Commercial Item and Nondevelopmental Item Definition Application Tool

​A job aid that helps illuminate the "of a type" commercial item (CI) definition by comparison with the nondevelopmental item (NDI) definition from the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 2 definitions highlighting governmental purposes and nongovernmental purposes. Many misunderstand the role of foreign government sales in qualifying for a commercial item exception. This tool explains the broader definition of nondevelopmental items (NDI), and the narrower definition at part 8 of the CI definition. It also explains that part 8 of the commercial item definition is a necessity for qualifying State and local government acquistions as commercial because of the way part 1 of the commercial item definition is worded. The "of a type" general definition in part 1 of the CI definition goes further to also require they be customarily used for non-governmental purposes. Whereas the NDI covers items exclusively used exclusively for governmental purposes (Federal, State and local, and foreign).