FAR and DFARS › FAR Part 31: Contract Cost Principles and Procedures › Subpart 31.2
FAR 31.205-26 Material costs.
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 section explains how material costs are treated for government contract pricing. It covers what counts as material costs, requires contractors to credit discounts and other income, and sets rules for pricing materials transferred between affiliated organizations. It matters because it affects how contractors calculate and support their material costs.
Applies to: Contractors claiming material costs under government contracts
What it requires
- Consider reasonable overruns, spoilage, or defective work when computing material costs.
- Adjust material costs for income and other credits, including trade discounts, refunds, rebates, allowances, cash discounts, and credits for scrap, salvage, and returned material.
- Credit such income and other credits either directly to material cost or allocate as a credit to indirect costs.
- Charge the actual purchase cost to the contract when materials are purchased specifically for and identifiable solely with performance under a contract.
Key terms: material costs · income and other credits · cash discounts · physical inventories · book inventories
Written by AI from this section's text. A guide, not legal advice: the text below rules.
The text
(a) Material costs include the costs of such items as raw materials, parts, subassemblies, components, and manufacturing supplies, whether purchased or manufactured by the contractor, and may include such collateral items as inbound transportation and in-transit insurance. In computing material costs, the contractor shall consider reasonable overruns, spoilage, or defective work (unless otherwise provided in any contract provision relating to inspecting and correcting defective work).
(b) The contractor shall—
(1) Adjust the costs of material for income and other credits, including available trade discounts, refunds, rebates, allowances, and cash discounts, and credits for scrap, salvage, and material returned to vendors; and
(2) Credit such income and other credits either directly to the cost of the material or allocate such income and other credits as a credit to indirect costs. When the contractor can demonstrate that failure to take cash discounts was reasonable, the contractor does not need to credit lost discounts.
(c) Reasonable adjustments arising from differences between periodic physical inventories and book inventories may be included in arriving at costs; provided such adjustments relate to the period of contract performance.
(d) When materials are purchased specifically for and are identifiable solely with performance under a contract, the actual purchase cost of those materials should be charged to the contract. If material is issued from stores, any generally recognized method of pricing such material is acceptable if that method is consistently applied and the results are equitable.
(e) Allowance for all materials, supplies and services that are sold or transferred between any divisions, subdivisions, subsidiaries, or affiliates of the contractor under a common control shall be on the basis of cost incurred in accordance with this subpart. However, allowance may be at price when—
(1) It is the established practice of the transferring organization to price interorganizational transfers at other than cost for commercial work of the contractor or any division, subsidiary or affiliate of the contractor under a common control; and
(2) The item being transferred qualifies for an exception under 15.403-1(b) and the contracting officer has not determined the price to be unreasonable.
(f) When a commercial product or commercial service under paragraph (e) of this section is sold or transferred at a price based on a catalog or market price, the contractor—
(1) Should adjust the price to reflect the quantities being acquired; and
(2) May adjust the price to reflect the actual cost of any modifications necessary because of contract requirements.
Sections it refers to
- 15.403-1 Prohibition on obtaining certified cost or pricing data (10 U.S.C. chapter 271 and 41 U.S.C. chapter 35).
← 31.205-25 Manufacturing and production engineering costs. · 31.205-27 Organization costs. →
Rule changes for FAR Part 31
- Federal Acquisition Regulation; Technical Amendments ↗ · final rule 2024-04-22 · effective 2024-05-22
Source: eCFR, 48 CFR chapters 1 and 2 (GPO GovInfo bulk data) ↗. Plain words for the terms: glossary.