Question. A large portion of our robot this year is likely to be made of polycarbonate sheet stock. Our supplier is also a team member, in that they sponsor us with in-kind donations. The parts we are using, however, we purchased from their scrap at a cost much less than typical retail for for similar material; they sell it to the public at $1/pound, which is what we paid for it.
My question is, would the BOM cost be the per pound that we and the general public can pay for this material? My reading of R13 is a little vague on this point, and I donāt think it needs a Q&A ask. Frankly Iām just not wanting to rock the boat during inspection, and Iām a little worried that a zealous inspector might question $30 worth of polycarbonate when it makes up the bulk of the machine. Thanks for any advice.
I hate rocking the boat. Watch the answer be something that sends shockwaves of outrage into the community and gives inspectors one more dumb thing to do.
While it probably does need a Q&A asked, I think the answer is likely to be that you cost it at what you paid for it. The price is for scrap pieces and is available to anyone who buys it. Thatās sort of the definition of āfair market valueā in any normal sense. I think the idea of fair market value was introduced in the first place for those things that teams might get that they donāt actually buy, but get from other sources (donations in kind or from sponsors, for instance) so that their value could be calculated for the BOM in a reasonable way. I donāt think it was every meant to replace actual purchase price if this is simply what the vendor sells it for in general.
How large a portion will polycarbonate be on your robot? There are a few teams (1714 comes to mind that have used polycarb for much of their robots in the past. Regardless on how you are able to classify it on the CAW, I would venture a guess that you will still be under the limit.
I would venture a guess that you will have to enter this generous āgiftā (no matter what you paid) as a typical cots/material. The reason being that most other teams are not able to get this same deal.
I want to make sure I am being clear: we paid the retail price for the scrap bin material. This was not a gift or a deal that was not available to any customer who walks in to the store.
I think youāre 100% within your right to use the price you paid then.
Even if it were the other way aroundā¦ there are probably more than a dozen other things you can use āexemptionā rules for that will save you more BOM $$$ than discount polycarbonate.
In my (obviously not official) opinion, you should be able to list the discount price if there was enough of it for sale at that price that many teams could buy it. If there were only a few sheets available then that wouldnāt meet the āmaintain sufficient stockā clause of the VENDOR definition. If there was enough available that plenty of teams could buy at that price, and the discount was available to all teams, then that should make the company a VENDOR of that product at the discounted price, so you can put the price you paid as the BOM cost.
First of all I think the First concept of how to costs raw material is convoluted. The raw material pricing on our BOM is rarely based on what we actually paid for the material. (We buy in bulk and use my companies discount.) We have to spend time to get a best guess on what a retail price might be. Anyway. The blue box in R13 seems to say pricing needs to reflect pricing generally available through out the build season and not special or sale pricing. To me scrap fall into the the special category. The BOM should be costed the normal price. Q&A is the way to go if you can get a straight out them.
Not rocking the boat at inspection is always a good idea. As a a RI, I donāt spend a lot of time on the BOM unless something is really questionable. If you have a lot of margin on allowed robot cost, I am not going to question individual prices to closely. But If somebody wants to argue a corner case, I will involve the LRI because I believe you need consistency to be fair. Even without dragging feet that will make the inspection longer which is in nobodies interest.
This is the key point. If the VENDOR has a policy that it sells scrap at a set (discount price) and you legitimately acquired scrap that was available to any other customer, then you get to claim the scrap price. R13 is to stop the VENDOR from giving you a āspecial one offā price either via a fake sale or a special deal.
The nice blue box under R13 sez:
The Fair Market Value of a COTS item is its price defined by a VENDOR for the part or an identical functional replacement. This price must be generally available to all FIRST
Robotics Competition teams throughout the build and competition season (i.e. short-term sale prices or coupons do not reflect Fair Market Value), however teams are only expected to make a good faith effort at determining the item price and are not expected to monitor prices of ROBOT items throughout the season in response to price fluctuations.
If the VENDOR normally has a scrap bin and has a fixed price for scrap material, then you have meet both the generally available to customers of that VENDOR and the throughout the season requirements.
Of course I am not a RI or LRI nor do I play one on TV. However, I do have the honorary title of Mr RTFM for my team and would be happy to defend that understanding of the rule to an LRI.
Not sure if this is the correct way to do the BOM, but we calculate the cost per square inch of standard polycarbonate off the shelf and then apply that price for every square inch of polycarb we use. For me, I think thatās how I would price this out on the BOM.
Also, is this the correct method for filling out BOM? We have done it this way for as long as I can remember.
Thanks for writing this. While I read the blue box, it didnāt stick in my brain what the clear meaning was, until your explanation.
Denver area teams that are not already aware of PlastiCareās scrap price need to go check it out ASAP. They currently have oodles of polycarb sheet that they are trying to clear out due to the big mis-cut I mentioned above. I know 3200 has already taken advantage of this great store, I hope more teams do as well.
For raw stock, it is not. You are supposed to find the smallest (and/or cheapest) purchasable piece that could fit each (and/or all) of your parts, and list that pieceās price. Price per square inch or w/ever is not the correct/legal way of listing the cost of raw stock per some blue box that I donāt feel like digging for right now.
āIt is in the best interests of the teams and FIRST to form relationships with as many
organizations as possible. Teams are encouraged to be expansive in recruiting and
including organizations in their team, as that exposes more people and organizations to
FIRST. Recognizing supporting companies as Sponsors of, and members in, the team is
encouraged, even if the involvement of the Sponsor is solely through the donation of
fabrication labor.
Example 6: A team purchases steel bar stock for $10 USD and has it machined by
another team. The total applicable cost for the part would be $10 USD. Example 7: A team purchases a 4 ft. by 4 ft. (~122 cm by 122 cm) sheet of aluminum, but only uses a piece 10 in. by 10 in. (~25 cm by 25 cm) on their ROBOT. The team identifies a source that sells aluminum sheet in 1 by 1 ft. (~30 cm by 30 cm) pieces. The team may cost their part based on a 1 by 1 ft. (~30 cm by 30 cm) piece, even though they cut the piece from a larger bulk purchase. They do not have to account for the entire 4 by 4 ft. (~122 cm by 122 cm) bulk purchase item.ā