 47.304-1(f), and 47.302(c)(1)).
(3) DVD (including foreign military sales) and stock CLINs are combined on the same award.
(4) When the prospective awardee is currently identified (e.g., on a contractor alert list) as requiring source I/A.
(5) When otherwise mutually agreed by the buying activity/contracting officer and DCMA.
