1845.7101-3 Unit acquisition cost.

(a) The unit acquisition cost shall include all costs incurred to bring the property to a form and location suitable for its intended use. The following is representative of the types of costs that shall be included, when applicable:

(1) Amounts paid to vendors or other contractors.

(2) Transportation charges to the point of initial use.

(3) Handling and storage charges.

(4) Labor and other direct or indirect production costs (for assets produced or constructed).

(5) Engineering, architectural, and other outside services for designs, plans, specifications, and surveys.

(6) Acquisition and preparation costs of buildings and other facilities.

(7) An appropriate share of the cost of the equipment and facilities used in construction work.

(8) Fixed equipment and related installation costs required for activities in a building or facility.

(9) Direct costs of inspection, supervision, and administration of construction contracts and construction work.

(10) Legal and recording fees and damage claims.

(11) Fair values of facilities and equipment donated to the Government.

(b) Acquisition cost shall include, where appropriate, for contractor acquired property, related fees, or a pro rata portion of fees, paid by NASA to the contractor. Situations where inclusion of fees in the acquisition cost would be appropriate are those in which the contractor designs, develops, fabricates or purchases property for NASA and part of the fees paid to the contractor by NASA are related to that effort.

(c) Acquisition cost shall be developed using actual costs to the greatest extent possible, especially costs directly related to fabrication such as labor and materials. Where estimates are used, there must be a documented methodology based on a historical basis. All acquisition costs shall be properly documented, supported and retained. Supporting documentation shall be made available upon request.

(d) The use of weighted average methodologies is acceptable for valuation of Material.

(e) Contractors shall report unit acquisition costs using records that are part of the prescribed property or financial control system as provided in this section. Fabrication costs shall be based on approved systems or procedures and include all direct and indirect costs of fabrication.

(f) Only modifications that improve an item's capacity or extend its useful life two years or more and that cost $500,000 or more shall be reported on the NF 1018 on the $500,000 & Over line. The costs of any other modifications, excluding routine maintenance, will be reported on the Under $500,000 line. If an item's original unit acquisition cost is less than $500,000, but a single subsequent modification costs $500,000 or more, that modification only will be reported as an item $500,000 or more on subsequent NF 1018s. The original acquisition cost of the item will continue to be included in the under $500,000 total. The quantity for the modified item will remain “1” and be reported with the original acquisition cost of the item. If an item's acquisition cost is reduced by removal of components so that its remaining acquisition cost is under $500,000, it shall be reported as under $500,000.

(g) Software acquisition costs include software costs incurred up through acceptance testing and material internal costs incurred to implement the software and otherwise make the software ready for use. Costs incurred after acceptance testing are excluded. License, maintenance, training, and data conversion costs are also excluded. If the software is purchased as part of a package, the costs will need to be segregated in such manner as to ensure that the excluded costs (maintenance, training, etc.) are not reported as part of the software's acquisition cost. Enhancement costs for existing software should be added to the acquisition cost if the enhancement results in significant additional capability beyond that for which the software was originally developed (i.e. a capability that was not included in the original software specifications), the total cost of the enhancement is $1,000,000 or more, and the expected useful life of the enhanced software is 2 years or more. Include the same types of cost as indicated above under new software. Costs incurred solely to repair a design flaw or perform minor upgrades should not be included.

(h) The computation of work in process (WIP) shall include all direct and indirect costs of fabrication, including associated systems, subsystems, and spare parts and components furnished or acquired and charged to work in process pending incorporation into a finished item. These types of items make up what is sometimes called production inventory and include programmed extra units to cover replacement during the fabrication process (production spares). Also included are deliverable items on which the contractor or a subcontractor has begun work, and materials issued from inventory. The computation of WIP shall incorporate the other requirements for unit acquisition cost as outlined in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section. In addition, acquisition cost of property furnished by the Government, which has been incorporated in the property item under construction or in process of fabrication, should be included. Do not include costs for operation or repairing existing completed property items. Once the property is complete, include all the costs outlined above in its acquisition value in the property record. The WIP values are inception to date until such time as the WIP is completed. It does not include future costs.