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The Air Force's Policy for Special Tooling and Special Test Equipment

LCD-76-466 Published: Oct 08, 1976. Publicly Released: Oct 08, 1976.
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Highlights

Air Force policy with regard to title to special tooling and special test equipment used for Air Force contracts and recent disposal of special tooling and special test equipment by the Air Force were reviewed. The Armed Services Procurement Regulation states that taking title to tooling and special test equipment creates a substantial administrative burden and that care should be taken in deciding whether the Government needs to take title. However, the Government has generally taken title upon completion of a defense system contract. The Air Force Logistics Command developed a system for managing special tooling and special test equipment within the command which was implemented command-wide on April 1, 1971. The Air Force plans to ask an Armed Services Procurement Regulation Committee whether it can use a life-cycle special tooling support agreement with contractors whereby the Government will not take title to special tooling on fixed price contracts when the contractor agrees to retain all special tooling required to produce identifiable replenishment spare parts. A proposed revision of the definition of special test equipment is expected to prevent defense contractors from acquiring general-purpose test equipment as special test equipment. About 168,000 special tooling and special test equipment items having an original acquisition cost of about $105 million were disposed of between October 1, 1973, and March 31, 1976.

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Topics

Air Force procurementEquipment contractsTest equipmentMilitary forcesGovernment procurementCommunicationsDefense systemsFixed price contractsSpare partsDefense contractors