(a) Limitations.

(1)(vi) Contracting officers shall obtain guidance from the requiring activity when it is unclear whether a supply is “predominately expendable in nature” or “nontechnical,” or has a “short life expectancy” or “short shelf life.” In such situations, contracting officers shall only use the lowest price technically acceptable source selection process if the requiring activity establishes that the goods to be procured are predominantly expendable in nature, are nontechnical, or have a short life expectancy or short shelf life.

(vii) The contracting officer shall document the contract file with a determination from the requiring activity that the lowest priced offer reflects full life-cycle costs for the supply or service. For additional information on life-cycle costs for supplies, see DoD Instruction 4140.01, DoD Supply Chain Material Management Policy. For services, full life-cycle costs are equal to the contract cost of the services.