“TINA” is the practitioner shorthand for the Truth in Negotiations Act of 1962, the federal procurement statute that requires contractors to disclose certified cost or pricing data before the government agrees to a negotiated price on certain contracts, subcontracts, and modifications. Congress recodified the statute’s operative language decades ago under the heading “Truthful Cost or Pricing Data” — codified for defense acquisitions at 10 U.S.C. § 3702 and for civilian agencies at 41 U.S.C. §§ 3501–3509 — but “TINA” and “TINA threshold” remain the terms research administrators, contracts officers, and government-contracts counsel actually use.
This page answers the question a threshold search is really asking: at what dollar value, and under what conditions, does a specific acquisition trigger the certified-cost-or-pricing-data requirement, and when doesn’t it? The honest answer is a judgment call built from a dollar threshold, a set of exceptions, and (for anyone negotiating a defense contract right now) a live gap between what the statute already says and what the FAR text has caught up to.
What Counts as Certified Cost or Pricing Data
Cost or pricing data is “certified” when the contractor submits a signed Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data (FAR 15.406-2) attesting that the underlying cost/pricing facts — vendor quotes, labor rates, material costs, make-or-buy decisions, and similar information a prudent buyer and seller would reasonably expect to affect price negotiations — are accurate, complete, and current as of the date of final price agreement (or an earlier date the parties agree to in writing). It is a factual disclosure requirement, not a judgment or opinion: estimates and projections are not “defective” merely for turning out wrong, but the underlying facts available to the contractor at the certification date must have been disclosed.
The TINA Threshold in 2026: Two Numbers, Not One
There isn’t a single current TINA threshold to memorize — there are two, depending on whether you’re reading the government-wide FAR text or the underlying DoD statute, and as of this year’s July 2026 statutory effective date they no longer agree.
| Applies to | Threshold | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Prime contracts awarded before July 1, 2018 (any agency) | $950,000 | FAR 15.403-4(a)(1)(i) |
| Prime contracts awarded on or after July 1, 2018 (any agency) — current FAR-text figure | $2.5 million | FAR 15.403-4(a)(1)(ii), current through FAC 2026-01 (effective 03/13/2026); reached via the 5-year CPI escalation FAR 1.109 applies (cycles starting October 2005) on top of the $2 million baseline the FY2018 NDAA set effective July 1, 2018 |
| DoD contracts entered into on or before June 30, 2026 | $2 million | 10 U.S.C. § 3702(a)(1)(B) |
| DoD contracts entered into after June 30, 2026 | $10 million | 10 U.S.C. § 3702(a)(1)(A) |
| Contract modifications / price adjustments | Same figure as the applicable prime-contract threshold above | FAR 15.403-4(a)(2); 10 U.S.C. § 3702(a)(2) |
Why the two bottom rows matter right now: 10 U.S.C. § 3702, the codified defense statute, already sets $10 million as the DoD threshold for contracts entered into after June 30, 2026 — a date that has now passed. The FAR text itself (15.403-4), as published through FAC 2026-01, still shows the older $2.5 million figure without yet distinguishing a DoD-specific $10 million tier. Statutory effective dates routinely arrive before the FAR Council issues the conforming rule that updates the regulation’s own text, and DoD components sometimes bridge that gap with an interim class deviation before the FAR catches up. If you are negotiating a DoD contract entered into after June 30, 2026, confirm the currently governing figure against the applicable DFARS text or any class deviation notice before assuming either number applies — don’t rely on the FAR-text figure alone for a defense acquisition in this window.
Decision Checklist: Is Certified Cost or Pricing Data Required?
- Is this a procurement contract (or subcontract) negotiated under FAR Part 15, not a grant or cooperative agreement? TINA is a procurement-contract concept. It does not apply to grants or cooperative agreements, which are governed by 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance), not the FAR — see Federal Government Contracts vs. Grants for University Research if you’re not sure which instrument you’re dealing with.
- Was the award negotiated rather than sealed-bid? FAR Part 15 (and therefore FAR 15.403) covers acquisition by negotiation; sealed-bidding under FAR Part 14 is outside its scope entirely.
- Does the expected price exceed the applicable threshold from the table above for the contract, subcontract, or modification in question?
- Does an exception in FAR 15.403-1(b) apply anyway? See the table below — if one applies, certified cost or pricing data is not required even above the dollar threshold.
- If data is required: the contractor submits it with a signed Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data (FAR 15.406-2), current as of the date of final price agreement, and the contracting officer’s price analysis and negotiation memorandum should reflect it.
