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FAR and DFARS › DFARS Part 212: Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services › Subpart 212.2

DFARS 212.207 Contract type.

The codified text (eCFR, as of 2026-10-02). Under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul ↗, agencies follow class deviations with new text for many parts while the formal rules go through the Federal Register: check the solicitation and your contract's clauses, which rule.

In plain English

This DFARS section limits when time-and-materials (T&M) and labor-hour (LH) contracts can be used to buy commercial services. It allows them only for services supporting a commercial product, emergency repair services, or other commercial services if the agency head approves a written determination by the contracting officer that specific conditions are met. This matters because it restricts a contractor's ability to be paid on a T&M or LH basis for commercial services unless one of these narrow exceptions applies.

Applies to: Acquisitions of commercial services by DoD contracting activities

Key terms: time-and-materials contracts · labor-hour contracts · commercial services · commercial product · emergency repair services

Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.

The text

(b) In accordance with section 805 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Pub. L. 110-181), use of time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts for the acquisition of commercial services is authorized only for the following:

(i) Services acquired for support of a commercial product, as described in paragraph (1) of the definition of commercial service at FAR 2.101 (41 U.S.C. 103a).

(ii) Emergency repair services.

(iii) Any other commercial services only to the extent that the head of the agency concerned approves a written determination by the contracting officer that—

(A) The services to be acquired are commercial services as defined in paragraph (2) of the definition of commercial service at FAR 2.101 (41 U.S.C. 103a);

(B) If the services to be acquired are subject to FAR 15.403-1(c)(3)(ii), the offeror of the services has submitted sufficient information in accordance with that subsection;

(C) Such services are commonly sold to the general public through use of time-and-materials or labor-hour contracts; and

(D) The use of a time-and-materials or labor-hour contract type is in the best interest of the Government.

Sections it refers to

  • 2.101 Definitions.
  • 15.403-1 Prohibition on obtaining certified cost or pricing data (10 U.S.C. chapter 271 and 41 U.S.C. chapter 35).

← 212.203 Procedures for solicitation, evaluation, and award. · 212.209 Determination of price reasonableness. →

Rule changes for DFARS Part 212

Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.

DFARS 212.207 Contract type · SpendQuery