PGI 212.1 -ACQUISITION OF COMMERCIAL

PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES

Parent topic: PGI Part 212 - ACQUISITION OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL

SERVICES

PGI 212.102 Applicability.

(a)(iii) Commercial product or commercial service determination.

(A) Making the commercial product or commercial service determination.

(1) Before making a commercial product or commercial service determination, the contracting

officer shall search the DoD Commercial Item Database at https://piee.eb.mil for the item and an

associated commercial product or commercial service determination or the decision that the item is

not commercial in accordance with the commercial product or commercial service definition at FAR

2.101 .

(2) In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2380(b)(1), the contracting officer may—

(i) Request support from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) by sending an email to

DCMA Commercial Item Group (CIG) at ;

(ii) Request support from the cognizant Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) office;

(iii) Request support from other appropriate experts in DoD such as program office technical

evaluators, program managers, cognizant engineers, or other contracting officers; or

(iv) Consider the views of appropriate public and private sector entities such as documents provided

by the contractor asserting commerciality to include technical drawings, product or catalog

descriptions, or national stock numbers.

(3) The contracting officer may make the commercial product or commercial service determination

or the decision that the item is other than commercial in accordance with the commercial product or

commercial service definition at FAR 2.101 or request a DCMA CIG contracting officer make the

determination or the decision that the product or service is other than commercial in accordance

with the commercial product or commercial service definition at FAR 2.101 by submitting a request

to dcma.boston-ma.eastern-rc.mbx.Commercial@mail.mil. The contracting officer may withdraw the

request at any point prior to the determination being made.

(B) Documenting the commercial product or commercial service determination.

(1) The contracting officer making the determination shall document the market research and

rationale supporting a conclusion that the product or service is commercial or is other than

commercial and include it in the contract file.

(2) Particular care must be taken when documenting determinations involving items that are of a

type customarily used by the general public or by nongovernmental entities, “modifications of a type

customarily available in the marketplace,” and items only “offered for sale, lease, or license to the

general public” but not yet actually sold, leased, or licensed. In these situations, the documentation
must clearly detail the particulars of the items and modifications of a type and sales offers. When

such items lack sufficient market pricing information, additional diligence must be given to

determinations that prices are fair and reasonable as required by FAR subpart 15.4.

(3) The contracting officer shall include the part number, the national stock number, or both, as

applicable, in the commercial product or commercial service determination or the decision that the

product or service does not meet the commercial product or commercial service definition at FAR

2.101.

(4) The contracting officer shall include the commercial product or commercial service

determination or the decision that the product or service does not meet the commercial product or

commercial service definition at FAR 2.101 in the contract file.

(C) DoD commercial item database. In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 3456 (b)(2), within 30 days of

contract award, the contracting officer making the determination shall upload the signed

commercial product or service determination or the decision that the item does not meet the

commercial product or commercial service definition at FAR 2.101 to the DoD Commercial Item

Database at https://piee.eb.mil. The only documentation that is required to be uploaded to the

database is the commercial product or service determination or the decision that the item is other

than commercial. Contracting officers shall avoid uploading any data marked as proprietary or

controlled unclassified information to the Commercial Item Database. Additional information is

available at https://www.dcma.mil/commercial-item-group/ .

(D) Prior commercial product or commercial service determination.

(1) If a prior DoD commercial product or commercial service determination for the same product or

service is made by a military department, defense agency, or another component of DoD, contracting

officers may presume that the prior commercial product or commercial service determination shall

serve as a determination for subsequent procurements of such product or service, unless the process

is followed to overturn the prior determination (see DFARS 212.102(a)(ii)(B)). If there is no prior

commercial product or commercial service determination, see PGI 212.102(a)(iii)(B).

(2) If the DoD Commercial Item Database contains a prior decision that a product or service does not

meet the definition of a commercial product or commercial service at FAR 2.101, the contracting

officer may use the prior decision to serve as the decision for subsequent procurements of the same

product or service. To promote consistent acquisition procedures across DoD, contracting officers

should consult contracting activities that regularly procure the product or service to understand the

basis for determining that the product or service does not meet the commercial product or

commercial service definition at FAR 2.101. If there is no prior commercial product or commercial

service determination or prior decision that an product or service does not meet the definition of a

commercial product or commercial service at FAR 2.101, see PGI 212.102(a)(iii)(B).

(v) Commercial product or commercial service guidebook. See the Department of Defense

Guidebook for Acquiring Commercial Items, Part A: Commercial Item Determination, for detailed

guidance and practical examples on improving the consistency and timeliness of commercial product

or commercial service determinations to include a template for new commercial product or

commercial service determinations and for general information related to commercial products or

commercial services.