Commercial off-the-shelf

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) is a term used to describe the purchase of products that are standard manufactured products rather than custom, or bespoke, products. A related term, Mil-COTS, refers to COTS products for use by the military.

In the US government, COTS is a formal term defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for commercial items, including services, available in the commercial marketplace that can be bought and used under government contract. For example, consumer goods and construction materials may qualify as COTS but bulk cargo does not. Services associated with the commercial items may also qualify as COTS, including installation services, training services, and cloud services.