TINA & CAS Thresholds Increased to $2 Million

The Truth in Negotiation Act (TINA) currently requires offerors to certify that accurate, current and complete cost or pricing data was disclosed to the government for negotiated procurements valued at $750,000 or more. Failure to disclose accurate, current and complete cost or pricing data means the contractor has filed a false certification and they may be subject to a defective pricing claim.

Section 811 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act increased the TINA threshold to $2 million for all contracts entered into after July 1, 2018. While the Contracting Officer may still request cost or pricing data to support proposals under the TINA threshold, this cost or pricing data would not be certified, substantially reducing the offeror’s risk.

Since the threshold for the applicability of the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) is legally tied to the TINA threshold, the CAS threshold will also increase to $2 million. This increase does not change the $50 million threshold for full CAS coverage, but it does mean that contractors subject to full CAS coverage will likely have less CAS-covered contracts.

Though the threshold increases are effective July 1, 2018, it is not clear when the pertinent Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses will be changed. Anticipating the delay in revising the FAR, DoD has already drafted new CAS clauses and issued a class deviation, which directs DoD contracting officers to implement the new thresholds effective July 1, 2018.

For more information about these threshold increases or questions, please contact Aprio’s Government Contracting specialists.