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A Commercial, Off-The-Shelf (COTS) item is defined as a part in its unaltered, unmodified state. A COTS item is a standard (i.e. not custom order) part that is or at one time been commonly available from a Vendor. Once a COTS item is modified in any way, it becomes a Fabricated Item.
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Originally Posted by RRLedford
If I can order extruded aluminum framing in cut-to-length sizes by just typing in the length on the ordering web page, is this considered custom or standard?
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Unless the Vendor only provides or sells customer-requested lengths (in which case this question should be posed in a Q&A), it is considered custom; that is, if the Vendor offers any standard lengths or sizes for the object in question and you order a size that is not one of those, it is considered custom.
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Originally Posted by RRLedford
If it is COTS standard item, then, if I cut it in half, are the two halves considered COTS, or have they become custom?
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This is a modification, which therefore makes it a custom part.
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Originally Posted by RRLedford
If I order a 36" piece of extrusion online, and then cut it into (3) 12" pieces before arriving at competition, can I still consider the pieces COTS?
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No, you may not.
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Originally Posted by RRLedford
If Home Depot gives one free cut of lumber, can I consider any size piece of their lumber as COTS, or must I bring an 8" length and only cut it in the pits to the length I need.
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See my first response.
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Originally Posted by RRLedford
What about fasteners? Can I buy 3" fully threaded fasteners, and then cut some down to 2" or 1" before competition, and then still consider the shorter ones COTS, or must I only cut them in the pits, in order to use them without counting toward the 30LB limit of custom stuff brought?
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The latter.