Short answer: To price a DLA bid, start with your delivered cost: supplier quote, packaging and marking, freight if FOB destination, testing and inspection. Then compare it with the RFQ's procurement history, adjusting for quantity, award date and who won. Quote only if you can come in at or under recent comparable awards and still make money; otherwise skip it.

Two numbers, in this order

Every DLA quote comes down to two numbers: what it costs you to deliver, and what DLA has recently paid. Work them in that order. If you start from the last award and back into your costs, you'll talk yourself into quotes that lose money. If you ignore the history, you'll waste quotes that never had a chance.

Step 1: Build your delivered cost

Price the whole job, not the part.

• The part. A written supplier quote for the exact part number and revision, at the RFQ quantity, with lead time. See the supplier RFQ email template.
• Unit of issue conversion. Price per DLA unit of issue, not per supplier unit. See Unit of Issue and QUP.
• Packaging and marking. MIL-STD-2073 or ASTM D3951 packaging plus MIL-STD-129 labels. On small parts with a QUP of one, this can rival the part cost. Decode the line with the MIL-STD-2073 packaging code decoder.
• Freight. Under FOB destination you pay delivery to the consignee (). Under FOB origin you don't pay line-haul, but you still pack and load. See FOB Origin vs FOB Destination.
• Quality and testing. Certificates, inspection, and any first article or production lot testing. First article gets its own line on DLA RFQs. See First Article Testing for DLA.
• Your time and margin. Quoting, receiving, repacking, invoicing in WAWF, and the profit that makes the order worth doing.

Add it up per unit. That's your floor. Don't quote below it to "get a foot in the door." Every award is a contract you have to perform.

Step 2: Read the procurement history

Many DLA RFQs include a table titled "Procurement History for NSN/FSC." It lists past awards with CAGE code, contract number, quantity, unit cost, award date, and whether surplus was offered. You can also look up posted awards on , and FedOpp's guide to searching DIBBS by NSN covers the award search.

Read the table like this:

Look at the most recent awards first. An award from ten years ago tells you the item has history, not what it costs today. Material, labor and freight have all moved since then.

Match quantity. Unit cost usually falls as quantity rises. If you're quoting a quantity of 5 and the recent awards were for 50, the per-unit price isn't comparable. Find an award near your quantity, or expect your unit price to sit above the big-lot awards.

Check the CAGE codes. Look up each awardee with CAGE code lookup. Is it the original manufacturer, a distributor, or a small shop like yours? A run of awards to the approved manufacturer at a steady price looks different from a mix of dealers undercutting each other.

Note the surplus flag. An award made on surplus material may be priced lower than new production. Don't use it as your benchmark for new parts.

Watch the trend. Prices climbing steadily, flat for years, or jumping around each tell you something different about competition and supply.

Step 3: Compare and decide

Put your floor price next to the recent, comparable awards.

• Your floor is well under recent awards: you have room. Quote a price that wins without throwing away margin you don't need to give up.
• Your floor is close to recent awards: quote it if the job is otherwise clean (no first article surprises, packaging you can do in-house, a delivery date you can hit).
• Your floor is above recent awards: usually a skip, unless the history is old, the quantity is very different, or you have a reason to believe the old price isn't real anymore.

Write down why you quoted or skipped. When the award posts, compare. Over a few months, that log teaches you more about your market than any rule of thumb.

How DLA evaluates price

DLA's explains how automated buys are evaluated. The automated program only considers quotes that comply exactly with the solicitation and uses price reasonableness logic and other filters. When a buy is evaluated by hand, for example when first article testing applies, price, delivery and past performance can all be considered under the solicitation's terms, and the contracting officer considers risk assessments in the Supplier Performance Risk System under .

What this means for pricing: an exception or a remark on your quote can knock it out of automated evaluation, no matter how good the price is. Quote clean.

Pricing mistakes that cost the most

• Quoting per piece when the unit of issue is a package or box.
• Leaving out freight on FOB destination.
• Using a decade-old award as the target price.
• Ignoring packaging labor on a QUP of 001.
• Not pricing the first article line, or pricing it as a normal unit.
• Taking an exception to packaging or inspection, which makes the quote ineligible for automated award.

Where FedOpp fits

FedOpp shows the last award price and award history next to each DIBBS RFQ, with delivery days and MIL packaging on the row, and a Bid Sheet that builds freight under the FOB terms into your unit price, so you can see your floor next to the market before you quote. You quote on DIBBS yourself. FedOpp is $199 a month after a 7-day free trial.

For the three-gate version of this decision, see Defense Parts: Allowed, On Time, Under the Last Award.

Also see How to Read a DIBBS RFQ.

Also see build and upload a DIBBS batch quote.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find the last award price for a DLA part?

Check the "Procurement History for NSN/FSC" table on the RFQ, or search posted awards on DIBBS by NSN.

Should I always quote under the last award?

No. Compare against recent awards at a similar quantity. Old awards, very different quantities or surplus awards aren't good benchmarks.

Does DLA always award to the lowest price?

Automated evaluation focuses on price among quotes that comply exactly. Manual evaluation can also weigh delivery and past performance, as the solicitation states.

What costs do new DLA suppliers forget to price?

Packaging and marking, freight on FOB destination, first article or testing, and unit-of-issue conversion.

Do quantity price breaks count on DIBBS?

DLA's master solicitation says automated evaluation doesn't consider quantity price breaks. A contracting officer may consider them when a buy is evaluated by hand.

Last verified 2026-10-08 · Author FedOpp

Sources

Practical notes, not legal advice. The solicitation controls.