dmharvey1

The customer will not accept a commerciality determination that is not substantiated by proof of commercial sales IAW DFARS PGI 215.403-1© (3) (ii) (2) and 215.404-1 (a) (iii) and (B ) (iii) (B ). Did I mention that both the prime and sub contracts are sole source?

Thanks for the input. The basic problem is that the sub won't/can't substantiate that it performs these or similar services for anyone but my company as a prime. The commercial equipment is similar to commercial equipment (with minor mods) but all repair and maintenance for the commercial equipment is performed by independant authorized service centers. Therefore we can't determine fair and reasonable pricing, and given this sub's track record we and our customer are somewhat suspicious of the motive for trying 6. The sub's interpetation is that as long as other entities offer "of a type" services (i.e. the authorized service centers repair and maintain the commercial version of the equipment), the sub can claim their service is commercial as well, and use pricing for similar services performed by the service centers to determine that the sub's pricing is fair and reasonable. The customer will not accept a commerciality determination that is not substantiated by proof of commercial sales IAW DFARS PGI 215.403-1©(3)(ii)(2) and 215.404-1(a)(iii) and ( B )(iii)( B ). Did I mention that both the prime and sub contracts are sole source?

Well, in this case, the difference is that (5) requires that the sub provides the same or similar services to commercial customers. Since the sub doesn't do that, or at least has thus far not been able to substantiate it, they want to use (6), which only requires that the services are of a type.

I'm looking for a citation in the FAR, DFARS, anything "official" that will clearly define the differences between subparagraph (5) and (6) in the FAR 2.101 definition of commercial items. Subparagraph (5) is quite clear that it's intended for repair and maintenance (among other services) in support of a commercial item. My understanding is that (6) is for "stand alone" professional and technical services, but the language is less than clear. I have a sub who is claiming (6) for repair and maintenance of a commercial item. In my mind, this service clearly belongs in (5).