That risk just got more complicated. Public Law 119-60 raises the defense TINA threshold from $2 million to $10 million for covered contracts entered into after June 30, 2026. But the FAR text pricing teams reference daily still shows $2.5 million for prime contracts awarded on or after July 1, 2018. Two numbers, two dates, one confused pricing team.
This article breaks down what TINA compliance actually requires, how the new threshold works, where defective pricing claims come from, and how purpose-built pricing software keeps your team audit-ready without adding headcount.
Key Takeaways
- TINA requires certified, current, accurate, and complete cost data above a statutory dollar threshold
- Defense TINA threshold rises to $10 million for contracts after June 30, 2026; older contracts and mods keep prior thresholds
- Defective pricing findings mean price reductions, interest payments, and potential False Claims Act exposure
- Spreadsheet-based pricing workflows are the most common source of TINA compliance gaps
- Centralized, audit-trailed proposal software cuts both the risk and the time burden of certification
What Is TINA Compliance?
The Truth in Negotiations Act, now formally the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Statute, exists so the government gets the same cost visibility the contractor already has when a contract is negotiated instead of fully competed.
"Certified cost or pricing data" has a specific meaning under FAR 2.101: factual, verifiable information that a prudent buyer or seller would reasonably expect to affect price negotiations. That's broader than most teams assume. It covers:
- Vendor quotations and purchase orders
- Historical costs and unit-cost trends
- Direct labor rates and time-phased hours
- Indirect rates and overhead computations
- Make-or-buy decisions and production changes
Here's a detail contractors often miss: under FAR 15.406-2, you certify the data, not the final price. The Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data confirms the underlying facts were accurate, complete, and current as of the price-agreement date, or an earlier agreed cutoff.
If new data emerges before that date and doesn't make it into your submission, you have a problem regardless of whether the final negotiated price was fair.
TINA applies across contract types (firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursement, and modifications alike) unless a specific exception applies.
Understanding the TINA Threshold
The number everyone's citing right now needs context. Public Law 119-60, Section 1804(c), amends 10 U.S.C. 3702 to set a $10 million threshold for covered defense contracts entered into after June 30, 2026.
The current FAR 15.403-4 page still displays $2.5 million for prime contracts awarded on or after July 1, 2018. Regulatory text hasn't caught up to the statute yet.
That mismatch matters for one reason: contractors must apply the new statutory threshold even before the FAR text is updated. Waiting for the regulation to catch up isn't a defense.
Cost or pricing data vs. other data:
Don't conflate "cost or pricing data" with "data other than certified cost or pricing data." The latter is what contracting officers request below the threshold to establish a fair and reasonable price. It doesn't carry the certification obligation or the defective pricing exposure that certified data does.
How the threshold applies to modifications:
Under FAR 52.215-21, the threshold test for a modification looks at the expected price adjustment. It applies as of the date of agreement on price or the date of award, whichever is later.
A string of small-scope changes on a task order can cross the certification line even if no single mod looks large on its own. Track cumulative modification value, not just the original award figure.
Standard exceptions to certification requirements:
- Adequate price competition (two or more independent, responsible offers)
- Prices set by law or regulation
- Commercial products or services meeting FAR conditions
- Exceptional-case waiver by the head of the contracting activity
- Foreign Military Sales indirect offsets
Certified Cost or Pricing Data and Defective Pricing Risk
A defective pricing finding isn't automatic just because a contracting officer suspects something. The government has to prove five elements:
- The information qualifies as cost or pricing data
- It existed and was reasonably available before price agreement
- The contractor failed to disclose it as current, accurate, and complete
- The government relied on the missing or bad data
- That reliance caused a price increase
Miss any one element, and the claim doesn't hold. This test traces back to cases like Lockheed Martin Corp., ASBCA No. 50464.
What a finding actually costs you:
Under FAR 15.407-1, a sustained defective pricing finding means a downward price adjustment (including profit), plus interest on the overpayment. In one illustrative ASBCA matter — BAE Systems Tactical Vehicle Systems LP, ASBCA Nos. 59491 and 60433 — the government's claimed adjustments touched vendor quotations, purchase orders, currency exchange rates, and labor rates, totaling tens of millions before offsets were applied. One audit can put that much at risk.
