Title 41Public ContractsRelease 119-73not60

§3502 Required Cost or Pricing Data and Certification

Title 41 › Subtitle Subtitle I— Federal Procurement Policy › Chapter 35— TRUTHFUL COST OR PRICING DATA › § 3502

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Agency leaders must make offerors, contractors, and subcontractors give cost or pricing data when needed. For prime contracts that are not sealed bids, offerors must provide the data before award if the expected contract price is over $2,000,000 for contracts entered after June 30, 2018, or over $750,000 for contracts entered on or before June 30, 2018. Contractors must also give data before pricing a change if the price adjustment exceeds those same amounts. Subcontractors must give data before award when the prime and higher-tier subs were already required to provide data and the subcontract price meets the same thresholds (usually $2,000,000 or $750,000). Changes to subcontracts follow the same dollar limits. Anyone who must submit the data must also sign a statement saying the data are accurate, complete, and current. Prime contractors send their data to the contracting officer or a designated representative. Subcontractors send theirs to the prime contractor. These rules apply to contracts made for foreign governments unless section 3503 says otherwise. A waiver for a contract under section 3503(a)(3) does not automatically waive subcontract requirements unless the procuring official writes a justification. A contractor with a contract entered on or before June 30, 2018 can ask the agency to modify the contract under the rules described here, and the agency must make that change without requiring payment. The dollar limits are adjusted every five years on October 1 of years divisible by 5 under section 1908.

Full Legal Text

Title 41, §3502

Public Contracts — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The head of an executive agency shall require offerors, contractors, and subcontractors to make cost or pricing data available as follows:
(1)An offeror for a prime contract under this division to be entered into using procedures other than sealed-bid procedures shall be required to submit cost or pricing data before the award of a contract if—
(A)in the case of a prime contract entered into after June 30, 2018, the price of the contract to the Federal Government is expected to exceed $2,000,000; and
(B)in the case of a prime contract entered into on or before June 30, 2018, the price of the contract to the Federal Government is expected to exceed $750,000.
(2)The contractor for a prime contract under this division shall be required to submit cost or pricing data before the pricing of a change or modification to the contract if—
(A)in the case of a change or modification made to a prime contract referred to in paragraph (1)(A), the price adjustment is expected to exceed $2,000,000;
(B)in the case of a change or modification made to a prime contract that was entered into on or before June 30, 2018, and that has been modified pursuant to subsection (f), the price adjustment is expected to exceed $750,000; and
(C)in the case of a change or modification not covered by subparagraph (A) or (B), the price adjustment is expected to exceed $750,000.
(3)An offeror for a subcontract (at any tier) of a contract under this division shall be required to submit cost or pricing data before the award of the subcontract if the prime contractor and each higher-tier subcontractor have been required to make available cost or pricing data under this chapter and—
(A)in the case of a subcontract under a prime contract referred to in paragraph (1)(A), the price of the subcontract is expected to exceed $2,000,000;
(B)in the case of a subcontract entered into under a prime contract that was entered into on or before June 30, 2018, and that has been modified pursuant to subsection (f), the price of the subcontract is expected to exceed $2,000,000; and
(C)in the case of a subcontract not covered by subparagraph (A) or (B), the price of the subcontract is expected to exceed $750,000.
(4)The subcontractor for a subcontract covered by paragraph (3) shall be required to submit cost or pricing data before the pricing of a change or modification to the subcontract if—
(A)in the case of a change or modification to a subcontract referred to in paragraph (3)(A) or (B), the price adjustment is expected to exceed $2,000,000; and
(B)in the case of a change or modification to a subcontract referred to in paragraph (3)(C), the price adjustment is expected to exceed $750,000.
(b)A person required, as an offeror, contractor, or subcontractor, to submit cost or pricing data under subsection (a) (or required by the head of the procuring activity concerned to submit the data under section 3504 of this title) shall be required to certify that, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, the cost or pricing data submitted are accurate, complete, and current.
(c)Cost or pricing data required to be submitted under subsection (a) (or under section 3504 of this title), and a certification required to be submitted under subsection (b), shall be submitted—
(1)in the case of a submission by a prime contractor (or an offeror for a prime contract), to the contracting officer for the contract (or a designated representative of the contracting officer); or
(2)in the case of a submission by a subcontractor (or an offeror for a subcontract), to the prime contractor.
(d)Except as provided under section 3503 of this title, this chapter applies to contracts entered into by the head of an executive agency on behalf of a foreign government.
(e)A waiver of requirements for submission of certified cost or pricing data that is granted under section 3503(a)(3) of this title in the case of a contract or subcontract does not waive the requirement under subsection (a)(3) of this section for submission of cost or pricing data in the case of subcontracts under that contract or subcontract unless the head of the procuring activity granting the waiver determines that the requirement under subsection (a)(3) of this section should be waived in the case of those subcontracts and justifies in writing the reason for the determination.
(f)On the request of a contractor that was required to submit cost or pricing data under subsection (a) in connection with a prime contract entered into on or before June 30, 2018, the head of the executive agency that entered into the contract shall modify the contract to reflect paragraphs (2)(B) and (3)(B) of subsection (a). All those modifications shall be made without requiring consideration.
(g)Effective on October 1 of each year that is divisible by 5, each amount set forth in subsection (a) shall be adjusted in accordance with section 1908.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 350241:254b(a).June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title III, § 304A(a), as added Pub. L. 103–355, title I, § 1251(a)(2), Oct. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 3278; Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title VIII, § 805(b), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2083.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–91, § 811(a)(2)(A)(i), (ii), substituted “
June 30, 2018” for “
October 13, 1994” and “$750,000” for “$100,000” wherever appearing. Subsec. (a)(1)(A), (2)(A). Pub. L. 115–91, § 811(a)(2)(A)(iii), substituted “$2,000,000” for “$500,000”. Subsec. (a)(2)(B). Pub. L. 115–91, § 811(a)(2)(A)(iv), substituted “$750,000” for “$500,000”. Subsec. (a)(3)(A), (B), (4)(A). Pub. L. 115–91, § 811(a)(2)(A)(iii), substituted “$2,000,000” for “$500,000”. Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 115–91, § 811(a)(2)(B), substituted “
June 30, 2018” for “
October 13, 1994”. Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 115–91, § 811(a)(2)(C), substituted “in accordance with section 1908.” for “to the amount that is equal to the fiscal year 1994 constant dollar value of the amount set forth. Any amount, as so adjusted, that is not evenly divisible by $50,000 shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $50,000. In the case of an amount that is evenly divisible by $25,000 but not evenly divisible by $50,000, the amount shall be rounded to the next higher multiple of $50,000.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

41 U.S.C. § 3502

Title 41Public Contracts

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60