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Product Comparability Determination
Determining comparability is a unilateral decision made at the discretion of an agency's contracting offical.
In determining comparability, the contracting officer should look at the quality, price and delivery terms of FPI’s products versus those available from the private sector.
Department of Defense (DoD) and Civilian Agency Buying Activities
When purchasing a product listed in FPI’s Schedule of Products....
- DoD buying activities; are subject to the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 2410n and its implementing regulations outlined in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), at Parts 208.601-70, 208.602, 208.606, 208.670, 208.671, 219.502-70, 219.508, 252.219-70XX and 252.219-70YY. Further, Section 827 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181; effective 3/31/08) requires DOD contracting officers to immediately use competitive procedures when procuring products for which UNICOR has a market share greater than 5% of the DoD market. DoD Decision Path Procedures
- Civilian buying activites: are subject to the provision of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, under Section 637 and April 11, 2005, modifying FAR 8.6 (1/30/06).
The Federal Acquisition Requlation (FAR), which outlines the provisions for purchasing from FPI, has been modified. Under the statutory and requlatory provisions noted above, the federal agency's procurement official must conduct market research to determine whether an FPI product is comparable to products available from the private sector which best meet the agency's needs in terms of price, quality and time of delivery. Civilian Decision Path Procedures
If the contracting official determines the FPI item(s) to be comparable:
FPI’s mandatory source applies, However, a waiver to procure from outside sources based on other compelling reasons may be requested, using the procedures outlined in this Directory
(see , QUICK REFERENCE Waiver-Related Procedures). If the contracting official determines the FPI item(s) to be not comparable:
competitive procedures are to be used to acquire the product, a waiver is not required, and an offer must be solicited from FPI during competitive process. 
