TINA & Lack of approved accounting system

Your post indicates that you are greatly confused about many things.

Question: Are you proposing a commercial item as defined in FAR 2.101 or are you not -- yes, no, or I don't know?

Vern,

The original work was Commercial Item as defined in FAR Part 2.101, however, the USG later directed a modification to the Commercial item. The value of this modification exceeds the 5% threshold for "minor" modifications to a commercial item and is well in excess of 700k, thereby triggering TINA.

V/R

What 5 percent threshold?

Non-commercial modifications to commercial items are NOT exempt from requirement

for certified cost or pricing data if they exceed the TINA threshold or 5% of the total

price of the contract. (Further amended in FY 2008 NDAA to add “. . . at the time of

award”). [see also FAR 15.403-1(c)(3)(iii)]

Got it. Thanks. Yes, you should be concerned about signing a TINA cert. A TINA cert does not apply to the price you proposed. TINA applies to the facts that you submitted to the prime and/or the government in support of your price. TINA requires that you disclose all of the pertinent pricing facts that reasonable buyers and sellers would expect to affect the price. Have you done that? Have you disclosed all of the pertinent facts? If you have disclosed all of the facts, and if the facts are accurate, complete and current as of the date of price agreement, then you should be OK. Otherwise, don't sign the cert. If you are not sure, then don't sign the cert.

Vern,

Thank you. I believe I am on solid ground as to disclosure of pertinent facts. The key being that our FP labor proposal is truly based on current, published, commercial labor rates, which rates have truly been used for actual commercial sales. The cost comp. using so-called DCAA-like rates (full disclosure having been made re: (in)accuracy of said rates) resulted in a larger number than our FP price.

I greatly appreciate your feedback. Better to ask for advice than have my ethics questioned.

V/R,

BC

Beantown, notice that the TINA requirement only applies to the cost of the modification. It does not apply to the cost of the item itself if the modification does not change the item in such a way that it is no longer a commercial item.

Retreadfed, Yes, we were prepared to defend that point, however, the Specialist was focused solely on the cost of the mod.

tx