FAR 15.403-1(b) Exceptions
Even above the dollar threshold, certified cost or pricing data is not required when one of these applies:
| Exception | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Adequate price competition | Two or more responsible offerors, competing independently, submit priced offers that satisfy the government’s expressed requirement, and no finding is made that the price is unreasonable. Outside DoD/NASA/Coast Guard, this can also be established where there was a reasonable expectation of two or more offers even if only one was received, supported by price analysis showing the price is reasonable. |
| Prices set by law or regulation | A price is established by periodic rulings, reviews, or similar action of a governmental body, or is embodied directly in law or regulation. |
| Commercial products or commercial services | The acquisition meets the FAR definition of a commercial product or commercial service. Minor modifications that don’t change the item’s fundamentally commercial nature remain within the exception, subject to separate pricing thresholds for DoD/NASA/Coast Guard. |
| Waiver | The head of the contracting activity (HCA) — a non-delegable authority — waives the requirement in exceptional circumstances, with written justification that the price can be determined fair and reasonable without certified data. |
| Modifications to commercial-item/commercial-service contracts | A modification to a contract or subcontract for commercial products or commercial services is separately exempt. |
Grants vs. Contracts: Why TINA Doesn’t Reach Most University Awards
Most research administrators encounter TINA rarely, because most federal research funding to universities flows as grants or cooperative agreements, not FAR-based procurement contracts — and TINA only ever applies to the latter. Where an institution does hold a genuine federal procurement contract (a deliverable-driven R&D contract, a service contract, or a subcontract under a prime contractor’s federal contract) above the applicable threshold, TINA exposure is real and the exceptions above become the operative question. See Types of Federal Contracts Universities Encounter for how FFP, cost-reimbursement, and T&M contracts differ, and FAR Part 31 (Contract Cost Principles and Procedures) for how allowable cost determinations interact with a negotiated contract price once it’s set.
Defective Pricing, “Sweeps,” and Post-Award Exposure
Under FAR 15.407-1, cost or pricing data is “defective” if it was inaccurate, incomplete, or not current as of the certification date. If the government discovers defective data after award, it can pursue a downward price adjustment for any significant amount by which the price was increased because of the defect, plus interest on the resulting overpayment calculated at Treasury-prescribed rates, and — where the contractor knowingly submitted defective data — a penalty equal to the amount of the overpayment (contracting officers are directed to consult legal counsel before pursuing the penalty).
“Sweep” (sometimes “sweep certificate” or “final sweep”) is industry and government-contracts-counsel shorthand, not a defined FAR term, for the practice of re-checking internal records — updated vendor quotes, revised labor or material costs, anything that changed — in the days immediately before signing the Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data, to make sure the certification genuinely covers data current through the date of price agreement. Institutions that hold FAR-based contracts subject to TINA typically build a documented sweep step into their pricing/proposal close-out process specifically to manage defective-pricing risk, since the certification date, not the proposal submission date, is what the government’s post-award audit will test against.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA)?
TINA is the common name for the 1962 federal procurement statute requiring certified cost or pricing data on certain negotiated federal contracts above a dollar threshold. Its operative text is now codified as “Truthful Cost or Pricing Data” — 10 U.S.C. § 3702 for defense acquisitions, 41 U.S.C. §§ 3501–3509 for civilian agencies — and implemented through FAR Subpart 15.4.
What is certified cost or pricing data?
Factual information about cost or price — vendor quotes, labor rates, material costs, and similar data a prudent buyer and seller would expect to affect price negotiations — submitted with a signed Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data (FAR 15.406-2) attesting it is accurate, complete, and current as of the date of price agreement.
What is the TINA threshold in 2026?
The FAR text currently states $2.5 million for prime contracts awarded on or after July 1, 2018 (any agency). For DoD contracts specifically, the underlying statute, 10 U.S.C. § 3702, already sets $10 million for contracts entered into after June 30, 2026 — a date that has now passed — while the FAR text had not yet been updated to reflect that DoD-specific figure as of FAC 2026-01 (March 2026). Confirm the currently governing figure against DFARS or an interim class deviation for any DoD acquisition entered into after that date.
When is cost or pricing data required on a federal contract?
When the contract, subcontract, or modification is negotiated (not sealed-bid) under FAR Part 15, the expected price exceeds the applicable threshold, and none of the FAR 15.403-1(b) exceptions (adequate price competition, prices set by law or regulation, commercial products/services, or an HCA waiver) applies.
What are the FAR 15.403 exceptions?
Adequate price competition, prices set by law or regulation, commercial products or commercial services (including minor modifications that don’t change the commercial nature of the item), an HCA waiver in exceptional circumstances, and modifications to contracts already covered by the commercial-item exception.
What is a “sweep” in defective pricing, and what happens if data turns out to be defective?
A “sweep” is the practitioner term for re-checking and updating cost or pricing data immediately before certification so it’s genuinely current through the date of price agreement — it’s a risk-management practice, not a FAR-defined term. If data later proves defective (inaccurate, incomplete, or not current as of the certification date), FAR 15.407-1 lets the government recover the resulting price increase plus interest, and, for knowing submission, a penalty equal to the overpayment.
