The head of the agency shall—

(a) Conduct market research to determine whether commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items are available that could meet the agency's requirements;

(b) Acquire commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items when they are available to meet the needs of the agency; and

(c) Require prime contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to incorporate, to the maximum extent practicable, commercial products, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items as components of items supplied to the agency.

(a) This part shall be used for the acquisition of supplies or services that meet the definitions of commercial product or commercial service at section 2.101.

(b) Contracting officers shall use the policies in this part in conjunction with the policies and procedures for solicitation, evaluation and award prescribed in part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures; part 14, Sealed Bidding; or part 15, Contracting by Negotiation, as appropriate for the particular acquisition.

(c) Contracts for the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services are subject to the policies in other parts of the FAR. When a policy in another part of the FAR is inconsistent with a policy in this part, this part 12 shall take precedence for the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services.

(d) The definition of commercial productuses the phrase “purposes other than governmental purposes.” These purposes are those that are not unique to a government.

(e) This part shall not apply to the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services—

(1) At or below the micro-purchase threshold;

(2) Using the Standard Form 44 (see 13.306);

(3) Using the imprest fund (see 13.305);

(4) Using the Governmentwide commercial purchase card as a method of purchase rather than only as a method of payment; or

(5) Directly from another Federal agency.

(f)(1) Contracting officers may treat any acquisition of supplies or services that, as determined by the head of the agency, are to be used to facilitate defense against or recovery from cyber, nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack, as an acquisition of commercial products or commercial services.

(2) A contract in an amount greater than $20 million that is awarded on a sole source basis for a product or service treated as a commercial product or commercial service under paragraph (f)(1) of this section but does not meet the definition of a commercial product or commercial service as defined at FAR 2.101 shall not be exempt from—

(i) Cost accounting standards (see subpart 30.2); or

(ii) Certified cost or pricing data requirements (see 15.403).

Commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) items are defined in 2.101. Unless indicated otherwise, all of the policies that apply to commercial products also apply to COTS items. Section 12.505 lists the laws that are not applicable to COTS items (in addition to 12.503 and 12.504).