Need for Aluminum Gears and Sprockets?

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Dick Linn

What is the difference, rule-wise, between a COTS part and a "custom" part? Let's say I can order a sprocket from stock from somewhere for $15. Or I can get something made-to-order from another for-profit business for $30. Isn't it just a matter of accounting for the purchase cost?

You report the purchase price for a COTS item. For a custom part ("an item you pay someone else to make"), you report the fabricator's material cost (i.e. not the purchase price), plus the labour used to make it.* (So, strangely enough, because there's no requirement to account for the fabricator's profit and other miscellaneous overhead on the BOM, it might actually be advantageous to buy custom, because you might be able to report a lower price.)

Also, the vendor requirements are for COTS suppliers, not custom fabricators.

*FIRST confusingly uses a vendor in its custom parts example, but there's nothing stating that a vendor is the only legal source of custom parts. (That requirement wouldn't make sense, because the definition of vendor hinges upon all sorts of COTS things.)