52.207-4 Economic Purchase Quantity-Supplies
Source: FAR 52.207-4 on acquisition.gov
Offerors should analyze and recommend the most cost-effective purchase quantities, providing detailed pricing to help the Government avoid uneconomical acquisitions.
Overview
FAR 52.207-4, Economic Purchase Quantity-Supplies, is a solicitation provision that encourages offerors to provide input on the most economically advantageous purchase quantities for supplies. The provision seeks to leverage industry expertise to help the Government avoid purchasing supplies in quantities that do not maximize cost savings. Offerors are invited to comment on whether the quantities requested are optimal and, if not, to recommend alternative quantities where significant price breaks occur. Offerors must provide both unit and total prices for any recommended quantities. The information collected is used to inform current and future procurement strategies, and the Government reserves the right to amend or cancel the solicitation based on the responses received.
Key Rules
- Offeror Input on Quantities
- Offerors are encouraged to state whether the solicitation's requested quantities are economically advantageous.
- Recommendation of Economic Purchase Quantities
- Offerors may recommend alternative quantities where significant price breaks occur, providing both unit and total prices for those quantities.
- Government Use of Information
- The Government may use the information to amend or cancel the solicitation and to build a database for future acquisitions.
Responsibilities
- Contracting Officers: Must include this provision in applicable solicitations and consider offeror input when determining purchase quantities.
- Contractors/Offerors: Should analyze and recommend economic purchase quantities, providing detailed pricing where applicable.
- Agencies: Use the data to inform acquisition planning and avoid disadvantageous purchasing.
Practical Implications
- This provision helps the Government leverage supplier knowledge to achieve cost savings.
- Contractors can influence procurement quantities by demonstrating where price breaks occur.
- Failure to provide input may result in missed opportunities for both the contractor and the Government to optimize costs.
As prescribed in 7.203 , insert the following provision:
Economic Purchase Quantity-Supplies (Aug 1987)
(a) Offerors are invited to state an opinion on whether the quantity(ies) of supplies on which bids, proposals or quotes are requested in this solicitation is (are) economically advantageous to the Government.
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(b) Each offeror who believes that acquisitions in different quantities would be more advantageous is invited to recommend an economic purchase quantity. If different quantities are recommended, a total and a unit price must be quoted for applicable items. An economic purchase quantity is that quantity at which a significant price break occurs. If there are significant price breaks at different quantity points, this information is desired as well.
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Offeror Recommendations |
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Item |
Quantity |
Price Quotation |
Total |
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(c) The information requested in this provision is being solicited to avoid acquisitions in disadvantageous quantities and to assist the Government in developing a data base for future acquisitions of these items. However, the Government reserves the right to amend or cancel the solicitation and resolicit with respect to any individual item in the event quotations received and the Government’s requirements indicate that different quantities should be acquired.
(End of provision)