Commercial item determination opportunity – act now for future success

Over the past several years, DCMA’s Commercial Item Group (CIG) has stood at the forefront of a push to make contracting less complex for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and its commercial suppliers. In late March, the CIG once again leaned in and issued a class Commercial Item Determination (CID) for select products and services that may be used to meet urgent national needs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many applauded the CIG’s quick work to navigate DoD’s acquisition workforce toward the streamlined acquisition methods afforded to it under FAR Part 12.

As it turns out, the CIG was not done.

On April 10, the CIG took the unprecedented step of releasing a Request for Information (RFI) on beta.sam.gov that allows contractors to request a CID for their product(s), ahead of government solicitation. This will allow certain contractors to engage directly with the forward-thinking minds at the CIG. Their judgments were previously reserved for requests that came directly from DoD contracting officers.

As a backdrop, the last several years have seen a significant push from Congress, DoD leadership, and others for an increased focus on commercial item acquisition, with a primary goal of increasing access to innovative companies and their products, services, and solutions. The CIG has been a key part of this push, providing specialized resources to assist Contracting Officers with analyzing products and services and assessing their commerciality. This RFI represents a huge opportunity for a specific subset of entities who may not have typically sold their products to DoD customers due to the burdens and complexities that come with entering into a government contract governed by FAR Part 15, FAR Part 31, or the Cost Accounting Standards.

Contractors who are considering responding to this RFI should review the requirements and assess their product offering to determine if a CID would better position them for future DoD procurements. Below are some thoughts on the RFI, in addition to a discussion of some common issues that interested companies should bear in mind:

RFI specifics

1. Nontraditional defense contractors: This is only intended for nontraditional defense contractors as defined in 10 U.S.C. 2302(9), meaning entities that are not currently performing and have not recently (within past year) performed on full CAS-covered contracts. This will exclude some established contractors who hold large cost-type contracts.