(a) Whenever the acquisition is in support of operations in Afghanistan, treat the offers of end products from South Caucasus or Central and South Asian states listed in 225.401-70 the same as qualifying country offers.

(b) Use the following procedures instead of the procedures in FAR 25.502(b) for acquisitions subject to the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement:

(i) Consider only offers of U.S.-made, qualifying country, or designated country end products, except as permitted by 225.403 or 225.7703-1.

(ii) If price is the determining factor, award on the low offer.

(c) Use the following procedures instead of those in FAR 25.502(c) for acquisitions subject to the Buy American statute or the Balance of Payments Program:

(i)

(A) If the acquisition is subject only to the Buy American or Balance of Payments Program, then only qualifying country end products are exempt from application of the Buy American or Balance of Payments Program evaluation factor.

(B) If the acquisition is also subject to a Free Trade Agreement, then eligible products of the applicable Free Trade Agreement country are also exempt from application of the Buy American or Balance of Payments Program evaluation factor.

(ii) If price is the determining factor, use the following procedures:

(A) If the low offer is a domestic offer, award on that offer.

(B) If there are no domestic offers, award on the low offer (see example in 225.504(1)).

(C) If the low offer is a foreign offer that is exempt from application of the Buy American or Balance of Payments Program evaluation factor, award on that offer. (If the low offer is a qualifying country offer from a country listed at 225.872-1(b), execute a determination in accordance with 225.872-4.)

(D) If the low offer is a foreign offer that is not exempt from application of the Buy American or Balance of Payments Program evaluation factor, and there is another foreign offer that is exempt and is lower than the lowest domestic offer, award on the low foreign offer (see example in 225.504(2)).

(E) Otherwise, apply the 50 percent evaluation factor to the low foreign offer.

(1) If the price of the low domestic offer is less than the evaluated price of the low foreign offer, award on the low domestic offer (see example in 225.504(3)).

(2) If the evaluated price of the low foreign offer remains less than the low domestic offer, award on the low foreign offer (see example in 225.504(4)).

(iii) If price is not the determining factor, use the following procedures:

(A) If there are domestic offers, apply the 50 percent Buy American or Balance of Payments Program evaluation factor to all foreign offers unless an exemption applies.

(B) Evaluate in accordance with the criteria of the solicitation.

(C) If these procedures will not result in award on a domestic offer, reevaluate offers without the 50 percent factor. If this will result in award on an offer to which the Buy American statute or Balance of Payments Program applies, but evaluation in accordance with paragraph (c)(ii) of this section would result in award on a domestic offer, proceed with award only after execution of a determination in accordance with 225.103(a)(ii)(B), that domestic preference would be inconsistent with the public interest.

(iv) If the solicitation includes the provision at 252.225-7023, Preference for Products or Services from Afghanistan, use the evaluation procedures at 225.7703-3.

[68 FR 15620, Mar. 31, 2003, as amended at 69 FR 1928, Jan. 13, 2004; 69 FR 74992, Dec. 15, 2004; 70 FR 2363, Jan. 13, 2005; 73 FR 53152, Sept. 15, 2008; 75 FR 81916, Dec. 29, 2010; 77 FR 35881, June 15, 2012; 78 FR 59857, Sept. 30, 2013]