Six-year rule: Under the Contract Disputes Act (41 U.S.C. 7103), claims generally must be brought within six years of accrual. That means you need to retain proposal support documentation — quotes, rate build-ups, basis of estimate — for at least that long.
Myth to drop: defective pricing does not automatically equal fraud. Not every defective pricing case is fraudulent, and DoD refers suspected fraud to DOJ rather than treating every finding as intentional. Most issues stem from weak documentation discipline—not deception—so proposal support files are your first line of defense.
FAR Part 15 Proposals: What Contractors Must Prepare
A FAR Part 15 proposal is a negotiated procurement submission, not a simple priced quote. It requires a full cost breakdown and supporting rationale.
Standard components, per FAR 15.408 Table 15-2:
- Cost elements by category: direct labor, materials, subcontracts, indirect rates, and profit
- Basis of estimate for each cost element
- Supporting documentation: vendor quotes, historical costs, labor hour projections
- An indexed listing tying line-item prices back to the total contract price
The step teams skip: a pre-certification "sweep." Weeks or even months can pass between finalizing your basis of estimate and signing the certificate. Any change in that window (a new vendor quote or an updated labor rate) must land in your submission before you certify. Skipping this sweep is one of the most common root causes of defective pricing findings.
How TINA-Compliant Cost Proposal Software Simplifies the Process
Spreadsheets weren't built for this. When five people are editing five versions of the same cost model over email, you lose:
- Version control — nobody knows which file is current
- Audit trails — no record of who changed what, or when
- Traceability — assumptions and source data get disconnected from the numbers
That gap is exactly where defective pricing findings come from.
What to Look For in Pricing Software
A well-built pricing workflow should give you:
- A centralized cost and pricing database, not scattered files
- Automated documentation every time cost data changes
- Structured review gates tied to your certification process
Intellectible's Pricing Engine was built around this exact problem. It runs proposals through a connected sequence (Intake → Extract → Review Assumptions → Build Cost Model → Publish Pricing). PostgreSQL-backed project databases hold every cost record, source document, and assumption in one place.
Along the way, the platform maintains:
- Activity logs showing what changed, who changed it, and which automations ran
- Version tracking with preparer, effective date, and approval status in the finance review package
- Source evidence and confidence flags on extracted pricing values, so missing data doesn't slip through unnoticed
- Documented approval gates across finance, operations, and subject-matter reviewers
The result: Intellectible reports a 90% reduction in time to final pricing with full audit trail control. That gain comes from compressing the version-chasing and email-forwarding that typically eat a pricing team's week, not from skipping certification work.
Because pricing, contracts, and finance stakeholders work from the same connected record (customer scope, contract value, labor rates, exceptions, and approvals), nobody is passing a spreadsheet between departments and hoping the latest version made it through.
One documented example: a facility-management pricing model for a $5.7 million, three-year contract, where labor represented 82% of total costs, moved through intake, cost modeling, and approval with a complete audit trail at every step.
For teams still building this workflow manually, that is the gap worth closing before the next audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the TINA threshold?
The TINA threshold is the contract dollar value above which certified cost or pricing data is legally required. Defense contracts entered into after June 30, 2026, use a $10 million threshold; older contracts and their modifications still follow the prior $2.5 million or $2 million levels.
What does a FAR Part 15 submission demand that a quote does not?
Detailed cost element breakdowns with supporting documentation for each, rather than a priced total. On negotiated procurements at TINA scale, the burden sits in tracing every element back to a defensible basis the government can test.
What is TINA compliance?
TINA compliance means disclosing and certifying accurate, current, and complete cost or pricing data on negotiated federal awards when the value exceeds the applicable threshold.
How do teams avoid a defective pricing finding?
By proving what was known, and when. A defective pricing finding means relevant cost or pricing data was not disclosed as of the certification date, and the price can be adjusted downward with interest. The defense is a dated record of the data relied on and the sweep performed before certifying.
What is certified cost and pricing data?
Certified cost or pricing data is factual, verifiable information (vendor quotes, labor rates, historical costs) that a contractor formally certifies as accurate, complete, and current as of the price-agreement date.
