Section 890 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, as amended by section 825 of the NDAA for FY 2020, authorizes the Department of Defense (DoD) to conduct a pilot program in an effort to accelerate contracting and pricing processes. On August 14, 2020, the DoD issued Class Deviation 2020-O0020 to further implement this pilot program, which allows for a reduction in cost and pricing data requirements for approved contracting actions in excess of $50 million. Approved contracting actions within the program will include a provision in which the Contracting Officer will list the specific cost or pricing data deemed necessary to establish price reasonableness for the acquisition and describe the required submission format. The cost or pricing data will primarily include actual costs of performance for prior purchases of the same or similar products and the contractor will not be required to submit data that is not listed in the provision.
The requirement to submit and certify to cost or pricing data is often burdensome and results in a risk of defective pricing accusations by the government. This pilot program, and any resulting continuation or expansion of the program, should be monitored by government contractors, as it will help to alleviate some of this burden and risk for approved contracting actions.
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