§3705 Submission of other information

Summary

When certified cost or pricing data are not required, an offeror must still provide other price information if the contracting officer asks for it. The officer can require enough data to decide if the price is fair. Except for contracts covered by the exceptions in section 3703(a)(1), the officer must at least get past prices for the same or similar items. If the offeror cannot get those past prices, the officer can ask for prices for similar work, prices for alternative solutions, or other useful information. The officer cannot decide a price is fair only because the Government paid that price before. If the officer still cannot judge price fairness and an offeror won’t make a good faith effort to provide the requested data, the offeror is normally ineligible for the award unless the head of the contracting activity or a designee decides it’s in the Government’s best interest. That decision must weigh factors like the effort to get data, other suppliers, urgency, available price information, the offeror’s reasons, and risk if no award is made. Those decisions must be reported quarterly to the Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment must make an annual report naming offerors who repeatedly denied data requests over the prior three years but still received awards, identify items for should-cost review, may note such firms in the Government contractor performance system, study whether they are sole sources, and plan ways to attract new suppliers. The Under Secretary must also set rules for what counts as a denial (exclude situations out of control, note prime vs. subcontractor, and set timeframes). If an award is made anyway, the agency must assess alternate sources using sections 865 and 882 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (Public Law 118–159). The Federal Acquisition Regulation must limit sales-data requests for commercial items, require requests be limited to records the offeror normally keeps, and protect information exempt from disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5.