---
kind: "section"
citation: "48 C.F.R. § 3.501-2"
title: "48"
number: "3.501-2"
heading: "General."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/48/3.501-2"
---

# §3.501-2. General.

- (a) Buying-in may decrease competition or result in poor contract performance. The contracting officer must take appropriate action to ensure buying-in losses are not recovered by the contractor through the pricing of—
  - (1) Change orders; or
  - (2) **Follow-on contracts subject to cost analysis.**
- (b) The Government should minimize the opportunity for buying-in by seeking a price commitment covering as much of the entire program concerned as is practical by using—
  - (1) Multiyear contracting, with a requirement in the solicitation that a price be submitted only for the total multiyear quantity; or
  - (2) Priced options for additional quantities that, together with the firm contract quantity, equal the program requirements (see [subpart 17.2](/cfr/48/subpart17.2.md)).
- (c) Other safeguards are available to the contracting officer to preclude recovery of buying-in losses (e.g., amortization of nonrecurring costs (see 15.408, Table 15-2, paragraph A., column (2) under “Formats for Submission of Line Item Summaries”) and treatment of unreasonable price quotations (see 15.405).

## Notes

### Amendments

[48 FR 42108, Sept. 19, 1983, as amended at 62 FR 51270, Sept. 30, 1997; 84 FR 19840, May 6, 2019]

### Authority

Authority: 41 U.S.C. 1121(b); 40 U.S.C. 121(c); 10 U.S.C. chapter 4 and 10 U.S.C. chapter 137 legacy provisions (see 10 U.S.C. 3016); and 51 U.S.C. 20113.

### Source

Source: 48 FR 42108, Sept. 19, 1983, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[48 FR 42108, Sept. 19, 1983, as amended at 62 FR 51270, Sept. 30, 1997; 84 FR 19840, May 6, 2019]